An Evening with Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder

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.

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.

The original An Evening with Kevin Smith DVD was an absolute laugh riot, consistently and outrageously funny. The second time around the humor is not nearly as consistent, this time it's much more hit and miss. When it hits it's very good. When it misses things get rather dull. Basically, this is only ever going to be as good as the questions from the audience. If the questions are poor (and here more than a few of them are) you're left with some serious downtime where the program really loses steam. The original DVD had much more material to work with, taking bits and pieces from a number of different Smith Q&As. Here there are only two shows to draw from, one in Toronto and one in London, and there really is not enough good material to cover the four hour length of the DVD. Some of the questions do nothing but fill, and ultimately waste, time.

Another disappointment is that this DVD is a little too much about Kevin Smith's personal life, whereas the first one was much more about Kevin Smith's professional life and his dealings in Hollywood. There's nothing here to match those great stories from the first DVD about the likes of Prince and Tim Burton. Stories about Smith's relationship with his wife or his daughter's television viewing habits were never going to be as compelling as a story about Prince's lunacy. Smith still holds nothing back and is at times obviously trying his hardest to be outrageous. But it turns out it's a lot easier to laugh at a story about Prince than it is to laugh at a story about Smith's wife or Smith's daughter or, in one segment which surely had the old man rolling in his grave, Smith's deceased father. We expect Smith to be outrageous but, ewwwww, there is such a thing as too much information. This DVD has its moments (including the obligatory Jason Mewes appearances) but after the comic gold of the first edition this one is a bit of a disappointment.

Writer/Director:Kevin Smith (Clerks 1 & 2, Chasing Amy, Dogma) goes to Toronto, Canada and England, United Kingdom for some Q & A. Where the audiences could ask smart and silly questions to this independent filmmaker. Smith is a smart guy, isn't shy answering your questions and no doubt having a great time answering to your question.

This is an entertaining Q & A film just like the original. Smith is naturally funny guy. Smith also has special guest like his long-time friend/co-star:Jason Mewes in both countries. This is just as long as the first one but the sequel seems to move in a faster pace.

DVD has an fine anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1) transfer and an good-Dolby Digital 5.0 Surround Sound. DVD contains two featurettes and hidden features. This is one of these DVD, you will surely enjoy. This certainly plays like a concert film. If you decide to watch the first evening and then the second one. Prepare yourself for one long enjoyable viewing. (****/*****).

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.