Kevin Smith redoes Clerks and throws in some weird arse 80s sci fi. I get what he was going for but it doesn't quite work. I find Canadian jokes as funny as the next man but the constant "aboot"s and "eh"s get wearying. The Instagram chapter titles don't work either - because they're not done how it's done.
Clerks worked in part because Smith knew what he was talking about. He doesn't seem to know how teen girls talk - it feels taken from movies.
The inserts of websites and Instagram shots with video game music is really annoying, the girls are far too passive a lot of the time, it felt confusing that there were Satanists and Nazis running loose separately, the goal of killing art critics feels like a shaggy dog joke rather than decent stakes.
Sometimes this is spot on: Harley Smith and Lily Rose Depp have nice chemistry; Depp is so good looking that I foresee a strong film career for her; it is fun to see Johnny Depp in scenes with his daughter; the girls fighting off the Bratzis is lots of fun, as are the times they play the guitar.
But Smith's director and script don't service his ideas well. It feels sloppily written and directed, and never quite achieves the sense of fun it's aiming for. These sort of movies are harder to do than they look, as he found with Cop Out.
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