Kevin Smith's career is like no other's.

        The poster boy for un-Hollywood since the success of his 1994 feature Clerks, he makes ragged-edged, irreverent movies beloved of the generation raised on Star Wars and comic books.

Kevin Smith | ZOOM |

        Now 31, married and the father of a toddler, Mr. Smith has made Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, which he insists will be the final appearance of the lumphead slackers who have shown up in each of his films. Jason Mewes plays Jay; Mr. Smith is Silent Bob.

        The movie has drawn some fire for its relentless sexual humor, including jokes about homosexuality, and its generally low-brow approach to comedy — factors it shares with such recent hits as Scary Movie (original and sequel) and American Pie (ditto).

        Mr. Smith admits some connection with American Pie 2, if only because “We have three of their cast in our movie” — Seann William Scott, Shannon Elizabeth and Jason Biggs.

        Nevertheless, he says, “I hesitate to think of us as a gross-out comedy, just because there's very little gross visual humor in it. Ours is more chatty than anything.”

        Chatty, yes, but also vulgar in the extreme.

        Mr. Smith says several critics have told him, “I thought it was really funny and I laughed but I felt embarrassed for laughing.”

WHO IS THIS GUY?

Born on Aug. 2, 1970, in Red Bank, N.J., Kevin Smith made his name as a filmmaker with the starvation-budget comedy Clerks (1994), which has gone on to become a cult favorite and an icon for independent filmmakers.     Characters and themes, some dating back to Clerks, reappear routinely in his subsequent films Mallrats (1995), Chasing Amy (1997) and Dogma (1999). In all of them, he plays the reticent — though not entirely mute — Silent Bob, always accompanied by the sex-and-dope-fiend Jay (Jason Mewes).     In addition to acting, he wrote and directed each, served as producer on all but the newest, and editor on all but Mallrats.     He has had a hand in a variety of other productions; for instance, he is credited as an executive producer on projects ranging from the unreleased indie film Big Helium Dog (1999) to the Oscar-winner Good Will Hunting (1997).

        His response: “You know what? Don't. It's language. How nice is it when you can make a movie where people are laughing at what's being said? . . . When you're doing verbal jousting, the viewer has to provide the mental picture. All you're doing is sitting around talking.”

Sweet character?
       

        Most of the talking comes from Mr. Smith's co-star Jason Mewes, a master of high-speed, unplugged rant. In real life, Mr. Mewes is not much at all like Jay, Mr. Smith says.

        “The sweetness of his character is there and the fact he can get away with saying some of the things he does because he doesn't seem to have a moral barometer. There's no filter there. Most people kind of think things and don't say them. The Jay character, and Jason Mewes himself to a lesser degree, tend to think and say at the same time. And out of the mouth of babes comes something ridiculous, or offensive.”

        Some of what came out during filming of the new movie rankled gay activists. “I cop to the fact that there are tons of gay jokes in the movie — none, however, at the expense of the gay community,” Mr. Smith says. His attitudes were influenced by his own gay brother.

        “My theory has always been (make) comedy of inclusion. If you're going to make jokes about straight sex, why can't you make jokes about gay sex?”

        Most importantly, he said, it is impossible to see the characters as role models. “They're idiots! No one's holding them up and saying, "Now children, live your lives like Jay and Silent Bob.' They're morons! They're played for morons.”

"My famous friend'
       

        Among others who often appear in his movies is Ben Affleck, who made headlines recently when he entered treatment for alcohol abuse. Unprompted, Mr. Smith brings up “my famous friend who checked himself into rehab.”

        The director volunteers, “I can say with utmost (assurance) that cat does not have a drinking problem. That dude is too smart a careerist to have a drinking problem. What he perceived to be potentially a problem is something that he checked himself in to stem. . . . He realizes it's in his genetics and if it gets out of control, he'll never be able to get a handle on it.”

        Maturity seems be overtaking his contemporaries to the point that they are making family films (Robert Rodriguez's Spy Kids, the Farrelly brothers' Osmosis Jones). Mr. Smith said he may make an adult movie about fatherhood, but cannot quite imagine making a movie for children.

        “I don't know if I could go there,” he says. “There would have to be a lot of poopy talk in it. My 2-year-old is fascinated by poop right now, and I love it. I can put her in a room with Jason Mewes and they can talk to each other on the same level. There's nothing greater than somebody who discovers how funny poop can be.”

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