Tough Sh*t - Kevin Smith book

Tough Sh*t: Life Advice from a Fat, Lazy Slob Who Did Good

by Kevin Smith

Kevin Smith is a movie director.  He has mostly made small independent films that are aimed to slackers and potheads.  His bigger movies you may have never heard of are Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and his one attempt at a big budget movie Cop Out (which flopped big time) .  The funny part of this review is I have seen none of the above movies.  They are just not my cup of film stock. Not aimed toward my age group.  Kevin Smith himself is an admitted foul mouthed fat slob who clearly has no filter on his mouth.  Anyone that knows me would clearly say Royce is going to hate this guy!  Yet like a moth to a flame there is something about the guy.  I have seen him on many talk shows and he is very funny.  He is a clever writer and speaks well.  He even filled in on At the Movies as a reviewer when Roger Ebert first got sick.

As I said Kevin Smith is very foul mouthed.  In this book if he were dropping H-bombs instead of F-bombs the planet would now be gone.  He is very inappropriate. He drives 100 miles past TMI when he talks of his sex life with his beautiful wife. Maybe 200 miles.  If my kids ever read any of my blogs right about here would be saying Dad is going to hate this guy.  Sadly he is like watching a train wreck.  You just can't look away.

This book is a slight attempt at an autobiography for Smith.  He more rambles about his childhood and touches about interesting parts of his life so far.  Kevin is (you may remember) the fat guy that Southwest Airlines probably inappropriately tossed him off a crowded plane after everyone was seated because he was too large.  Southwest probably should have looked at his Twitter account and saw he had 1.5 million followers before they gave him the heave ho.  He devotes a whole very funny, kinda sad chapter to this episode.

I would say the cost of the book is well spent just on the chapter on Bruce Willis.  So often we hear whispers about pampered spoiled movie stars.  It's generally only whispers as actors/directors/reviewers because that person is a big star and they may need to work with them in the future.  Safe to say Kevin Smith is not worried about ever working with Bruce Willis ever again.  Kevin has a small acting part in the last Die Hard movie and had a chance to meet him.  He was a big fan of all of Bruce's movies and looked at him with stars in his eyes.  When Smith was picked to direct his first movie with a budget, Cop Out he could not have been more thrilled when he heard Bruce Willis had agreed to be in the movie.  Smith and most of the others took a huge pay cut to afford Willis.  Needless to say it did not go well.  I believe if you bought this book (or listened to the audio version as I do)  read the Willis chapter and threw it away you would feel you spent your money well.

I can't stress enough this book is not for everyone.  I don't know why I liked it so much.  If I were to give it to someone I'd put it in a brown paper bag and slide it to them under the table.  Yet I laughed my butt off.  I found myself walking the dog alot to get a chance to listen to the book.  Afterwards I feel I have watched a train wreck. : >