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cranecreekcracker
Reviews
Kevin Smith: Silent But Deadly (2018)
Smith has Transcended the Terpsichorean Veil
Smith's droll humor amuses me no end. He has the rare ability to lead you to a punch line without actually using it, which draws the humor from within the audience. I have a good friend with this ability and he's hysterical - I find myself laughing at myself and him simultaneously, a phenomenon I have found in very few comics/actors over the years.
Smith also has a true gift for physical humor. A gesture, a posture, a facial expression - he can (and has made serious bank on his ability to) very nearly tell a story without speaking at all. Depp, Downey Jr., Charlie Chaplin, Robin Williams, Jonathan Winters and Bob Newhart are perhaps other examples. I include him in such company without compunction.
I've watched his stuff since Clerks (I'm from NJ...) and the older I get the less eager I am to see the ever more puerile adventures of Jay and Silent Bob - I haven't smoked weed since the 80s so stoner jokes aren't all that funny to me. But there are always parts to his films I'm glad I didn't miss. My son-in-law is living with us while working on his doctorate and Smith's oeuvre is something we have bonded over. The 24 years separating us is far less expansive while watching a good old-fashioned dick and fart movie.
I also think it's worth adding that at this point in our culture; Smith has transcended the terpsichorean veil and has become "Kevin Smith" - amusing and interesting of and unto himself. And so a standup comedy routine wherein Kevin Smith is just being himself is a delight. I'd rather watch Smith on stage just being Smith than Smith as "Silent Bob", haplessly embroiled in yet another bizarre, convoluted and drug addled odyssey the terminus of which is lost as denouement.
I'm glad he didn't die.