It’s impossible to discuss Yoga Hosers without engaging with the metaphor at its core. So Yoga Hosers is a literal joke to Kevin Smith, then. Or is it? Every joke is tired before it hits the screen, from the Nazi who speaks only in Hollywood impersonations to the traditional string of scatalogical and sexual references. In the Q&A, Smith claimed to have done research for the movie, but it plays like it was written in one night, scaffolded around his daughter, the "Canadian Führer" Adrien Arcand, and Johnny Depp’s miserable caricature of a performance. The Canada jokes border on hate-crime territory - not because they’re mean-spirited (to the contrary - they’re fawning), but because they’re painfully obvious, easy punchlines about hockey, accents, and politeness.
YOGA HOSERS FULL
The screenplay feels like a first draft, full of dialogue that a more disciplined and merciful writer would have excised long before the cameras rolled. There’s not much meat in there. Nor is there in the film as a whole, which is largely made up of riffs on the same stoned jokes Smith's been making for 22 years. Harley Quinn and Lily-Rose - bless ‘em - do their best with what they’re given, but what they’re given is a pair of identical characters, bearing identical first names, often delivering dialogue simultaneously. Throughout the movie, it feels like we’re watching a group of friends trade in-jokes without letting the audience in on them. Multiple scenes feature the young leads showing off their miscellaneous talents, performing multiple musical numbers directly to camera literally because Smith wanted to show off his daughter's talents. That's essentially what it is, after all: it stars Kevin Smith and Johnny Depp, their families, and their friends.
Much of Yoga Hosers bears the hallmarks of a home movie. (Hell, I made one.) But there’s dishonesty at the heart of Yoga Hosers, stemming from a disagreement between its (and its creator’s) laissez-faire attitude and the themes underneath, that rankles harder than any of the dumb shit in Smith’s previous films.
YOGA HOSERS MOVIE
I love a good stupid movie as much as anyone else. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this concept.
It’s up to the Colleens - and Quebecois detective Guy LaPointe (Johnny Depp) - to find the root of this evil and stop it once and for all. The goings-on this time involve one-foot-tall, sentient sausages, wearing Prussian helmets, swearing fealty to Adolf Hitler, and murdering innocents via rectal penetration. If you’ve seen Tusk, you know the Colleens (Harley Quinn Smith and Lily-Rose Depp): a pair of modern vapid teens, working in a Winnipeg convenience store, who act like magnets to bizarre goings-on. Yoga Hosers, the second part of Smith's "True North" trilogy, bears the same attitude as the second half of Tusk, but for an entire feature. But then, Smith throws his hands in the air, says “fuck it,” and goofs off for the rest of the movie. Up until then, there are hints of a good movie: the concept isn't bad, and Smith manages his tone remarkably well, particularly in scenes between Michael Parks and Justin Long. Depending on your threshold for bullshit, it’s either the first appearance of Johnny Depp or the first appearance of the walrus, but either way, that’s where the movie falls apart.
There’s a point in Tusk where it becomes clear that Kevin Smith gave up caring.
0 kommentar(er)
