Kevin Smith's Latest Film Is "Average...in a Good Way"
Posted 11.28.09 by BrentJS
When filmmakers self-promote as much as Kevin Smith does, they typically get the reputation for being a snob. However, when Smith does it, it's often so candid and humorous that he ends up coming off as self-deprecating rather than arrogant. In a recent interview with AICN, Smith described himself as " a big f--in' loser from Jersey" and said that his success has forced him to rethink the films that he makes.
It was devastating the day I realized that, like, I can't do this anymore, 'cause it's too easy at this point. Like, I could do this in my sleep, but it's disingenuous. Like, I love Zack and Miri. I mean, I think it turned out well, but I look at Zack and Miri, and I look at Chasing Amy, and I go, Okay, two movies cut from similar cloth. What's the difference? One is made with the passion and brio of somebody who is desperate to get their message across, desperate to communicate desperate to say, "If I don't make this film, I'm gonna die." And, the other one was made by a guy who was, like, "Well, that's the movie I chose to do that year."
Smith said that he realizes that he "lowered the bar" with movies like Clerks, and that he doesn't "want to make that kind of movie anymore." His latest film as a director, A Couple of Dicks (which has apparently been re-titled A Couple of Cops), is a buddy-comedy starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan that Smith calls "average."
And, when I say "average,", I mean that in a good way, like, it looks like everybody else's movie now. Back in the days, you'd look at my flick and you'd be, like, "Oh, that's by the motherf---er who made Clerks. You can tell, because it looks so terrible. His camera won't move." A Couple of Dicks, man, it looks like 48 Hours. It looks like Beverly Hills Cop, Lethal Weapon. And, I know some people are, like, "Great, your movie looks like an '80s movie." But, hey, I'm on a slow curve. What the f--- do you want from me?