A hot mess

It started with a weird vibe, seeing Jay with his ageing rehab face yet glowing white fake teeth was creepily uncanny, the jokes weren’t really landing, the long scene in a giant empty courtroom and dark lighting felt more Kubrick than Smith, and Smith’s daughter started off creepy and annoying.

BUT when the film stopped trying to ape the magic of the first film and became its own piece about fatherhood - the film Smith wanted to make - it really took off. I was amazed at Mewes’ dramatic chops, and Harley Quinn eventually won me over. The cameos kept coming and when Affleck delivered his PERFECT monologue the film earned its place in the View Askewniverse. That might be one of the best pieces about parenthood in movie history, and it was hilarious to boot. Crazy to think it was a late addition.

If Smith ever wanted some advice, I’d say slow down, Kev. He writes so quickly while stoned and I think he could have honed those early scenes, structuring them better and keeping the gag rate up. Jay is one of the funniest movie characters ever but he felt kinda ‘nerfed’ here, when he should be going toe to toe with Deadpool for relentless zingers.

I gather Smith is more hands-off with actors these days, letting them riff, that’s fine but we come to Smith for HIS great dialogue. Chasing Amy had golden dialogue the whole way through, this was much more hit and miss. I’m a little nervous about Clerks 3 after this (and Yoga Hosers - which I haven’t seen but gets universally panned), Smith seems to have lost his ear for witty, filthy dialogue but grown a new ear for earnest drama.

I guess we have to accept that post-heart-attack Smith is a changed man and all we can really ask of an artist is that they follow their inspiration, even if that means taking us down different roads to the ones we fell in love with (which is a terrible excuse for the Prequels but probably still true).