Kevin Smith has been making movies for over 30 years, with many of his most memorable entries being the collection of films dubbed the View Askewniverse. Largely set in Smith’s home state of New Jersey, the View Askewniverse is a shared setting where many of his films take place in an interconnected world, with characters like Jay and Silent Bob serving as the connective tissue between films. This plays into the (usually) grounded spirit of the films, even as the scope of the movies increased over time in line with Smith’s success as a filmmaker.
Fittingly, the View Askewniverse began with Kevin Smith’s first feature film, the low-rent indie comedy Clerks, and found a potentially perfect ending in the bittersweet Clerks III. While not every Kevin Smith movie is considered part of the View Askewniverse, many of the filmmaker’s most personal films are connected through that shared universe. Here is every entry in the View Askewniverse, including the re-released Dogma, and where you can find these Kevin Smith movies on places like Hulu, Netflix, and beyond.
Clerks (1994)
The first Kevin Smith movie and the inaugural entry in the View Askewniverse, Clerks stands out as one of the most successful independent films ever made. Focusing on a pair of convenience store workers named Dante and Randal who operate the Quick Stop in suburban New Jersey, Clerks follows the pair during what initially seems to be an ordinary day. However, it quickly devolves into pop culture debate, rooftop hockey games, and an unfortunate encounter with a corpse.
Clerks defined much of the tone and tenor of Smith as a filmmaker and the View Askewniverse as a brand, with a grounded dialogue-driven sense of comedy that works so well because it feels so lived-in. Produced on a shoestring budget by Smith, Clerks was one of the major precursors to the indie film boom of the 1990s and proved that a low-key comedy could do just as well as the broader material coming out of Hollywood.
Mallrats (1995)
A sillier and more sophomoric film from Smith after the success of Clerks, Mallrats benefits from a loose approach and a wacky sense of comedy. Taking place in a mall in the same general area where Clerks happened, the film follows a pair of recently dumped buddies named T.S. and Brodie as they try to figure out how to reconcile with their former romantic partners.
The broader style of comedy didn’t land as well with critics and audiences, but the film has developed a cult following over the years. The biggest connective tissue between Clerks and Mallrats is the presence of Jay and Silent Bob, but the film also established a working relationship between Smith and Ben Affleck that would carry on into the next few films he produced.
Chasing Amy (1997)
Hailed at the time as a critical upswing for Smith (although the film has since gone through reexamination), Chasing Amy spoke to a new level of maturity for Smith as a filmmaker, even as his sense of comedy and character remained consistent. Focusing on a comics creator who finds himself wrestling with the romantic and sexual past of his new girlfriend after he discovers she is bisexual, Chasing Amy is a blunt exploration of dating and sexuality of the era that relies on charming characters to explore some deeply vulnerable aspects of life.
Partly inspired by Smith’s relationship with Joey Lauren Adams (who also stars in the film as Amy), Chasing Amy feels like Smith opening up about his own expectations and flaws when it comes to relationships. Jay and Silent Bob appear again, with Bob delivering one of Smith’s most well-constructed monologues. Although some of the sexual politics of Chasing Amy haven’t aged the best, the core performances and emotional spirit of the film remain a bittersweet highlight of Smith’s filmography.
Dogma (1999)
The best of Kevin Smith’s View Askewniverse films, Dogma is Kevin Smith’s biggest tonal swing and the perfect medium between Biblical epic and stoner comedy. The film focuses on two fallen angels who have found a loophole in God’s design. However, going through it would end creation, forcing a rag-tag group (including Jay and Silent Bob, directly tying the film to the more grounded reality of the other View Askewniverse films) to scramble to stop them.
Thoughtful, critical, and even affirming at times, Dogma is one of cinema’s best reflections on faith precisely because it approaches the subject with personal reverence but with a willingness to undercut it. It’s a film about the humanity at the heart of religion, with the dramatic weight of a fantasy epic that spans from Wisconsin to New Jersey. Recently re-released after years caught in legal turmoil, Dogma is the most fantastical the series has ever gotten—even as it remains deeply connected to Smith’s New Jersey roots.
Clerks: The Animated Series (2000)
The only television series to be formally released as part of the View Askewniverse (although characters like Jay and Silent Bob crossovered with other shows like Degrassi: The Next Generation), Clerks: The Animated Series was a short-lived but stylistic adaptation of the first View Askewniverse film. Reuniting the original film’s cast and focusing on the adventures of Dante, Randal, Jay, and Silent Bob in their New Jersey suburb, the animated nature of the show allowed for a broader and more slapstick style of comedy.
Although the series only produced one season (and was quickly canceled by ABC), the show’s sense of humor feels like a fun escalation after the biblical stakes established in Dogma. Now considered a cult classic by some animation fans, Clerks: The Animated Series is a testament to how much potential the View Askewniverse had in expanding beyond the style that Smith established with his early films.
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001)
After appearing as recurring minor figures in the first three View Askewniverse movies and graduating to the supporting cast for Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob finally took the spotlight in the openly cartoonish and charmingly silly Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.
Enraged to discover that a movie based on characters based on them is being produced, Jay and Silent Bob head out from New Jersey and make the journey to Hollywood to stop the production. Along the way, the duo runs into many of the characters who’ve appeared previously, including Dante and Randal from Clerks, Brodie from Mallrats, and Holden from Chasing Amy—as well as some new characters, like the inept Federal Wildlife Marshal Willenholly or the group of diamond thieves posing as an animals rights group. Initially intended to close out the View Askewniverse, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is a lightweight but loving tribute to the informal franchise as a whole.
Clerks II (2006)
Five years after Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back ended with the God from Dogma literally closing the book on the View Askewniverse, Smith returned to the universe with Clerks II. Picking up over a decade after the events of Clerks in the same New Jersey town that started it all, Dante and Randal work at a fast food restaurant after the Quick Stop burns down. Dante’s upcoming wedding sets off a jealous Randal, which, in turn, leads to a string of chaotic twists and turns that force the pair to confront what they really want in life.
Jay and Silent Bob return as well, highlighting the continued connectivity of the franchise even as the film incorporates new characters to complement the existing ones (like Rosario Dawson's Becky, Trevor Fehrman's Elias, and Jennifer Schwalbach Smith's Emma). One of Smith’s most self-reflective films, Clerks II is a crass but charming return to the characters that started the franchise.
Jay & Silent Bob's Super Groovy Cartoon Movie! (2013)
Jay & Silent Bob’s Super Groovy Cartoon Movie! has the unique distinction of being the only film in the View Askewniverse not directed by Kevin Smith. Instead, the animated movie was written by Smith and directed by Steve Stark. An adaptation of the Bluntman and Chronic tie-in comic Kevin Smith wrote years prior as a tie-in for Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, the 64-minute movie is an extended joke reel for animated avatars of Jay and Silent Bob’s superhero personas that feels equal parts send-up of Batman ‘66 and successor to Cheech and Chong’s Up in Smoke.
Jay & Silent Bob's Super Groovy Cartoon Movie! serves as a purposefully crass and unrelentingly silly take on the superhero genre that has no illusions of aiming for the same kind of emotional weight that has defined other entries in the series. The most juvenile of Kevin Smith movies, this animated addition to the universe is a basic animated parody but a treat for fans of stoner and sex comedies.
Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (2019)
A purposefully meta comedy poking fun at the legacy of the View Askewniverse, Jay & Silent Bob Reboot focuses on the titular duo once again making the trek from New Jersey to Hollywood in an effort to stop the filming of a new movie based on Bluntman and Chronic. The film brings back many familiar faces (like Dante, Brodie, Holden, and even Loki from Dogma) while also serving as something of a legacy sequel by introducing Harley Quinn Smith as Jay's newly introduced daughter, Milly.
Working best as a crude but heartfelt tribute to the earlier films in the series (and initially released as part of a roadshow to appeal directly to the fanbase instead of going for a wider release), Jay & Silent Bob Reboot is for fans of the View Askewniverse above all else.
Clerks III (2022)
At the time of writing, the last entry in the View Askewniverse, Clerks III feels like a genuine goodbye to the universe after nearly 30 years of films. The movie revisits Dante and Randal, who are forced to face their morality when Randal has a heart attack. Deciding to become a filmmaker and make a movie based on his experiences working at a convenience store (mimicking Smith’s own initial impetus to make movies), Randal finds himself testing the limits of Dante’s patience after personal tragedy has left the snarky clerk shaken on a deep level.
The most openly tragic and bittersweet of the View Askewniverse movies, Clerks III confronts loss head-on with an admirable honesty and vulnerability, building to the biggest tearjerker of Smith’s career as a filmmaker. Clerks III doesn’t bring back as many familiar faces as previous entries in the shared universe, and it’s all the better for it. While Jay & Silent Bob Reboot might have been a good tribute to the View Askewniverse, Clerks III feels like a proper send-off.
Where To Watch The View Askewniverse Movies In Order Online
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