I guess Kevin Smith didn’t read my article asking him to GROW UP, because he is at it again. Smith has unleashed furious rants at critics after his new film Cop Out received next to no positive reviews (was anyone surprised?) – insisting he’d rather see members of the public give opinion instead of “nasty” movie experts. The “comedy”, starring Bruce Willis was released last month and has been slated by reviewers, with many claiming the movie is let down by a weak script, old/bad jokes and a shitty plot. Smith is fuming about the unflattering comments, insisting he feels like his film has been “bullied” – and has vowed to force critics to pay to review his movies from now on.
Smith in "Catch and Release". Too easy.
So of course he went on on Twitter again. In a series of posts on his page, he writes: “I gotta say that every day I hate film theory & film students & critics more & more. Film fandom’s become a nasty bloodsport where cartoonishly rooting for failure gets the hit count up. Watching them beat the s**t out of it was sad. Like, it’s called Cop Out; that sound like a very ambitious title to you? You REALLY wanna s**t in the mouth of a flick that so OBVIOUSLY strived for nothing more than laughs. Was it called Schindler’s Cop Out? Writing a nasty review for Cop Out is akin to bullying a retarded kid. All you’ve done is make fun of something that wasn’t doing you any harm and wanted only to give some cats some fun laughs.”
“Realised whole system’s upside down: so we let a bunch of people see it for free & they s**t all over it? Meanwhile, people who’d REALLY like to see the flick for free are made to pay? Bulls**t: from now on, any flick I’m ever involved with, I conduct critics screenings thusly: you wanna see it early to review it? Fine: pay like you would if you saw it next week. Why am I giving an arbitrary 500 people power over what I do at all, let alone for free? Next flick, I’d rather pick 500 randoms from Twitter & let THEM see it for free in advance, then post THEIR opinions, good AND bad. Same difference. Why’s their opinion more valid? It’s a backwards system.”
Rather than a free movie just for his friends, how about Smith just gives us our money back if his movie is garbage? Back your movie up with a “love it or your money back guarantee”. Cop Out was trashed because it’s a bad film. And there are tons of them, so why is he so special? Because he made Clerks and reads comics like the kids do? Get over it man. It’s clear Smith is very thin skinned, and for someone in the business of making art for people to look at, that can’t be good. After a studio uses a name director and actor to make a movie that sucks, it’s common knowledge that people will have something to say. Even himself: “It’s called CopOut that sound like a very ambitious title to you?” You got us there Kevin, bravo sir. Why did you even make this movie? You clearly had no ambition or effort to do so. Why should we care then?
I will let Colin at getthebigpicture take us home:
“(W)e let a bunch of people see it for free & they shit all over it?” Not exactly and not always. It only happens when the movie blows, curiously enough. Shutter Island, on the other hand, I saw for free and paid to see two more times on opening weekend. Because that movie was well-made and undertaken genuinely by a filmmaker who doesn’t mail it in and who, unlike you, hasn’t lived off the legacy of one single creation made nearly 20 years prior. I bust my ass to run my website so it’d be nice if you did the same when you went to work, sir.
If Smith wants to conduct private screenings for 500 people, fine. It’s clear he’s not interested in anything resembling an objective viewpoint; he just wants people to fawn over his movies. Except that there hasn’t been any reason to in a decade. What I’d like to offer in exchange is that Smith and his stars and his studios refuse to promote those same movies. You see, that’s the other part of the critical arrangement Smith doesn’t talk about: Yes, critics see movies for free. In exchange for that, Smith’s film receives free coverage online, in the papers, on TV. That’s the deal. It’s what pisses me off about films that don’t screen for the press but only make that decision in the last couple of weeks prior to release. After all, the internet writes about them for months and months with the understanding that this give-and-take is in place. If you make a bad movie, take your lumps. Nobody compromised Kevin Smith into making a film he equates to a retarded child other than Kevin Smith. Be a man about it. Or, you know, be a better filmmaker.
More backlash at Cinimatical.
Tags: cop out, kevin smith
