Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)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.
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Kevin Smith -- America's coolest geek philosopher and director of Clerks I & II and Zack and Miri Make a Porno -- is back: celebrating his 37th birthday in a hilarious take-no-prisoners performance in front of a packed hometown crowd. Join the fun as Smith reveals the hysterical true stories behind the making of Clerks II and Live Free or Die Hard, the inside scoop on Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck and Jason Mewes... plus Weird Doggy Love and The Jury Duty from Hemorrhoid Hell. Sold Out: A Threevening with Kevin Smith has 3x the raunch, 3x the hilarity, and 3x the charm!
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