Yoga Hosers (2016)

Well.

I count myself as a Kevin Smith fan. I have most of his films on DVD. I saw Red State when he did his tour introducing it and taking questions (it helped he stopped in my hometown). I have two DVDs of him doing his live tours. He has a long history of making me laugh.

Whether it is the description of the Lord of the Rings trilogy in Clerks 2, or the Jaws spoof comparing sexual scars is Chasing Amy, or Gus Van Sant counting a pile of cash in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, the combination of pop culture references, potty mouth, and mocking the male ego strikes my funny bone. But there is also strength of story, whether it is the tender love story in the center of Jack and Miri Make a Porno or the religious satire of Dogma.

That's missing from Yoga Hosers. Entirely. Instead, the film meanders around with no apparent plot, introducing multiple characters who then disappear from the movie. Instead of clever dialogue, we get Canadian puns, lots and lots of them. And then a second half plot so ridiculous that it just kind of lays there. When a movie isn't funny, what exactly am I supposed to do with a villainous attack by one foot tall "Bratzis" -- Nazi clones made of bratwurst and sauerkraut all played by Smith himself.

Uh huh. It doesn't inspire me to laugh. It inspires me to shrug. I expect far more from Smith. A filmmaker this funny shouldn't make a movie this boring.

Grade: D-