Tusk (2014)

Tusk is not a date movie. In fact, my wife claims she is still traumatized because of it. Although I did not like the movie upon first viewing, I find myself occasionally thinking about it since then. I still think it is not a good movie, but I am glad Kevin Smith made the movie.

I have always liked Kevin Smith’s movies, but I am aware not everyone likes his movies. Thinking of Clerks and Mallrats brings back memories of my teenage years. I have not watched them in a long time, and if I did, I might find out that they do not hold up as well as I remember them, but then again, few movies do.

Tusk is weird movie, and it is also uneven in tone. Nevertheless, I do not think Kevin Smith was striving for anything other than that. It is a movie based on a silly story told in his popular podcast. During the podcast, the story was played for laughs, and that is pretty much all you can do with a story like this. During the short writing process before it became a movie, Kevin Smith added several references to his podcast network, and included everything from comedic elements, relationship drama, horror and thriller elements and a detective character that seems from a different movie. Finally, his movie ends the way you would expect from a movie containing all of this.

In the end, the movie is not for everyone. Just like my wife did not like it, many out there did not like it either. However, the movie did revitalize him and now we can expect a few more movies from him. I look forward to seeing them.