Man comes back to small home town after years of being away in California living a double life as a porn star. once back at home he decides to use the money he made to open a comic book store, all while trying to keep his family and townsfolk under the radar to exactly what he was doing while away on “hiatus”.

“Having watched the original Evening with Kevin Smith, and then finally seeing Kevin Smith in person at the Clerks 2 Melbourne premiere, I thought to myself “I could listen to this guy talk about anything for an unlimited amount of time”. That’s not an exaggeration. Evening Harder continues the trend of fascinating conversation, there’s no gap between Evening With and Evening Harder. Just like a good sequel, plots are mentioned from the first one, loose ends are tied up and there are updates on the fall out of events.

Evening Harder had a tough task of maintain the freshness and spontaneity of the first one, but Kevin never tires the audience out and keeps everything moving at a great pace from Toronto to London. His fantastic story about Dora the Explorer is one of the highlights and had myself tuning in to the kids show for a laugh. The opening in London is hilarious as Kevin himself proves to be even more of a foul mouth, gutter talker as he throws the C word out like it’s the new “google”. After watching his Evening DVD’s, and seeing him live on stage, one thing becomes clear: He doesn’t treat his audience with contempt. He doesn’t patronise them. He puts up with a lot and in the end comes across as a genuine bloke. There’s too much to report on and so much to discover about this wonderful collection of conversations. In Australia, we got 2 for the price of half a 1. Both Evening are packaged together for $27AU. I would have paid much much more for it.”

Marketing Dilemma: How To Promote a Film Called ‘F***’?

How can a studio promote and market a film whose title is the F word? That is the challenge facing ThinkFilm, which is releasing F**k the movie in New York and Los Angeles on Nov. 10 before expanding it. Bloomberg News quoted ThinkFilm’s marketing chief, Mark Urman, as describing his quandary this way: “Newspapers, unless they are alternative weeklies, cannot print the word … and movie theaters cannot put the title on a marquee.” Another complication facing the company — the title of the movie would also force the MPAA ratings board to issue an NC-17 rating; ThinkFilm has therefore decided to release it unrated. However, Mark Cuban’s Landmark Theatre Corp. has reportedly agreed to exhibit it in 57 theaters in 23 markets.

When Silent Bob speaks, the Hawaiian press listens

This year’s Maverick Awards ceremony was held at the Halekulani Hotel in Waikiki. Prior to the start of the ceremony, reporters were preparing their cameras. My Mom talked to some people, shook hands, had me do the same, and then sat down in the audience. In front of us stood a woman who was being paid to smile and ask us how our day was. She turned to me, smiled, and asked how my day was. I sat down in my seat and tried to think of a good question.

Every time someone entered the room, I would look over to see who it was. Finally, a man walked up the sidewalk. Mom nudged me and said “That’s him.”

“What?,” I thought. “This seemingly awkward man with spiky hair is my idol Silent Bob? He’s… different!”

Mr. Smith sat down, wiped his brow, and was announced by Christian Razukas of the Hawaii International Film Festival. “Please welcome, Kevin Smith!” There was applause and cameras flashed as Kevin waved a bit.

Christian explained that ” … Mr. Smith is the second-ever winner of the Maverick award. These awards are designed for people like him, brilliant and with different ways of thinking.”

After Mr. Razukas finished his introduction, Silent Bob finally spoke: “Hi. Tip of the day: Don’t bring a fat man who likes to wear layers to Hawaii. Don’t you guys have a cold season?”

This comment was then followed by much laughter from the reporters in the audience. You see, this is Hawaii’s cold season.

Kevin’s response when he was told this? “Holy $#!+.”

As part of this press conference, several reporters asked Mr. Smith what he thought about all of the comic books that had recently been turned into movies. Kevin replied by saying that ” … I get offered a lot of comic book movies but I usually turn them down ’cause I like watching those, not directing them. I make films with two guys talking about #######. If I made (big-budget comic book movies), then I can’t make fun of them anymore.”

Speaking of making fun of comic book movies, Kevin talked about Ben Affleck’s 2003 film, “Daredevil” and how — whenever Smith gets into a fight with Affleck these days — he says “Hey, go put on your red tights!”

Kevin also talked about the two comic book stores that he owns, one in Los Angeles & one in New Jersey.

Speaking of Southern California, Smith said that he was very honored that Knotts Berry Farm was killing Silent Bob as part of this year’s Hanging. “We filmed Clerks 2 right there in that city, what’s it called? Yeah, Buena Park, during the Haunt last year, and then this year … I’m really glad they used my characters without my permission. I think that’s totally cool.”

Kevin was then asked about Asian directors, as HIFF focuses mostly on Asian film. “I was wondering what the ####, I’m the only white person here!” he said, then talked about he really loves Ang Lee. Who Smith considers American, given that this director can do so many different things.

Making fun of his own directorial limitations, Kevin said that “… You know what you’re going into when you see a Kevin Smith film.”

Naming the lead character in Kevin Smith’s $27,000 mini-masterpiece of suburban ennui “Clerks” Dante always struck me as an odd choice. It’s way more gothic and theatrical than the rest of Smith’s immature brood (Randal, Jay, Bob). Smith’s original ending gave the moniker a bit more weight. As first conceived, the movie continued for one more scene after the ending that appeared in the final theatrical version (where Dante and Randal reconcile before Dante closes the Quick Stop for the night). Instead of that optimistic denouement, a burglar enters the convenience store, shoots Dante and robs the cash register. Instead of a cut to black and credits over upbeat selections from the soundtrack, the titles roll over the continuing shot of the Quick Stop, as a customer walks in (played by Smith himself) and steals a pack of cigarettes. The initial ending adds the extra oomph to “Dante” but it’s also wildly out of character for a comedy that, while dark, essentially laughs at all of life’s mysteries and dilemmas. Better ending: Theatrical. —MS

Catch And Release

Bottom Line: Screenwriter Susannah Grant makes directing debut with rambling but good-natured rom-com.

Sure it’s better to have loved and lost than not at all, but what about loving, losing, then discovering your now-dead groom-to-be wasn’t at all who you thought he was?

That’s still not as bad as the not-at-all option, it turns out, so long as that deceased fiance left you with some true-blue pals to cushion the fall. So says “Catch and Release,” a likable romantic comedy that delivers enough laughs and star appeal to fare reasonably well in the date-movie department, even if it doesn’t entirely live up to its ambitions.

Jennifer Garner plays would-be bride Gray, whose caterers plan for a wedding but wind up feeding a collection of mourners — including two, her late fiance Grady’s housemates, who are close enough to be her brothers, and one, a shallow commercials director just in from L.A. (Timothy Olyphant), who never quite fit into this little clan but has decided to stick around a while nevertheless.

In tidying up Grady’s affairs, Gray makes some startling discoveries: He was rich and was sending someone $3,000 a month. That someone is an unmarried woman (Juliette Lewis) with a young son.

Some hurtful words and one halfhearted suicide attempt later, these developments prove a bit less disruptive than viewers might expect. The story takes place in sunny Boulder, Colo., where, one character notes, people are unnaturally happy. Indeed a strong undercurrent of peace, love and understanding runs through the film: Characters introduced as louts or floozies are soon shown to be sympathetic human beings. Even their natural enemies come to see the good in them.

In part, that appears to reflect the big-heartedness of screenwriter Susannah Grant (champion of underestimated women in “Erin Brockovich” and “In Her Shoes”), who is making her feature-directing debut. She’s sympathetic here to characters that in another film might be two-dimensional punching bags; her warmth and her eagerness to make something richer than a typical romantic comedy go a long way.

But those revelations of characters’ hidden depths also can be abrupt, particularly in the case of Olyphant’s womanizer, whose evolution into a decent guy seems to happen off camera. Grant has acknowledged that her cut of the film started at two hours and 57 minutes. While one doesn’t long for that extra hour’s reinstatement — this sweet, small story isn’t meant to be an epic, and already feels a bit long — these cuts would explain a thing or two.

If not all its narrative and emotional strands work perfectly, though, the movie has its charms. Kevin Smith, as Grady’s housemate Sam, proves he’s no one-note Silent Bob. Although wearing a tie-dyed shirt may be the biggest challenge he faces here, he fills his comic-relief duties easily and has time left over to show a little tenderness. While Smith gets most of the laughs, Garner does turn a dinner-table outburst into a comic highlight.

Disc 1 (Toronto)

In the “Special Features” menu, highlight ‘Main Menu’ and press Left to reveal a Maple Leaf. Press Enter to see a clip of Mewes and Kevin talking about Jason having to hit on Jen in Degrassi.

Disc 2 (London)

In the “Trailers” menu, highlight ‘Special Features’ and press Up to reveal a crown on Kevin’s head. Press Enter to see a clip on the Secret Stash West opening.