My Boring-Ass Life: The Uncomfortably Candid Diary of Kevin Smith
Admit it, you always wanted to read a good friend’s diary. If it was sitting on the table, right in front of you, you’d crack it open. And chances are, you would probably be intrigued, disgusted (and even a little disinterested in) what was inside. That’s the reaction I had reading Kevin Smith’s My Boring Ass Life.
Taken from the writer/director’s online journal, MBAL’s entries range from the dull (I love In-N-out Burgers too, but I don’t document every visit) to the beyond-your-wildest dreams exciting (I will never get a standing ovation at Cannes). His documentation of his time as an actor on the film “Catch and Release” can be at times mind-numbing, but Smith’s account of the anxiety caused by having to actually act, instead of being his usual Clerks-Silent-Bob persona, makes the pages fly by.
Die-hard Smith fans will love the section which details the making and release of Clerks II, but the section where he really shines is “Me and My Shadow,” which could be a great movie in the author’s hands. Making up nearly one-fifth of the book, Smith tell the occasionally heart-breaking story of his friend Jason Mewes, who is best know for being “Jay,” the drug-dealing, low-life with a heart of gold from many of his Jersey-based movies, and his addiction to heroin.
These entries show Smith as the great writer he is, and give a real picture of how far friends will go (even so far as to write multi-million budged movies for them) to keep them on the straight-and-narrow. You can see how much pain Smith goes though as he watches someone he truly cares about suffer through the numerous ups-and-downs of rehab and withdrawl. The only drawback to this part of the book is that you have to get through a few hundred pages of bowel movements (almost every journal entry starts with Smith on the toilet) and the nearly endless lists of DVDs Smith views on a nightly basis to get a real sense of who he is.
While there are some sections that could have been taken out, there are some excellent snapshots of why Smith is America’s favorite fanboy. His love of Star Wars and Bruce Springsteen is something that almost every guy can relate to on some level. His Itunes playlist (which was not posted by the Apple because it was “too great”) is for everyone that ever said, “Dude, I made the PERFECT mixtape!” And when he tells the story of how he got a part in “Live Free or Die Hard,” he has truly lived the American Geek Dream.
As with some Smith movies, My Boring-Ass Life is not for everyone. If you’re like me, how many times Smith has sex with his wife (which is A LOT) is not a top priority. But some of the sections show the wit and charm that have made Smith a Hollywood player. You just might not want to know EVERYTHING about him.
