Since his first Clerk movie, Kevin smith has built his own cinematic universe of films called the See Askewuniverse. For more than 25 years, Smith’s iconic meta and raw humor brand has reigned supreme in its scandalous world of colorful characters. The View Askewniverse is still going strong to this day, with Kevin Smith Clerk III arrival in 2022.
From 1994 with Clerk, the View Askewniverse featured a variety of different characters, from the iconic duo Jay and Silent Bob by Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith to Randal Graves by Jeff Anderson. Smith has worked continuously with many of the same cast members over the years, with some actors even playing multiple roles throughout the films, such as Ben Affleck, who played multiple roles in View Askewniverse. Smith’s ambitious cinematic universe has developed in different ways over the decades, both expanding his characters by theme and becoming more and more self-referential, with Smith poking fun at himself and his previous films.
Each View Askewniverse movie offers something unique to the table, whether it’s in terms of the mix of genres or the subsequent development of certain characters. Smith’s universe shows both his growth as a filmmaker and as a person, with each film marking a different part of Smith’s long directorial career and life. Here’s a ranked list of every View Askewniverse movie, from worst to best.
8. Jay and Silent Bob’s super groovy animated film! (2013)
Being the only film from Kevin Smith’s View Askewniverse not directed by Smith himself, Jay and Silent Bob’s super groovy animated movie! is an oddity in Smith’s cinematic universe. This is the first and only View Askewniverse film to be animated, and this is the second solo release for Jay and Silent Bob, the story following the duo as they hit the lottery jackpot and use their price to become superheroes. The usual Kevin Smith humor is present, with plenty of cameos and returning characters in the mix to create some fun moments. However, without Smith in the director’s chair, there is a certain magic lacking in the animated film that is otherwise present in the rest of View Askewniverse.
7. Mallrats (1995)
Smith’s second film in the View Askewuniverse after the first film in the Clerk series, Mallrats is a fun ride. Marking Jason Lee and Ben Affleck’s first appearances in the franchise, the film follows two best friends who are dumped by their girlfriends and seek refuge in their local mall, participating in the usual antics one would expect in a movie from Kevin Smith. Comedy doesn’t always hit the mark, and Smith’s directing isn’t as strong this time around, but his script is strong enough to get the film across, and the cast all have a lot of charisma. Smith creates some fun characters here, with Jason Lee’s Brodie standing out among the entirety of the View Askewniverse. It’s obvious in many ways that this is one of Smith’s first films, but it’s still a nice watch overall.
6. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001)
With Jay and Silent Bob’s first solo outing, Kevin Smith is laying the groundwork for what the View Askewniverse would evolve into overtime, especially with the more meta aspects of the series. Here’s where the cameos and meta-humor really take off, with a story about Jay and Silent Bob making a trip to Hollywood to prevent a film adaptation of Bluntman and Chronic from being made. The movie does a lot of hilarious digs in the film industry and gives its titular duo more to do than they’ve ever been given before, as Mewes and Smith prove they can very well make a feature film on their own. . Smith’s brand of meta-humor had yet to be refined at this point in the series, but Jay and Silent Bob strike back was a big step in the right direction.
5. Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (2019)
Kevin Smith’s latest Jay and Silent Bob The reboot film in the View Askewniverse is considered by many to be its best. While having a budget significantly lower than that Jay and Silent Bob strike back, the latest adventure of the titular duo is both the most humorous and the most heartwarming. The plot is almost identical to that of Jay and Silent Bob’s previous outing, with the two accidentally relinquishing their names and rights to the Bluntman and Chronic characters, and having to make another trip to Hollywood to prevent the final film from being made. . Along the way, Jay learns the news that he has a daughter, played by Kevin Smith’s actual daughter, Harley Quinn Smith. Kevin Smith’s movie features a bevy of cameos from celebrities big and small, each one surpassing the last, without ever minimizing the jokes at hand. Mewes gives his best performance in the series as Jay, offering a side of the character that has not been shown until now. The film shows a lot of Smith’s maturity with both his story and his comments on the reboot craze and the Hollywood sequel, and he stands out as the best of the two. Jay and Silent Bob movies to date.
4. Registrars II (2006)
The sequel to the movie that started it all, Clerk II isn’t as fresh or precisely written as its predecessor, but it still makes for a hilarious adventure with the return of series favorites Dante and Randal and offers plenty of hilarious jokes and shenanigans for its original characters. Smith’s iconic brand of humor is left untouched, with many cameos from View Askewniverse alumni and outrageous disgusting moments flooding the stage in a sequel that maintains the spirit of the original while building on its characters. . Clerk II is the rare sequel that, while falling short of its predecessor, on its own remains a strong film and a solid continuation of the original 1994 film.
3. In pursuit of Amy (1997)
Leaning more into romantic comedy territory than Smith’s other films, In pursuit of Amy is perhaps the most dramatic film on the View Askewniverse, at least by Kevin Smith’s standards. Smith’s mark of humor is still present, but it’s significantly reduced compared to the other films in the series. Long before playing Batman, Ben Affleck played Holden McNeil, a comic book artist who falls in love with a woman named Amy (Joey Lauren Adams), who turns out to be a lesbian. All aspects of In pursuit of Amy stick to today’s standards, but it’s still an incredibly charming film directed by Ben Affleck in one of his best and most underrated performances. The more serious nature of maturity lends itself to a more mature, thoughtful story that’s very grounded, and it’s one of Kevin Smith’s best movies to date, not to mention one of View Askewniverse’s best.
2. Dogma (1999)
Just coming out of Goodwill hunting, Matt Damon joins co-star Ben Affleck in Kevin Smith Dogma, where the two play Loki and Bartleby, two renegade angels trying to find their way back to heaven, while denying the existence of humanity in the process. Perhaps the most offbeat and outrageous film in the View Askewuniverse, Dogma is a wild ride that’s both a hilarious yet empowering critique of religion that has a lot more to do than it looks. He’s both the most creative and the most philosophical at the same time, with a surprisingly clever script carrying the film. It’s frankly a movie that shouldn’t work, but Smith’s mix of humor and his close examination of religion makes this one of his funniest and best films to date.
1. Clerk (1994)
The movie that started it all, Kevin Smith’s debut Clerk film is his best film to date, as well as the best of See Askewuniverse. Featuring arguably one of the tightest comedy storylines of all time, Clerk tackles the monotony at work in a way everyone can relate to, with Brian O’Halloran’s Dante Hicks serving as the film’s main punching bag. Dante is a convenience store employee who is forced to come to work on his day off, giving a glimpse into the life of an average convenience store employee. It’s such a simple premise, but Kevin Smith’s incredible dialogue and solid performances from the entire cast make it one of the most authentic, authentic comedies ever made. Every conversation is equally engaging and hilarious, and the film’s low-stakes attitude mixed with black-and-white cinematography makes it a timeless slice of life, and even Kevin smith himself has not been able to reproduce.
