Yoga Hosers

Kevin Smith definitely didn't shoot for the moon, or aim to make this for everyone, or even most...he made this for his fans from the Podcast, and to give his daughter an avenue to stretch her new found skills.

The movie is fun. the performances in it all shine at different moments...the two standouts being Johnny Depp as Guy Lapointe and Tony Hale as Lily-Rose Depp's Dad...Solid and funny.

The girls grew on me after awhile...which was surprising, only to the fact that watching teen girls on their phones and chatting back and forth...in real life can be annoying...But Smith makes it funny, and paced well.

Overall...if the preview intrigues you...see it.

If not...it's OK to skip...it's not for you.

Yoga Hosers (2016)

* (out of 4)

Friends Colleen (Lily-Rose Depp) and Colleen (Harley Quinn Smith) are invited to a Senior party but they end up having to work at the local convenient store. They invite the boys back to the store for a party by they're attacked by some Nazi sausages.

Yes, writer/director Kevin Smith has followed the ultra-bizarre TUSK up with an even stranger movie that isn't nearly as creative. You know, I got the great opportunity to see Smith in person during one of his "conversations" and he's a terrific and fun guy. I mean, you gotta admire the man for what he has accomplished in his career and during the chat he talked about people questioning him and that he will do the type of films that he wants. I really, truly and 100% respect that and I admire any filmmaker who wants to take chances and do weird things.

With that said, just because I respect the filmmaker doesn't mean that I'm going to enjoy the picture. Sadly, YOGA HOSERS is a really awful movie that doesn't work on any level outside of being weird, strange and in all reality original. Yes, Nazi sausages are on display here and you've got to at least admit that you've never seen that before. The problem is that Smith's screenplay is just weird and for a comedy it's never funny. That's the most shocking thing to me because Smith is one of the best dialogue writers out there yet this film just seems flat and lifeless.

I don't know if the point of this film is to give his daughter and Depp's daughter a film to go and if perhaps Daddy Smith and Daddy Depp are just here having some goofy fun. Perhaps that's the case but you still have to have some sort of laughs. At just 89-mintues the film is rather short but it drags on to the point where around the twenty-minute mark I was already looking at my clock. I will say that the two leads are actually good together and have a nice chemistry, which just makes you wish even more that they had something better to work with. Johnny Depp returns to his role from TUSK and adds to the weirdness.

YOGA HOSERS is just another flat out weird movie but sadly this one here isn't nearly as effective as TUSK. With the lack of laughs this movie is pretty much dead in the water, which is really too bad.

I have seen reviews here bashing the movie. Yoga Hosers is no Godfather. This is obvious. I have been watching Kevin Smith movies for nearly 25 years. Instead, look at the fun the actors are having. This movie stars Johnny Depp, his kids, with Kevin Smiths daughter, Johnny Depp's ex girlfriend and mother of his children, Kevin Smith and wife, Jason Mewes, Stan The Man Lee....all of these people friends. It was done for fun, and to poke fun at Canada and millenial culture. If I had the pull and the money, I'd do it too. Kevin Smith does this, every now and then grabs up his friends and makes something silly, and goes back to making the movies that earn huge amounts of money. Does no one remember the line from Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back? You make the safe film, then you make the art film. And sometimes, you make a film for your friends. That is Kevin Smith. Sometimes he just wants to have fun with his friends. The relationship Kevin Smith has with his daughter is one that every father should dream of having. Or am I the only one moved by seeing Harley Quinn Smith in tears when Kevin Smith gave her the bat used by Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad as a gift? And Depp. It is like he has a side of him that reasonates with Kevin Smith. He plays a lot of roles in movies, but seeing him onscreen during one scene with his daughter and cracking wise that she may not be old enough for what he is talking about was great. The movie is not in my top fifty, but it was nice to see friends and family making jokes and enjoying themselves.

Would have worked better as a "Grindhouse" type film. I can tell this was supposed to be comedy, but almost every joke fell flat. There were only minor amusing moments, but they were so scattered across the run time that your search for them would not even be worth it.

I wish Kevin Smith wouldn't do all the science fiction elements, because they don't blend well with the established tone. And It makes everything more ridiculous to be honest. I would have enjoyed a more down to Earth comedy. If you wanna keep the weird monsters and over the top scientists, then set the tone up better from the start. Because the first act is like a cheap Rom- com. It just takes you by surprise when it switches gears. I don't have anything against the Avantgarde genre, but here it just didn't work well.

What are the positives? There's an entertaining flashback scene with Haley Joel Osment. He is completely over acting and it's one of the few scenes which could be funny to some people. Johnny Depp shows up, and his ex-wife and two of his kids (one is playing the lead) as well. Even Kevin Smith's daughter co-stars. So, this is a family film? Maybe it is nice to see these two families be friends and make a funny movie together. You can see they all had fun and they are not taking it seriously for one second.

It feels like the Depp's and the Smith's were just hanging out for a weekend and just for the fun of it decided to make a movie. They invited a few friends too. I guess it's all an in-joke to them, but for the rest of the world? Not so much.

Kevin Smith was good filmmaker. He made Clerks on a shoestring budget. He made the wickedly funny Dogma. And he made the surreal Tusk. But somewhere along the lines he seems to have forgotten certain things.

While Sophia Coppola wrote a love letter to Japan in "Lost in Translation", Kevin Smith seems to have scrawled something on a bar napkin for Canada in "Yoga Hosers". It's frankly a wonder why specifically this movie was made.

The story itself, is unremarkable. Two girls, played by the daughters of Johnny Depp and Kevin Smith play the two Colleens who wind up in the middle of some really strange stuff dealing with Nazi sausages. Yes that's right, Bratzis. The girls are cute but they're not great actresses. You really need more if you plan on building a career for these two.

But that's not the problem. The problem is why specifically is this set in Canada? Put it in the United States and the story would barely change. The only difference is there wouldn't be all those lame Canadian "jokes" that people say when trying to be clever.

Yes. We get it. Canadians have an accent. They say "sorry" differently. They say "zed" instead of "zee". And nobody, especially in Manitoba, says "aboot". Maybe that's an East coast thing but I've spent time in Canada and never heard anybody say it that yes. Sure, it's different than how we say it in the United States but it's not "aboot".

But literally that's the joke. Canadians talk funny. Ha ha ha. Get it? If not it's okay, it'll only be hammered home with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. If you make the mistake of trying to take a shot every time somebody says "sorry" or "aboot" you'll be passed out in the first 10 minutes.

I'll admit it had some decent moments but overall, it was just terrible.

I'm really not looking forward to "Moose Jaws" because I honestly think it's just going to be more of the same.