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I've long been
a fan of director Kevin Smith and his gift
of gab, both written and spoken, but even
I was a little unsure of the guy's ability
to stand up in front of an audience for
a couple of hours doing little more than
talking. Last year I saw, "An Evening
with Kevin Smith" for the first time.
The DVD offered hours of material from a
cross country tour he made of colleges.
From these clips I learned just about everything
I ever wanted to know about Smith, a few
things I didn’t want to know, and
just how weird some of his more hardcore
fans are. But what made the whole experience
worth it were how great of a storyteller
Smith is, what an incredibly funny speaker
he is, and his willingness to talk about
anything… no matter how personal.
Sony / Columbia Tristar is following that
release up with a brand new set, "Kevin
Smith: Evening Harder", this time featuring
the screenwriter/director/comic-book-author
in two full length concerts.
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Traveling outside of our borders, Smith waxes
rhapsodic in front of audiences in Toronto and
London and it was interesting to see how his brand
of comedy lectures appealed to both groups, despite
the cultural differences.
The first release offered up a ton of anecdotes
about Smith's career, with probably the most talked
about being his experience trying to write a new
"Superman" movie, which culminated with
his being invited to a famous producer's house
to discuss why said producer wanted a gay sidekick
for Braniac and insisted on a giant spider attack.
This story is a classic example of the insanity
of the power player in Hollywood, as funny as
it is sad. The only detriment to this first release
was that the footage was cut together from multiple
appearances, and sometimes the editing caused
the flow of the experience to slow down.
In this new DVD set, the producers wisely offer
up two completely separate concerts, each on its
own disc. They aren’t cut together so you
can see how the flow works so well, whether Smith
is fielding questions or talking about his sex
life. Like the original release, Smith is still
very frank in his stage presentations, willing
to talk about anything from the X-men movies to
Mel Gibson's deconstructive career. He is joined
on stage both times by longtime friend Jason Mewes
(Jay to Smith's Silent Bob), who is as he seems…
a burnt out ex-junkie. The key here is 'ex'…
if he can stay clean, he's actually a pretty funny
guy.
The DVD also includes a couple of short extra
features, the first being video footage from a
limo ride in Toronto. The 'boys' are on the prowl
for Canadian cuisine in this fairly funny addition.
The second disc includes video footage of Mewes
trying out his trademark pickup lines on the streets
of London. As you might imagine, the lines work
about as well there as they do here (unless you
try them in Texas).
Enjoyment of "Kevin Smith: Evening Harder"
is dependent on whether or not you like Smith
or his movies. The language is littered with some
pretty colorful words (if you catch my drift)
and might not appeal to the average viewer. However,
as I mentioned earlier Smith does have an incredible
gift for gab and if you're a fan of his work,
watching this set will give you a lot to laugh
about.
Directed by: J. M. Kenny
Starring: Kevin Smith
Extras: Toronto Limo Ride Featurette, London Man
on the Street Featurette
Specifications: Widescreen (1.78:1), Dolby Digital
5.0 Surround Sound
Studio: Sony / Columbia Tristar
Release Date: 11/28/2006
Region 1
MPAA Rating: NR
Website
We'll give Kevin Smith: Evening Harder an A.
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