Red State

Look, up in the sky. Do you see in the distance up there, a four legged beast, which is being ridden by a large fat man? That's Kevin Smith on his high horse again.

In short, in a nutshell, this is Kevin Smith telling us exactly what he thinks of religious fundamentalists. (Hint: Kevin Smith does not like religious fundamentalists.) We start off with some scenes in which three high school lads are considering meeting a woman on a dating site, who says she wants sex with three guys at once. When they finally get there, they end up being drugged, and when they wake up, they're in the compound of some Christian fundamentalist types, whose idea of a good time is luring in homosexuals and fornicators, and putting them to death, having first ranted scripture at them.

Things get more out of control, as the local law enforcement get wind that there's something going on, there's a bit of gunplay, and the ATF are called in, under the command of John Goodman, and it all goes a bit Siege of Waco.

So, we have Fundamentalists and Government forces shooting at each other, and in the crossfire are these three kids who're basically having the worst day of their lives. Hilarity occasionally ensues, but not as much as you'd think for Kevin Smith; this is bitter, biting satire, not a sign of Jay or Silent Bob anywhere.

Basically, this is Kevin Smith preaching, the whole film is Poe's Law in movie form - "Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is impossible to create a parody of Fundamentalism that SOMEONE won't mistake for the real thing." He sets himself up a parody of a fundamentalist church, then lays into that straw man for all he's worth. And then, for balance, parodies the government handling of the situation, and lays into that too. I mean, there's straw all over the shop by the end of it.

Having said that, by the end of it, you're shocked and entertained, and constantly wrong-footed, which only goes to prove that Kevin Smith is still a talented film-maker, even if you get the sense that he's not a very responsible one.