Clerks 3 Really This Time

[SteveDave]

https://deadline.com/2021/07/clerks-iii-kevin-smith-sequel-acquired-by-lionsgate-1234795715/

Now that (I presume) the Weinstein's are selling off the family silver, this is happening. Randall has a heart attack and then makes a film about the Quick Stop.

[St_Eddie]

I like the semi-autobiographical meta idea behind the plot of Clerks III and I think if well executed, it could have a lot of heart and be a real love letter to that point in time during Kevin Smith's life (shooting his first film)... buuuuuut, I really don't have any faith in modern era Stoner Kev to make anything other than an embarrassing, unfocused failure, full of jokes that don't land and with his talentless daughter nepotistically cast in a lead role.

Smith was never a GREAT filmmaker, but his films always used to have heart and generally have well written, humorous and engaging dialogue.  However, weed has absolutely destroyed his critical judgments (Seth Rogen has a lot to answer for to introducing it to him at the end of the filming of Zack and Miri Make a Porno).  Jay and Silent Bob Reboot was an absolutely shameful disgrace, as was Yoga Hosers, as is the majority of his more modern filmography.

To be fair, even at his best (Clerks and Dogma), I've kinda outgrown Kevin Smith with age, but at least I don't actively hate those films in the same way I do the shite that he's churning out these days.  He's literally gone on record as saying that his current filmmaking process is to get baked on weed and spend the day writing a script.  Equally, it's his process to get baked on weed and film the movie.  It's also his process to get baked and edit the movie.  Basically, dude just gets baked all the time and it's completely killed any talent that he ever possessed.

Smith has a problem, but like me when I used to be addicted to cannabis a couple of decades ago, he's unable to recognise and admit that he has a problem and instead has deluded himself into thinking that smoking weed 24/7 somehow "enhances" his life and work and makes him a better person and artist.  It hasn't and it doesn't.  I'd imagine that writing comedy scripts whilst high is quite possibly the worst thing one could do, artistically speaking.  Stoners aren't exactly renowned for their refined taste in comedy.  I've literally laughed at a leaf when high.  A fucking leaf.

[madhair60]

I hope against hope that the fact he's using other peoples' money here (and the fact everyone else agreed to sign on) means that his worst excesses will be in some way tempered. But I'm not very optimistic.

[Ham Bap]

Yeah his last couple of films were massive turkeys. Awful to watch.
The Jay and Silent Bob Reboot I believe took me 5 attempts to get through. Cringy shite.

I'd love him to make this as good and well written as some of his earlier films but I don't hold out much hope.
His interviews now, when he's touring a film, remind me of the people at university who do nothing but smoke and talk about smoking weed, the best strains, and talk about being stoned all day.

Yeah this will probably be shite.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I'm not sure I could manage some of the 'good' ones now, and there's plenty of shite I will watch for the sake of nostalgia.

[phantom_power]

Fucking finally*




*said no-one

[JamesTC]

You're a cigarette.

[chveik]

bit off topic but does anyone know any people that made good art while they were addicted to marijuana? there are loads of examples for heroin/pills/alcohol addicts but this one is tricky

[BeardFaceMan]

Cheech & Chong?

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

bit off topic but does anyone know any people that made good art while they were addicted to marijuana?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoner_rock

[Noodle Lizard]

Jay & Silent Bob: Reboot really is one of the worst films I've seen, right next to Yoga Hosers. It's very difficult to be optimistic.

[phantom_power]

I'm not sure you can blame the weed on his plummeting artistic abilities

[Sebastian Cobb]

I don't think he'd even started toking when Clerks 2 came out.

The meta thing would be nice but it's basically just Spud in Trainspotting 2 (also wank).

[checkoutgirl]

I hope against hope that the fact he's using other peoples' money here (and the fact everyone else agreed to sign on) means that his worst excesses will be in some way tempered. But I'm not very optimistic.

If he sticks his and Johnny Depp's daughter in there we can start to worry. I usually watch any new Kevin Smith film but even I couldn't bring myself to watch Yoga Hosers. His reason for making it was weird, my dad died screaming in agony so I made this pile of shit and stuck my daughter in it too. Eh, okay.

I haven't watched much Kevin these days but resolved to stop watching his podcasts if he liked the Black Widow film. Surprise surprise he liked it. He's psychologically incapable of disliking any super hero film. Or he's just unwilling to piss off any Marvel/DC studio people so that he can keep the possibility alive of visiting film sets etc.

[checkoutgirl]

does anyone know any people that made good art while they were addicted to marijuana?

Most musicians probably. Depends what you mean by addicted. John Waters, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, the list is endless.

[Sebastian Cobb]

If he sticks his and Johnny Depp's daughter in there we can start to worry. I usually watch any new Kevin Smith film but even I couldn't bring myself to watch Yoga Hosers. His reason for making it was weird, my dad died screaming in agony so I made this pile of shit and stuck my daughter in it too. Eh, okay.

His sentimental/romantic stuff was generally worse than his puerile stoner stuff. Chasing Amy was alright but things like Jersey Girl felt like it was written by a lovelorn teenager.

[madhair60]

You're a cigarette.

The weed of crime bears bitter fruit, you old hag!

[Custard]

bit off topic but does anyone know any people that made good art while they were addicted to marijuana? there are loads of examples for heroin/pills/alcohol addicts but this one is tricky

Bob Marley? Lee Scratch Perry? Rik Waller?

[Sebastian Cobb]

Afroman.

[chveik]

yeah i guess i haven't really thought that through

still better than thinking about kevin smith though

[Noodle Lizard]

I'm not sure you can blame the weed on his plummeting artistic abilities

The timing is hard to deny (although Red State has its positives). Some people with addictive/indulgent personalities can go too hard on on the weed, and it can absolutely have consequences for their mental functioning. Not terribly destructive ones, in most cases, but certainly to the point where they might become a bit of a dullard.

I think Tracy Morgan said that Smith had spent most of the Cop Out shoot locked away smoking copious amounts of weed, barely interacting with anyone and never being "not high" when he did so. Replace that with any other drug, including alcohol, and people would consider it a very serious problem - especially in a professional setting. Granted, Smith's at the point where he's essentially his own boss and can sort of do what he wants, but I think it's for sure had a huge impact on the quality of his work. Clerks 2 seems laser-focused compared to something like J&SB Reboot, for instance.

I've been a stoner, and I loved it, and I loved all the ridiculous ideas we'd come up with during a session. I'm very glad I never had the capability to actually make them a reality, though.

[Spiteface]

I don't think he'd even started toking when Clerks 2 came out.

It's Seth Rogen's fault, he introduced Smith to weed during production of Zack & Miri Make a Porno.

I think around that time some people felt SModcast was suffering due to him being stoned recording it, and I think those people had a point. The early SModcasts, while it's always been him and (usually) Scott Mosier bullshitting for an hour or more, Smith seems sharper and frankly, vastly more interesting, like when he talked about working on the pilot for Reaper and trying to convince the network to cast Kyle Gass in a role, that ultimately got dropped anyway.

[holdover]

On a recent episode of the Tell 'Em Steve Dave podcast Smith brought up the fact that Walt Flanagan (one of the hosts and his friend since their teenage years) had told him he thought he was smoking too much weed and that he felt like he'd failed Smith for not saying something sooner.

Walt is a super repressed total vanilla suburban dad with a lot of hang ups but he's not wrong on this count.

[JamesTC]

I'm Dante and I'm the biggest idiot ever.

[mothman]

I think Tracy Morgan said that Smith had spent most of the Cop Out shoot locked away smoking copious amounts of weed, barely interacting with anyone and never being "not high" when he did so. Replace that with any other drug, including alcohol, and people would consider it a very serious problem - especially in a professional setting. Granted, Smith's at the point where he's essentially his own boss and can sort of do what he wants, but I think it's for sure had a huge impact on the quality of his work.

That's interesting, because Smith has been quite vocal about that film and putting a lot of it down to Bruce Willis's ego. He was basically acting as a director for hire on that film, and it's notable that it seems to have been his one (big?) chance to do so, and he's not had another chance since. It seems to take a lot to derail an experienced male director's career[nb]I say male, because female directors are far less forgiven if their film bombs - just ask Amy Heckerling, Rachel Talalay... I know there are many others...[/nb] and yet Smith seems to have managed it. Sure the experience probably soured him on studio pictures, but if he wants to do his own stuff, he has to be seen to be competent and produce good stuff, and he plainly hasn't been. Mind you, badmouthing the star after the fact isn't going to help either, however far Willis's own cachet has fallen. And if Smith has gotten a reputation for being a pothead while on the studio's dime, and if it was seen as affecting the production and the finished product, then it's no surprise he's not been asked to do more.

[Noodle Lizard]

That's interesting, because Smith has been quite vocal about that film and putting a lot of it down to Bruce Willis's ego. He was basically acting as a director for hire on that film, and it's notable that it seems to have been his one (big?) chance to do so, and he's not had another chance since. It seems to take a lot to derail an experienced male director's career[nb]I say male, because female directors are far less forgiven if their film bombs - just ask Amy Heckerling, Rachel Talalay... I know there are many others...[/nb] and yet Smith seems to have managed it. Sure the experience probably soured him on studio pictures, but if he wants to do his own stuff, he has to be seen to be competent and produce good stuff, and he plainly hasn't been. Mind you, badmouthing the star after the fact isn't going to help either, however far Willis's own cachet has fallen. And if Smith has gotten a reputation for being a pothead while on the studio's dime, and if it was seen as affecting the production and the finished product, then it's no surprise he's not been asked to do more.

Don't forget squabbling with the critics! Didn't he equate giving Cop Out bad reviews to "bullying a retarded child"? Granted, Cop Out was a bad film from soup to nuts, but I feel like it would've slipped more or less under the radar if Smith hadn't thrown such a big wobbly over it.

[madhair60]

I'm Dante and I'm the biggest idiot ever.

Why are we walking like this?

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

The main reason I don't like Kevin Smith is because he keeps doing this face:

[Spiteface]

On a recent episode of the Tell 'Em Steve Dave podcast Smith brought up the fact that Walt Flanagan (one of the hosts and his friend since their teenage years) had told him he thought he was smoking too much weed and that he felt like he'd failed Smith for not saying something sooner.

Walt is a super repressed total vanilla suburban dad with a lot of hang ups but he's not wrong on this count.

You'd think, between Jason Mewes' own struggles with addiction (heroin and oxycontin) and Bryan Johnson's stint in rehab, he'd maybe have second thoughts about his own vices.

[Noodle Lizard]

You'd think, between Jason Mewes' own struggles with addiction (heroin and oxycontin) and Bryan Johnson's stint in rehab, he'd maybe have second thoughts about his own vices.

In California weed is probably more socially acceptable than drinking, certainly more than smoking cigarettes. And fair enough, it's unlikely weed's ever going to put you in the hospital or irreparably damage your life or your loved ones, but it's remarkable how often you'll come across people who treat it like coffee. I imagine Smith doesn't see it as a vice, even though it's certainly an addiction of sorts.