Kevin Smith Just Saw Joker for First Time: "That's the Movie We All Dreamed About as Kids"

Filmmaker and professional fanboy Kevin Smith had made a career out of not only reacting to his favorite comics and comic characters, but in being very outspoken about his feelings. Smith has already said that DC and HBO's Watchmen is his "favorite f---ing thing this year," including the release of his own movie, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. Smith was a little late to the party with one of DC's other major contributions to entertainment in 2019, the Joaquin Phoenix starring Joker. Smith revealed in his latest Fatman on Batman video that he finally saw the film, offering a candid reaction that only Kevin Smith could provide

"Movie's f***in' good man, right?" Smith said succinctly (his praise beginning at the 13:45 mark in the video play above). "That's the movie we all dreamed about as kids like when you read comic books. 'Could you imagine if they treated this shit seriously and someone made a hardcore f***ing Joker movie.' They legit like did it man, that movie went hard, no?"

Smith went on to praise director Todd Phillips, noting that the movie marked a major achievement for the director whose previous work was primarily raunchy comedies like The Hangover and Old School.

"Honestly, it was a quantum leap forward for (Phillips) as a filmmaker, and he said some ridiculous things in the press on the lead up to that point that you were like, not necessarily rooting for him, but like that movie is so legit wonderful, so f***ing good, you're like 'My hat's off.' it's f***ing well done. It works on a couple different levels. Works as a comic book movie, works as not-a-comic-book-movie."

Despite his praise, Smith had some minor criticisms about the film that had little to do with plot or direction, but instead the 122 minute run time for the movie.

"I've got zero quib- Well, one quibble. I thought it was long," Smith added. "I can't even say 'Get rid of this scene' but like it just felt 15 minutes (too) chunky....So, Joker, felt a little long, and f*** me, what do I know? It made a billion dollars, but just in terms of length, that's the only thing. I'm like 'You probably could have cut it down.' And the ending, the last, last piece, I was like 'Ugh, you didn't need that,' when he was out of the makeup in the hospital. Cause I thought him on the f***ing cars...I was like 'Jesus Christ, this is going to win every f***ing award imaginable, look at this! I'm ready to paint my face and join the movement! This is a rallying cry!' and suddenly he's without the makeup and I'm like 'Oh, they're trying to win awards.'"

Smith isn't wrong though, as Joker is already racking up major award nominations over the past few weeks including being shortlisted for two categories at The Academy Awards. In addition the film received four nominations at the Golden Globes earlier this month, and managed an outstanding showing at the Critics' Choice awards nominations where it nabbed seven total nominations. The film was also honored by the American Film Institute (AFI) where it was named one of the top 10 films for the year.

Joker will debut on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray on January 7.