Sunday, September 21, 2014

Tusk (2014)

Director: Kevin Smith
Starring: Justin Long, Michael Parks, Haley Joel Osment
My Rating: Hated it
Budget: $3.5 Million (estimated)

Horror-Comedy? Tusk is neither scary nor funny. I chuckled a handful of times and there was one short moment of decent horror. 50% of the scenes are too drawn out because there is hardly a story there at all. This is the first Kevin Smith film that is boring to watch. Just because you have a goofy idea for a movie doesn't mean you should go through with it.

The whole point was to make a bad movie, I assume, because there is no way Kevin Smith actually thinks it's good. There is a simple message from Tusk: people suck. Yeah, I agree Kevin Smith, people do suck, but so does this movie. The transformation isn't even that cool or exciting. You don't even really get to see it happen, which seems like a pretty key moment to have in the movie. And besides being a little witty from time to time, Michael Parks' character isn't a very good villain.

I do have to admit that Michael Parks and Justin Long both do a great job with the bullshit they were given; that's the only positive thing about the movie. Johnny Depp plays the most interesting character, but even those scenes seemed unnecessarily drawn out.

And don't think I'm hating just to hate. I'm a big Smith fan. Chasing Amy, Clerks, Dogma, and Mallrats are all fucking fantastically funny and entertaining films. This doesn't tarnish his reputation at all to me; I'm just having a hard time understanding why he even went through with this film. I'm sure the cast and makers all had a blast making the movie, but Tusk should've stayed in a podcast episode. Skip Tusk and watch any other Smith film.