Ahoy Towelites,
This news dropped yesterday, but I wasn’t entirely sure how to address it. You see, Kevin Smith is now taking his Mallrats 2 movie idea and trying to turn it into a television series. Now don’t get me wrong, we’re big fans of Kevin Smith here at DFAT. Just take a listen to our Smith-filled podcast from Those Geeks You Know. It’s just that this doesn’t seem all that great of an idea. Smith is a great writer, a pretty good director, but a completely amazing geek. His films aren’t usually what I’d refer to as high art, or even high comedy; but they are usually entertaining.
Growing up, Mallrats was my favorite film of his. My sister and I rented it so many times from the video store; that one day my mom finally just came home with the VHS copy of it and through it down in the middle of the living room. She figured it was cheaper to just buy that, then having to pay the rental fees on the movie. I was OBSESSED with Smith. I have the Jay and Silent Bob toys, posters, t-shirts, comics and I’ve even been to the Secret Stash on more than one occasion. I really do love Kevin Smith.
When he announced that he would do Mallrats 2, I got excited. He was going around and getting all the former actors together like he was planning an Oceans 11-esque heist. It was awesome. Then, you didn’t hear anything about it. Then, last Month he told /Film that he had the film mapped out and it was ready to go. Then, yesterday he said he’s turning into a television series. So, with my love of Smith and love of the idea of Mallrats 2; why then don’t I love the idea of this television series?
It’s because Kevin Smith needs to be handled in small doses. Sometimes, even his small doses are too long like his Clerks cartoon series. It wasn’t a bad show, but it was far from great. Did anyone even watch his other animated feature Jay and Silent Bob’s Super Groovy Cartoon Movie? Exactly. Having a funny 85-minute idea drawn out for 13 hours is probably not going to do anyone any favors, especially Smith. I want him to prosper and continue Geeking Out; but I have a feeling that if this idea doesn’t get picked up or it does and it fails; we won’t see Smith direct anything outside of the CW-verse, and honestly, I think that’s just fine. As I mentioned earlier, he’s a great writer and he does know his way around a camera; but I can’t see this Mallrats television series being a good thing. I could be wrong and I hope I am; but these are just the thoughts and ideas of a long-time Smith fan.
