We are entering almost three decades of what’s come to be known as the View Askewniverse – the loosely-connected films of Kevin Smith and the characters within. What started with the surprise hit Clerks in 1994 has become a filmography encompassing 14 movies of all genres and styles. The one consistency, of course, is Kevin Smith, who’s brand of crass humor and absurdism has found a way to shine through every installment of the View Askewniverse. As we approach the wide-release of the latest entry to Clerks, we rank all the movies of Kevin Smith, from worst to best.
13. Cop Out (2010)
2010’s Cop Out is, to put it simply, a pretty bad movie. There’s nothing wrong with the set up per se — hapless buddy cops failing their way to the top — but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. Again, Tracey Morgan and Bruce Willis as a duo sound good on paper, the latter bumbling idiocy played against Willis’s stoic small-business manner, but every attempt at humor falls pretty flat. It was, however, able to make its money back in the box office, providing at least one redeeming quality to an otherwise forgettable film.
12. Yoga Hosers (2016)
This 2016 absurdist comedy throws everything at the wall and, to be honest, very little of it sticks. To describe the plot of this movie is an exercise in futility, but let me give it a show. We have, first and foremost, the two Colleens – Colleen C. (Lily-Rose Depp) and Colleen M. (Harley Quinn Smith), a pair of teenage convenience store clerks who, in the course of the movie, must battle Nazis and their bratwurst henchmen, henchmen whose mode of attack is to invade one’s butthole. Yes, you read that right, this is that absurd of a movie. The bigger issue might be how unfunny even this absurdity becomes when stretched out over a feature runtime. It’s like a scene from a South Park episode extended for an hour and a half, and not a particularly funny scene at that.
11. Jersey Girl (2004)
The first Kevin Smith movie to not feature Jay and Silent Bob, Jersey Girl is about as far outside Smith’s comfort zone as you will ever see him go. What we get is a rom-com starring Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez. Except, not really, seeing as Lopez’s strangely-named Gertrude does not make it far into the movie. She is, rather, the catalyst whose death sends Affleck’s Ollie into despair and career ruin. Tasked with raising a young daughter on his own, Affleck remains celibate and alone for many years. That is, until Liv Tyler enters the scene and we get many of the clichĂ©s you might expect from this kind of heartwarming rom-com but not necessarily from the mind of Kevin Smith.
11. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001)
If people know one thing about the View Askewniverse, it’s the two hapless losers so often on the periphery of Smith’s many movies – Jay and Silent Bob. They show up in many movies on this list, including some of the best, but they first appeared in Clerks as a pair of pot-dealing hangabouts with endearing shticks and little to do. Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back marks the first time the two get a movie all their own. Well, kind of. So many of the View Askewniverse characters appear here that it can almost feel like a greatest hits special than a proper movie but that is kind of the point. To really enjoy Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back you pretty much have to be a Kevin Smith superfan, of which, thankfully, there are plenty.
10. Tusk (2014)
What’s there to say about Tusk? It is, without a doubt, the purely strangest movie in Kevin Smith’s filmography. It also has perhaps the best villain in a reclusive, walrus-obsessed, pseudo-scientist named Howard Howe, played by an extremely arch Michael Parks. His victim comes in the form of Justin Long, playing a despicable podcast host (as if those exist) who falls helplessly into Howe’s increasingly bizarre and evil master plan. You won’t mistake this one for the kind of elevated horror that comes later in this list but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t make for a hell of a time.
9. Red State (2011)
Coming on the heels of the disappointing Cop Out, Kevin Smith decided to go entirely in the opposite direction, making this genuine horror film with plenty to say about the contemporary political and societal climate. John Goodman, Nicolas Braun, Melissa Leo, and Michael Parks all star in this tense story of an extremist Christian cult which draws in young, impressionable, horny young men with the promise of easy sex. A relatively low-budget indie, Red State did surprisingly well with critics, some claiming that Smith had reclaimed the voice and viewpoint that had been missing from his last few films.
8. Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (2019)
Jay And Silent Bob Reboot is very much in on the joke, sometimes to the point of exhaustion. The movie is almost constantly commenting on itself, reboots, and popular movies in general, so much so that it does not become much of a movie in its own right. Following our old friend Jay Mewes and, of course, Kevin Smith as they traipse around in their two-decade old costumes is fun enough but everything feels a little worn thin here in this patchwork of a movie. This probably won’t be the last time we see the famous pot-head duo but it might be time to return them to their status as sidekicks rather than stars
7. Clerks II (2006)
This Clerks sequel largely maintains the mood and ethos of the original, featuring the same kind of aimlessness that made the first such a surprise hit. Of course, things are ramped up a bit, as any sequel always is, but Smith largely does not lose sight of what made people love Clerks. While he does change the employment situation for heroes Randal and Dante and add a couple new characters, including Rosario Dawson as Becky, the crude humor and increasingly zany situational comedy is what ultimately drives Clerk II.
6. Zack and Miri Make A Porno (2008)
One of the defining characteristics of the well-made Zack and Miri Make A Porno is that it is mostly free of Smith’s usual band of collaborators, leading to the inspired duo of Elizabeth Banks and Seth Rogen. Again dipping into romantic comedy, Smith achieves his unique blend of heart and raunch in creating one of his best films. Perhaps a bit surprisingly, Zack and Miri Make A Porno didn’t do very well at the box office, despite its more established stars and genuinely funny setup.
5. Clerks III (2022)
Returning once again to his first-ever characters, Smith brings back the Clerks cast for another examination of aimless wandering. This time, though, there’s a bit more of Smith than ever present before. Early on in the movie, Randal suffers a severe heart attack, something that actually did happen to Smith in real life. He and Randal were both lucky to survive and so used their new lease on life to make a movie about convenience store clerks. That’s right, Clerks III is a move about the Clerks cast making a move about clerks. If that sounds awfully meta it often is, sometimes to its detriment. But there is still — as always — plenty to enjoy about this Clerks installment.
4. Chasing Amy (1997)
Chasing Amy marks Smith’s first attempt at genuine romance alongside his usual brand of chatty, often edgy comedy. Here we have Ben Affleck as Holden, one half of a comic book-creating duo with Jason Lee’s Banky. The two have made a modest success of their cult comic “Bluntman and Chronic” but things really get going when Holden meets Alyssa (Joey Lauren Adams), a fellow comic who he quickly falls in love with despite the fact that she is gay. From there we are thrown into a romantic comedy that genuinely finds a new way to tell the tired will-they-or-won’t-they story we are all very familiar with. Does it handle sexuality and LGBTQIA+ issues with grace and accuracy? Not exactly, but that doesn’t ruin the movie entirely. There is still plenty to glean from this inventive comedy.
3. Mallrats (1995)
Mallrats is, primarily, about two stunted young men who can’t seem to keep things together or follow through on anything in their lives. If you are sensing a theme among much of Kevin Smith’s work, especially the earlier material, you would be correct. He returns to that specific well so frequently you could be excused for becoming a bit tired of the motif, but Mallrats does find ways to charm even if we are repeating established archetypes. One of the primary reasons this film works is Jason Lee, who stars as Brodie, an incessantly chatty, inexplicably confident man-child who ignores his girlfriend and theorizes about everything you could imagine. Playing opposite is Jeremy London as T.S., his slightly less obnoxious but equally clueless best friend. The bulk of the movie, as you might imagine, takes place in a mall, that shrine to bored wandering where young people can waste full days easily. While many were disappointed with Mallrats in comparison to the more successful Clerks, it is a movie that is not without charms.
2. Clerks (1994)
Clerks is where it all started, the first entry into Kevin Smith’s View Askewniverse, the movie that led to every other and legitimately changed the way people considered independent comedies of its type. Clerks tells the story of two disenchanted, somewhat smug, and epically bored hourly workers named Randal and Dante, the latter working at Quick Stop groceries and the former a video store next door. This is a movie where nothing really happens. People talk, customers arrive and disappear, and the day drips by ever so slowly. So how does a movie where nothing happens become such a cult phenomenon? Clerks seemed to tap into something previously undiscovered, a kind of slackerism that was not yet on anyone’s radar when it was released in 1994 but one we’ve come to recognize as securely Generation X in hindsight. A modest success upon its release — especially considering its incredibly low budget — Clerks has since taken on a life of its own, becoming a beacon for a certain type of dude who loves talking about what he might do with his life if he could or would actually do it. It also introduced us to Smith’s unique brand of humor and the stalwart characters of Jay and Silent Bob.
1. Dogma (1999)
Dogma, the sequel to Good Will Hunting we were all waiting for! Except, of course, not really. While this movie does bring Ben Affleck and Matt Damon back together once again, this is about as far from the Oscar-winning movie that you can get. That’s not to say that it isn’t a great movie, because it very much is, just not exactly mainstream fare. Dogma is the story of Bartleby and Loki, two fallen angels desperately looking for a loophole to get back into heaven. One remarkable aspect of this film — aside from its biting social commentary and genuine hilarity — is its absolutely stacked cast, which includes Chris Rock, Jason Lee, Salma Hayek, Alan Rickman, and George Carlin.
