An Evening with Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder

If you love Kevin Smith movies and the man's wit and also if you need your sequel to Evening With Kevin Smith (2002), which contains some of the best Q and A answers, than this new DVD is a must have.

Kevin smith continues his Q and A session over in Toronto Canada and England and the same irreverent humor is still there with many satirical outlook about many of his experiences in the Hollywood media machine and to his daily life which I can sum up as GOOD CRUDE.

A non-stop 4hr geek-fest for the die hard Smitty's fans and also to people whom love to listen to god awful truth about everything in the movie industries and anything else.

Kevin Smith. When you hear that name, you think of Jay and Slient Bob, Dante and Randall, Holden and Alissa, Mooby's and the Quik Stop.

With Evening Harder, you're not disappointed. Smith takes us on a roller-coaster ride of sexual innuendos, rapid-fire wisecracks, and riffs on Tim Horton's, writer's block, and organized religion.

Guest shots by Jason Mewes, a special delivery of Timbits from an audience member, and Smith's take on how *he* would have written the Passion of the Christ round out just *one* disc of pure Kevin Smith gold.

Parents beware: this is *not* for the kids, nor is it for anyone that can't stomach a good solid dig at religion.

Kevin Smith goes to Toronto. He praises Canada (but he's not pandering). He talks about Tim Horton, his family, a lot of dick jokes, throwing an election, revisiting Prince, Gibson's Passion of Christ and whatever off the top of his head. He supports Affleck who was getting bashed at the time. Jason Mewes does Half, Half, Whole which brings the place down.

In London, he's in a more intimate space. He starts off railing against some bad press from The 3M Girls after Jersey Girl. There is less drug humor and a little hesitation with the language differences. It's more hit and miss compared to Toronto. The crowd is older and not the college crowd that he gets back in America.

The Toronto show is very much in line with the first "An Evening with Kevin Smith". It's rowdy and no holds barred. The London show is more mixed. It has the young wild college kids but even they run more towards film fans. I would bet that the percentage of marijuana smokers is much lower in London. London has more slow spots but it's still quite fascinating. The language problem does get a little tiresome but I don't blame anybody for that.

The first difference you notice is that this is not material cut from several Q & A's he did. On Disc 1 you will see a show he did in Toronto. From start to finish. On Disc 2 you will find a Q & A he did in Great Britain. That fact is important because you notice that he is very aware that this is a show that is coming out on DVD. So he desperately tries to come up with somewhat interesting stories and also he really tries to be funny and doesn't just let the stories evolve. On the first 'Evening with Kevin Smith' Edition you didn't get the impression that he was under some kind of pressure to produce a certain product. You will notice that he even mentions the title 'Evening Harder' a couple of times. But aside from that there is nothing more to say, just 4 hours of Kevin Smith talking. If you are a fan you will enjoy it. Even if you are not a fan it is funnier than most stand-up's that are currently circulating. There is one thing though that I didn't like and no other Smith Fan could possibly like: The Material shown to us on this 2-Disc Set is pretty out-dated. The producers could have made an effort to bring us some more up-to-date material. Aside from that, what can I tell you? You see Smith standing on stage for about 4 hours telling stories that are funny and often interesting but have sometimes (quite often actually) not much to do with the question asked. A welcome surprise was to see an, obviously, drug-free Jason Mewes on stage. Of interest to those people who know the first 'Evening with Kevin Smith' should also be that he does a couple of follow up stories. As for me, I really enjoyed it and I guess every Kevin Smith Fan will too. 4 Hours of listening to Kevin Smith is still funnier than watching a regular comedy flick. PS: You see him come up and perform the Lord of the Rings bit that ended up as a scene in Clerks 2.

When I first saw pieces of An Evening with Kevin Smith, I could not stop watching. It was just too funny for words, and just so engrossing that the obnoxiously long running time did not seem like too much of an issue. Of course, I never did manage to watch it start to finish, but all of the parts I watched made me want to. So at Christmas time, knowing full well that a follow-up disc had been released, I acquired both DVDs. But instead of watching and finishing off the first one, I sat down and watched all of the second film, An Evening with Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder. And like many other people, I was pretty disappointed.

Whereas the original film was more of a compilation of "best of" clips from various college Q&A visits Smith had made all over the United States, the second film is two full visits he made abroad with no edits or cuts. The first disc encompasses a visit to Toronto, and the second to London. Smith entertains the audience with plenty of stories, and he answers many questions that just about any other film director would shy away from. Woody Allen this man is not.

I think the reason this film does not work on the same level as the first film is the fact that it is just two of his appearances as opposed to a handful. The first was a compilation of all sorts of clips, and this just goes straight through both "concerts" from beginning to end. For that reason, it just does not hold up the same way. There are many boring lulls throughout, and at many times, Smith just goes totally off topic and rambles about the stupidest things. There is a whole ten-minute bit during the London appearance where he talks with two audience members about pick-up lines, and it is just awkward because we know he is trying to crack jokes, but he just is not spot-on. If the first film taught us anything, it is that Smith is great in small doses, because when he is on, he really is on. But this film proves the fact that he cannot stay on for an entire two-hour span.

Instead, we are treated to interesting and intriguing stories few and far between. Yes, Smith talks throughout, but he just looks and sounds both lazy, and incredibly bored. Never is there a real sense that Smith desperately wants to be at either appearance. It just feels like he wants to answer a few questions, grab the cheque and take off. Very little of the conviction he had on the previous film, or even his interview and candid footage from his feature film DVDs is apparent on the stage here. He instead, has devotion for some of the material he talks about, and then quite literally, looks like he could care less at the more pointless stuff.

An audience member asks him early on to give him some pointers about writing a screenplay, and asks if he in fact, will take a read at it. He then goes into a lengthy speech about how lazy he is when he writes scripts, and how he really does not want to read the guy's script because of that same laziness. It both felt heartbreaking and incredibly selfish from a director who really works as a result of the fan appreciation, and really made me rethink how great a director Smith really is. Parts like these show up a few times, and makes Smith look more like a pompous jerk than the hilarious and fan driven guy he really is (or comes off as).

As for the stories themselves, as previously stated, they are interesting but few and far between. We are treated to stories about his wife's pictorial in Playboy, his newly found fatherhood and his fondness for Dora the Explorer. These three stand out in my mind as particularly funny stories, and unfortunately, there is a real lack of them on these two discs. The first film was practically overflowing with hilarious and memorable stories, and this one had me really scratching my head attempting to come up with some of the stories that he tells that were actually worthwhile.

It is great to see Jason Mewes make an appearance at both venues and talk for a bit, but even he cannot save Smith from the boredom that sets in not too long after each concert starts. You can tell he is stretching things out here and there, and as said before, it just does not have anywhere near as much strength as the first film. This film just cannot stand up on its own, and unfortunately, is a disappointment. It may be a worthwhile look for people who really like Smith, but for everyone else, just stick with the first film.

6/10.