''An Evening with Kevin Smith'' is a DVD featuring question and answer sessions that the comedian and

filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...

Kevin Smith Kevin Patrick Smith (born August 2, 1970) is an American filmmaker, actor, comedian, comic book writer, author, YouTuber, and podcaster. He came to prominence with the low-budget comedy buddy film '' Clerks'' (1994), which he wrote, directed, ...

held with his fans at various American colleges in 2001/2002. The colleges were:

Clark University Clark University is a private research university in Worcester, Massachusetts. Founded in 1887 with a large endowment from its namesake Jonas Gilman Clark, a prominent businessman, Clark was one of the first modern research universities in the ...

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universi ...

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in ...

and

University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a public land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, and opened in September 1887. The University of Wyoming ...

. During the sessions, Smith answers questions regarding his movies, as well as his life. He discusses how he got started in the

movie industry The film industry or motion picture industry comprises the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking, i.e., film production companies, film studios, cinematography, animation, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, post ...

, how different films came about, his friendship with

Jason Mewes Jason Edward Mewes (born June 12, 1974) is an American actor, comedian, film producer, and podcaster. He is best known for playing Jay, the vocal half of the duo Jay and Silent Bob, in longtime friend Kevin Smith, Kevin Smith's films. Early lif ...

, and his relationship with the media, fans, and various other celebrities.

Plot

The film features numerous comedic stories from Smith's life at that point in his early 30s. Smith first unearthed stories such as his relationship with

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

and their famously unreleased “Superman Lives”. The story became the basis for a 2016 documentary. The story Smith tells involves producer

Jon Peters John Peters (born June 2, 1945) is an American film producer and former hairdresser. Early life Peters was born on June 2, 1945 in Van Nuys, California. Peters is of Cherokee (father) and Italian (mother) descent. While growing up in a rough ne ...

wanting to include elements of generic blockbuster cliché in Smith's script, these include Superman fighting a large spider, a story point later included in Peters' box office bomb ''

Wild Wild West ''Wild Wild West'' is a 1999 American steampunk Western film co-produced and directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and written by S. S. Wilson and Brent Maddock alongside Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman, from a story penned by brothers Jim and John ...

''. Another story Smith recalls is of when he first met his future wife (

Jennifer Schwalbach Smith Jennifer Schwalbach Smith (born April 7, 1971), sometimes credited as Jennifer Schwalbach, is an American actress, podcaster and retired reporter for ''USA Today''. Career While a ''USA Today'' reporter, Schwalbach met film director Kevin Smith ...

) whilst promoting ''

Dogma Dogma is a belief or set of beliefs that is accepted by the members of a group without being questioned or doubted. It may be in the form of an official system of principles or doctrines of a religion, such as Roman Catholicism, Judaism, Isla ...

'' in 1999 and the birth of his daughter that same year. Smith tells of how he was physically injured the night he first slept with his wife, a fact he never told her until a full year into their marriage. One of Smith's most popular stories from the DVD is of when he was unknowingly forced to make a near 5-hour long documentary for

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. T ...

about

God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

and the evolution of man, both of which are two topics Smith has little to no involvement in. Smith reveals he was angry with the pop star towards the end of the week he spent with him, especially when he learns of the documentary never seeing the light of day, instead being put into Prince's vault which includes over 100 original music videos and hundreds of hours of music previously unreleased according to Smith.

Reception

The film has a 100% "Certified Fresh" rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

with 6 positive reviews collected. Joel Cunningham, writing for Digitally Obsessed, stated that the DVD was "essential viewing for any true fan of Jay and Silent Bob" and complimented Smith's abilities as a story teller. Adam Tyner of DVD Talk ranked ''An Evening with Kevin Smith'' as "highly recommended" though he noted that "at least ''some'' familiarity with Kevin Smith and his body of work is required to get much out of this two-disc set."

References

External links

* * 2002 direct-to-video films 2002 films Works by Kevin Smith 2002 comedy films {{2000s-comedy-film-stub