Taking its title from Smith's View Askew production company, Muir's latest offering is a guided tour of the iconic New Jersey filmmaker's cinematic oeuvre, from short synopses of Smith's films to behind-the-scenes stories of how they were made and how Smith himself has evolved. Muir (a contributor to Cinescape
and Filmfax) creates a compelling—and somewhat inspirational—portrait of Smith, who shot to indie-fame with his 1994 debut Clerks, which Smith financed with his own credit cards and shot after hours at a local minimart, in part because he thought his friends were funny and wondered if others would think so. They did. Since then, Smith's trademark characters, Jay (played by Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (played by Smith), have appeared in increasingly ambitious, popular and profitable films, such as Chasing Amy, Dogma
and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Muir does an admirable job of capturing in print the appeal of Smith's films, and some of the stories behind the films are both telling and hilarious. For example, Dogma, Smith's irreverent take on Catholicism, was almost nixed by Disney Corp. because of protests by Catholics. Smith responded by anonymously joining a group picketing Dogma
in front of a New Jersey theater and trashing his own film to an oblivious local reporter. Although Muir occasionally sprinkles the book with others' criticisms of Smith, there is unfortunately little of Muir's own critical voice in the narrative. But that shouldn't bother Smith's legion of fans, who—especially those in film school—will enjoy this effort. Photos not seen by PW. (Oct.)
