An Askew View 2: The Films of Kevin Smith - Applause Books | Biography & Film Analysis | Perfect for Movie Buffs & Kevin Smith Fans

It wasn't until the late 1990s that I finally caught "Clerks" on cable after hearing about it for years. I remember being amazed at how it nailed my Gen-X angst at being an underachiever while wanting more out of life. From that point on I followed Kevin Smith's work and have enjoyed most of his subsequent outings. The man himself is also quite interesting, so I grabbed "An Askew View 2: The Films of Kevin Smith", a revised and updated version of a previous book by John Kenneth Muir, for an entertaining in-depth view of Mr. Smith and his career.The first section (The Good Old Days: 1970-2002) begins with a brief biographical sketch of Kevin Smith's formative years, including his brief tenure as a film school student, and goes from 1994's "Clerks" to the "Clerks Animated Series" in 2000. Part II (State of Red: 2003-2011) kicks off with 2004's "Jersey Girl" and takes us through "Red State" in 2011, concluding with some scoop on Kevin Smith's future plans (as of the book's writing) and the doings of some of his regular collaborators. Each of Mr. Smith's projects receives an analysis by Mr. Muir that's filled out by cast and crew recollections, and there are three sections with photographs of the usual View Askew suspects in their natural habitat.Despite the author's somewhat fawning approach to all things Kevin Smith, I enjoyed Mr. Muir's take on the director and his body of work, although some of Mr. Smith's creations get deeper coverage than others (I was left wanting more in the "Clerks II" chapter, for example). He's obviously a huge fan of the View Askew universe, and from time to time he manages to escape his starry-eyed adoration long enough to admit that not everything Kevin Smith produces is criticism-proof. But on the whole this is a fan's tribute to the object of his affection, and that isn't a bad thing. Mr. Smith and his crew seem like a cool bunch of folks that deserve positive treatment, especially after being raked over the coals by some mean-spirited detractors."An Askew View 2" is great reading for admirers of Kevin Smith, especially those in the Generation-X category that his films so ably portray (and good-naturedly skewer). Perhaps down the line there will be a third edition of this book that covers the further adventures of Kevin Smith in other media, such as television's "Comic Book Men" and the online Smodcasts? We can only hope!