Every Kevin Smith Movie, Ranked

The second entry in Smith's "True North" horror trilogy is easily the worst-reviewed film of his career to date. Released in 2016, the more comedic Yoga Hosers returns most of the cast from 2014's Tusk, this time centering on the prior film's minor characters of Colleen McKenzie (played by Smith's real-life daughter, Harley Quinn Smith) and Colleen Collette (Lily-Rose Depp), who, like several previous Smith characters, are convenience store clerks. The result is for die-hard Smith fans only; critics panned the film as "lazy," "corny," and "juvenile."

"Unless you're Kevin Smith, don't expect Yoga Hosers to be funny or clever or well directed. It isn't for you." —Kevin P. Sullivan, Entertainment Weekly

Smith has written the screenplay for every film he has directed, with a sole exception: this 2010 major-studio buddy-cop comedy starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan, penned by TV veterans Mark and Rob Cullen. Despite the fact that it's one of Smith's very worst films (with not a single positive review in our database), it is also his highest-grossing release to date.

"When your movie is nothing more than a cheap and uninteresting homage, best not to call attention to that fact with a ten minute opening scene to that effect." —Nick Starkey, Premiere

Not precisely a sequel (or prequel) to Clerks, Smith's second film takes place in the same vicinity just one day earlier, but focuses on a different group of characters, played by the likes of future Smith regulars Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams, and Jason Lee, though the biggest draw at the time was probably Shannen Doherty, fresh off her four-year run on Beverly Hills, 90210. Critics slammed the film, and it reportedly lost money during its theatrical run.

"'Clerks' spoke with the sure, clear voice of an original filmmaker. In Mallrats the voice is muffled, and we sense instead advice from the tired, the establishment, the timid and other familiar Hollywood executive types." —Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

After setting his first five films in the same shared "View Askewniverse" world, Smith finally tried something semi-new with this 2004 feature, his most expensive production to date. (It's only semi-new because it still stars Ben Affleck and George Carlin, and is still set mostly in New Jersey.) But the atypically straightforward and sentimental film—a rom-com/drama centering on a man trying to move on after a tragedy—was a failure at the box office and with critics, and Smith never attempted something like it again.

"The film's overall construction is faulty. Its dramatic situations ring consistently false, and the story is phony as anything off the Hollywood assembly line. And yet, it's sincere phony." —Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

In the middle of a roadshow-style tour of North America (that continues through early 2020), Smith's newest film returns its title characters to the screen for the first time in 13 years. Framed as a very meta sequel/reboot to 2001's Jay and Silent Bob Strikes Back, Reboot finds the pair discovering that the first movie based on their likenesses is being remade by director Kevin Smith (yes, the one you're thinking of). It's another cameo-filled affair, but critics are finding less to like this time around.

"Awkward and unfunny in exceptionally long stretches, Reboot probably won't turn his diehard fans against him. But it's unlikely to win him any new converts either." —Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, A.V. Club

Smith moved into the horror genre for the first time in 2011 with this self-released, low-budget indie thriller starring John Goodman, Melissa Leo, and Michael Parks. Critics had mixed feelings about the film, noting some cleverness in the script but also numerous flaws.

"Red State is gloriously unencumbered by fidelity to genre conventions, which lends it a thrilling element of unpredictability even when the action frequently grows shrill and heavy-handed." —Nathan Rabin, A.V. Club

Arriving in 2022 a full 16 years after the previous installment, the second sequel to Smith's beloved debut film Clerks returns Brian O'Halloran as Dante and Jeff Anderson as Randal in the present day. After suffering a major heart attack (much like Smith himself did in 2018), Randal enlists his friends in an attempt to make, well, Clerks—an indie movie about his days working at the Quick Stop. Some critics praised the work as showing a more mature side of Smith, but many others found Clerks III to be uneven and uncharacteristically devoid of laughs.

"Smith has infused this final chapter of the accidental trilogy with an odd tone. It's a comedy that wants to be serious but has trouble finding the right pitch." —James Berardinelli, Reelviews

After appearing at the edges of Smith's first four films, the titular Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Smith) took center stage in the director's 2001 feature, which found the pair headed to Hollywood after they discover that the "Bluntman and Chronic" comics based on them are being adapted into a feature film. The film is loaded with cameos from prior View Askewniverse characters, Smith regulars, and numerous filmmakers and actors portraying versions of themselves (with some, like Ben Affleck, falling into multiple categories by playing three roles). Fans seemed to enjoy the result much more than critics did.

"It's hit-or-miss comedy of the very broadest sort, but those who groove on deciphering obscure film-geek in-jokes will find their work more than cut out for them." —Marc Savlov, The Austin Chronicle

Smith's second straight horror film, this 2014 feature kicks off a trilogy of films featuring the same cast (though the third film, Moose Jaws, is still hypothetical). Michael Parks, Justin Long, Haley Joel Osment, and Genesis Rodriguez star, while Johnny Depp has an uncredited supporting role. Despite receiving conventional theatrical distribution (unlike his prior horror film, Red State), Tusk managed to gross just $1.8 million, though the few people who saw the film will forever look at walruses in a different way.

"Tusk is not a particularly good movie, but the vivid anxiety dream at its heart makes it one of the most personal films this writer-director has ever made." —Bilge Ebiri, Vulture

Venturing out of the View Askewniverse for just the second time (following 2004's Jersey Girl), Smith enlisted fresh faces in the form of Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks for this 2008 sex comedy set—unusually for a Smith film—near Pittsburgh. The film was greeted by mixed reviews and was a box office disappointment, leading to a breakup between Smith and his longtime distributor Harvey Weinstein.

"The moments when "Z&M" works are, almost without exception, the ones that are more sweet than shocking. All the rest, frankly, feel like Apatow Lite." —Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News

Starring Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Salma Hayek, and Chris Rock, Smith's fourth film drew a lot of controversy ahead of its 1999 release for its "blasphemous" view of the Catholic Church (which is to be expected when you cast George Carlin as a cardinal). In spite of—or because of—that attention, Dogma wound up becoming the highest-grossing entry in Smith's Jersey-set "View Askewniverse" series.

"As funny as a lot of the film is, Dogma remains as frustratingly uneven as the rest of Smith's work." —Rene Rodriguez, The Miami Herald

After the failure of Jersey Girl in 2004, Smith returned to more comfortable territory with his first true sequel, which returns the main characters (played again by Brian O'Halloran and Jeff Anderson) from his 1994 debut and rejoins their lives a decade later. While critics didn't like it quite as much as the first Clerks, the sequel was Smith's best-reviewed film in nearly a decade as well as a modest box office success. After an aborted attempt in 2017, a third Clerks film is once again in development as of October 2019.

"What makes Clerks II both winning and (somewhat unexpectedly) moving is its fidelity to the original 'Clerks' ethic of hanging out, talking trash and refusing all worldly ambition." —Dana Stevens, The New York Times

In addition to being one of the standouts of the golden age of indie cinema, Kevin Smith's no-budget, black-and-white 1994 debut—a comedy that spends a day with Quick Stop Groceries clerk Dante (Brian O'Halloran) and his slacker friend Randal (Jeff Anderson)—also marks Smith's on-screen debut as an actor. He plays pot dealer Silent Bob, a character who (along with his sidekick Jay, played by Jason Mewes) would go on to appear in over half of Smith's films. Shot in the actual store where Smith held a clerk job while he was filming, the financially successful Clerks received a sequel in 2006 and an animated television spinoff that aired briefly on ABC in 2000 before being canceled after two episodes.

"Rough around the edges, it's humor decidedly sophomoric in parts. But that's part of its charm." —Amy Gamerman, The Wall Street Journal

After following his well-received debut Clerks with a dud of a follow-up (Mallrats) in 1995, Smith found the perfect way to recover from his sophomore slump: He made the best film of his career. (Whether or not it holds up today is another matter.) A rom-com set in the world of comic books, Amy finds Ben Affleck's Holden falling for a lesbian artist played by Joey Lauren Adams. Amy won Smith an Independent Spirit Award for his screenplay (with co-star Jason Lee picking up a second trophy), and the film easily outgrossed both of Smith's previous releases combined.

"The hit-and-run outlandishness of 'Clerks' was a stunt. With Chasing Amy, Smith has made his first real movie." —Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly