Search - Sold Out: A Threevening With Kevin Smith on DVD

Solid Kevin Smith Q & A; A lot of Smodcast Material Repeated

M. Dougherty | Central Illinois | 11/04/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I am a pretty big fan of Kevin Smith. I listen to his and Scott Mosier's Free Podcast (called Smodcast) fairly regularly. I own the other Q&A DVDs, and I have really enjoyed most of his movies.

When I got "Threevening," I was expecting that it would be a little bit more "manufactured" for DVD than the other DVDs solely based on the fact that it is the third installment and, obviously, now it is more of a money-making venture than the first Q&A DVD that paid off nicely. The first and arguably second DVDs seemed to be much more organic in the sense that the filming was of Smith doing a true Q&A format, actually answering questions (though, in a long and winding way) and conducting the events not to produce, market, and sell a DVD, but to actually answer peoples' questions.

When you watch "Threevening" it is pretty apparent that the events were organized (staged?) for the sole purpose of maximizing the profitability of DVD sales and not to genuinely answer fans' questions. It's very easy to picture a group of straight-to-DVD production company executives sitting in a room watching and re-watching the first two DVDs so that they can re-create in "Threevening" what made the first two DVDs sell so well and then give Smith a bullet-point list of things he needs to do during the show as per his contract with the DVD filming and production company. If the implied obviousness isn't enough, Smith makes a few references to the "DVD [being filmed]" in the DVD itself.

Also, instead of answering questions, he just seems to recite a prepared stand-up act (though, still funny) regardless of the participants' question. Of course, he adapts the very beginning and very end of the 10 minute stand-up bit to relate back to the question, but again, as I said, it's obvious that this is just a staged attempt to produce another profitable Q&A DVD in an easy format.

Finally, many (not all, but many) of the stories he tells in the Q&A are nearly verbatim from past Smodcasts or in his GREAT book "Silent Bob Speaks," such as the "Shecky" story and the "Anal Fissures" story. There are some elements that he didn't cover in the Smodcast version of the story, but all the funny parts are generally there. There are new stories in "Threevening," but if you have listened to the free-to-download Smodcasts, watching (and buying) "Threevening" makes you feel kind of gypped given that this old/free material dominates anything new.

With all this said, I still think Smith is very funny, and given that "Threevening" and the other Q&A DVDs are extremely long and entertaining, and still only cost about $14 shipped, this is a solid DVD and worth purchasing if you're a Smith fan.

If you aren't a big Kevin Smith fan but want to check him out, I would start with the earlier "Evening with Kevin Smith" DVDs and then move on to this one. You won't be sorry.
"

Good, but not great

Casey D. Silverstein | Nevada City, Ca United States | 11/22/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I am probably the world's biggest Kevin Smith fan. I own everything he has released on DVD or in print. Given that, it is with a heavy heart that I say this one is not as good as the two previous incarnations. It's good, especially if you haven't read his books or listened to his smodcast. For the diehard, though, there is precious little new material.
One of the things that made his previous "Evening With..." discs so wonderful was seeing his interactions with the crowd -- beyond just the regular Q and A, such as dealing with hecklers, making phone calls to bosses, etc. There's none of this. No particularly interesting questioners, and not much (in 5 hours)in the way of movie making anecdotes -- most of the good stuff comes in the "special features" on disc 2. There's plenty of "TMI" (too much information) moments, so be warned. It's a decent disc, but if you had to pick, I'd go for Evening 1 and 2, in that order."

Almost as good as the first one

Desmond Grey | 12/04/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I am a big Kevin Smith fan, and the first Evening with Kevin Smith is my favorite work by the guy by far. I prefer it to his movies (which, have gotten crappier and crappier recently...blasphemy, I know!). I think the second EWKS was a step down, but this one is almost right up there with his first. It's absolutely hilarious and I highly recommend it.

If you're not a Smith fan, I don't know why you would even be reading reviews for this. However, if you somehow are, let me say if you don't mind a lot of profanity and graphic descriptions of sex acts then you will find this hilarious even if you aren't familiar with his work, or if you think he sucks. If you don't like profanity, then again...I don't know what you're doing reading reviews about Kevin Smith material.

I've read some reviews complain that some of the material he goes over they've already heard on his website, or that it just sounds like he's doing a stand up routine. HE IS DOING A STAND UP ROUTINE! Of course he directs the questions towards stories he can tell (and that he's fine-tuned). That's how a comedian works. I know he's not exactly a stand up comedian, but for all intents and purposes here...he is! Comedians will work on material for months or even years before they are completely happy with it. Then, the good ones take the jokes they've been cultivating and put it on a DVD. That's all Smith is doing here, and it works. You may have heard some of this stuff on a Smodcast, but it's still great to have it all in one DVD to rewatch whenever you want. There's so much good stuff on here that even if you don't like a story or two, you're bound to laugh out loud dozens of times.

And that brings me to the length. People actually complain about the length of the thing? It's not a movie where you have to watch the whole thing from beginning to end to get the entire experience. Just watch it in hour long pieces if you need to. It's great to have something you can rely on for a few laughs even if you only have a half hour.

Keep them coming, Mr. Smith!"

Absolutely Awesome.

J. Finchum | New York | 12/16/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Not the best of the Q&A series but well worth the watch for any fan."