Sure, it was in a scene that was excised from the wide release of a movie that was unfairly castigated by some critics and moviegoers. And yes, it was only a few seconds in which the then-girlfriend-and-now-wife were little more than glorified background. But who cares about any of that? Critics and moviegoers got this one wrong, the scene was only cut as a result of some bad press at the time, and, well, I appeared on the big screen at the historic Cineramadome in Hollywood.

All of which means Kevin Smith's West Coast Vulgarthon was in town this past week.

I'd never been to a Vulgarthon before (for those who don't know what this is or missed the large banner that adorned our site the past few weeks, it's a day-long film festival where Kevin shows movies View Askew movies all day, participating in between-movie panels or Q&As with various cast members or crew). The past Vulgarthons had been held in New Jersey, so this would be the first one to take place in Los Angeles.

Now, in order to get to Los Angeles in time-the festival started at 10 AM-that meant leaving San Diego somewhere south of 6 AM. So I didn't hold out hope that I'd make it all the way through, especially since this was a Monday and I had to get back for work on Tuesday. But we made it as far as we could (our scene in JERSEY GIRL).

Kevin was out front of the theater (which really is a big, impressive dome, right near the greatest music store on the planet, Amoeba Records), greeting the masses-and there really were masses, just scores of people around the block, waiting to get in. Somewhere upwards of 800 people, as it turns out.

We said “hey,” and then went in. It was great being back, and getting to see people I hadn't seen in a while-Brians Lynch and Johnson (the former, whose movie would kick off the festival, and the latter, whose IDW comic, KARNEY, will be out in a couple weeks) and a few others.

As I say, Brian Lynch's BIG HELIUM DOG movie, which I'd never seen, opened the festival. Brian made the movie 5-6 years ago, and it was fun to see people who I'd since gotten more familiar with, the Broken Lizard comedy troupe, Blanchard Ryan, Bababooey, all showing up in the flick. The most endearing thing about the entire start was Brian, standing off to the sidelines, chewing his nails with nervousness before his post-movie Q&A.

Ah, yes, the Q&As. The best, and worst, part of these types of things are the questions and answers that follow each movie. I love to hear from the filmmaker or cast talk about their experiences, crack jokes and generally give you more insight to the entire process, or just share interesting stories. Kevin's honed this sort of post-show performance into an art form, and Brian's quick wit and self-deprecating humor made him a natural for this sort of thing, too, even if he was a jumble of nerves before-hand. No, the problem with the Q&As isn't the answers, it's the questions. Maybe it's the sheer accessibility of Kevin and his crew to the fans that makes people think their ridiculous questions are the way to go; after all, View Askew fans get to “know” Kevin and company, through their participation on message boards to convention appearances to just their easy manner with fans, so maybe they think the goofy questions are just a way of being familiar. Or a way to elicit playful mocking. But for the rest of us, insulting Brian by telling him that the $40K he spent on BHD could have been better spent on a new car is just frustrating. I always see these things as a good chance to ask a writer, director or other craftsman specific questions about the movie-making process, or at least a chance to ask something you don't already know, but that rarely seems to be the case, unfortunately.

It got worse. The second movie shown was Jeff (Randal) Anderson's NOW YOU KNOW, a nice little movie that starred SIX FEET UNDER's Jeremy Sisto (I reviewed it here about two years ago, but since it got very limited release, it was a great choice at the festival since most attendees had never seen it before). Jeff's Q&A was being taped for inclusion on a possible DVD release. And cameras mean even more ridiculous questions. FILM THREAT's Chris Gore, who never met a camera he didn't love (if only the camera felt the same way… I kid, I kid!), harangued Jeff for being a “pussy” (his movie had some mildly sappy moments), just to get on the DVD, and on from there.

Next was CHASING AMY, always a great movie to see in the theater. Even better, Kevin assembled the entire cast for the Q&A. So out comes Joey Lauren Adams, Ben Affleck, Jason Lee, Mewes, Dwight Ewell (Hooper) and Kevin, too. This was the first time Dwight made it to one of these events, and he dressed as dapper as could be and wore a smile to match. Happily, his smile didn't fade even after some “fan” hassled him for talking too long during his response to a question. Tough crowd, really. The same crowd asked Joey Adams if she'd ever really had a threesome. Yep, it was that kind of Q&A (it was also being taped for the 10th anniversary DVD release, but I just hope the editor of this question-and-answer session does some liberal cutting of the questions.

Jason Lee was pretty quiet through most of this, but it didn't matter-he could speak one word and get the crowd's applause-he's clearly still a fan favorite (deservedly). The most interesting part about this reunion was listening to Kevin share stories about him directing these folks eight years ago, when all were just really starting out, and also dating Joey during the shoot. He talked about some fights he and Joey had, some disagreements with other cast members during the shoot… the kinds of details that humanize the people involved while at the same time enriching the experience of watching the movie. Oh, and Affleck helped repay the “You was the bomb in PHANTOMS, yo!” thing he's beset with in public by mentioning that some of Kevin's lurv-making music with Joey (upstairs, while Ben slept downstairs on his couch) was, er, the soundtrack to MOONLIGHTING and even some MARIAH CAREY. Nope, sorry, that's not a typo.

I was at this event with the wife and another friend, and we met a screenwriter pal for lunch, so I really didn't get too much of a chance to meet the View Askew faithful (outside of Gabe, a nice guy who I'd hoped to talk to more but we got swept up in the furor over an Affleck bathroom break).

A couple from the View Askew message board got engaged during one of the Q&As, too. Although I can do them one better-two days prior was the wedding of two people who met on the Movie Poop Shoot message board (“Yes, son, I met your mother through the Poop Shoot”). In fact, we had MONKEY MAN artist Jon Sukarangsan, produce this pic for the happy couple, if you'll pardon the digression:

Back to the show. After a break, Kevin rolled out the movie we was most wanting to see, the 2-1/2-hour cut of JERSEY GIRL.

I realize that some fans prefer the more jokey movies than this one, but since we spent over a week on the set during the shoot, and I saw much of this longer cut initially, just the fond memories of that time make this movie resonate so much more for me. I was happy that fans finally got a chance to see the movie the way Kevin intended, without having to truncate all the scenes of Ben and Jen. Those early scenes really help build their relationship and add weight to what comes later. And, whatever you might feel about Affleck and Lopez, there's no denying the strong feelings they have for each other, evident every time they look at one another. And then there's the TOM WAITS version of the song “Jersey Girl,” which exudes so much more feeling, and feels so much more right in the movie than the Springsteen version in the wide release.

With the DVD success of all of Kevin's movies, and longer anniversary editions of MALLRATS and CHASING AMY due, I can only hope that a special edition of JERSEY GIRL makes it out someday. Not just for the wedding scene, but the longer version, with extended bits at the beginning, really does help the second half of the movie pay off much better than the version that was released in theaters. Top to bottom, it's just a better movie. Here's hoping.

At about the time Jen Lopez was dying during childbirth, we realized it was 10 PM, and, living two hours south and having to be up again at 5 AM, well, we had to cut it off. Which meant missing the OH, WHAT A LOVELY TEA PARTY documentary, but it we made it the best we could.

I do regret not getting a chance to say hey to Kevin's guy Xtian, or the two News Askew'ers, Chris and Brad, and I didn't really get any good pictures worth running here (well, I did take some but between this event, a busy short work week and then being gone the last few days for my first anniversary, I didn't get 'em loaded in time. So instead, for real recaps and photos, check out View Askew's Vulgarthon recap.

A quick little note of appreciation to Mike "Smalls" for the job he did setting up the entire affair, too. Good times, good times...

/chris

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