It seems that "Yoga Hosers" is widely considered to be the most pathetic directorial effort from the auteur, and being one of the biggest apologists for Smith, hearing that his flick about two Canadian clerks fighting off Nazi bratwursts sucked made me hesitate viewing it since the 2016 release. But I am a completist for better or for worst. (My restraint should be admired for the amount of times that I have typed worst without grabbing the pun.) Perhaps it is because I am apologist for the best screenwriter to not win an Oscar, that I was pleasantly surprised by this flick.
Or I was rewarded for being a completist in terms of collecting and viewing. Because I know what Smith finds funny, nothing awful came out of this feature. This film was to be expected at some point, and it is better to get it out of his system before he gets an AARP cover. Boomers will not stand for this kind of fun filmmaking.
Two years after Eh-2-Zed clerks Colleen C. and Colleen M. helped save the American podcaster who was transformed into a walrus, odd things are once again abound in Winnipeg. That figures since everyone seems to be against these Instagrammers. Their prep school P.E. teacher is fed up with the amount class time they spend on their phones. Yogi Bayer, their yoga teacher, is under constant threats from Warner Bros. over the name of his studio. And their 35-year drummer for their back of the store rock band, Glamthrax, still is not on the same page as his sophomore counter parts. But the biggest problem seems to be Tabitha, Colleen C's stepmom.
The two have just been invited to their first Grade 12 party, but because the Colleens keeps getting in the way of any chance she has to get intimate with her husband, as the convenient store manager, Tabitha is going to make them work that night as she whisks him off to Niagra Falls. In all actuality, the worst things for them is that the grade 12 party was being hosted by homicidal Satanists who are more than happy to bring the party to them. To make matters worst, these may not be the only killers out on a Friday night. It will take all their defensive Yoga skills to survive the night, but how will they explain the body count and sauerkraut that will be left in their wake?
"Yoga Hosers" biggest problem is that it does not know what it wants to be. I think it could have just been Canadian "Clerks" and work, but I am a customer service specialist. Just because I can deal with a new 90-minute set of irrelevance directed at idiots does not mean that the masses can. Hence you get a story about Generation Z versus Bratzis. The problem with that is not being able to see straight women doing that. If one of the C's was Belushi or Murray-esque, no question the film would be better.
So this movie is a concept that is unsellable, which is sad because there is plenty in it that is worth buying. Who would not be curious if the Canadian Nazi played by Haley Joe Osment was looking menacing over the convenience store from the heavens, complete with armband of course?
The movie works as a great B-movie, but when you get something from the director of "Chasing Amy" on a five-million dollar budget, you are expecting an indie film. This is definitely the wrong way to approach this feature because Kevin Smith has established who he is and what you should expect. "Yoga Hosers" seems to be the most fun on screen many of these actors have had. It may indicate that Smith is currently short on ideas, but by creating some new characters that he knows friends will comeback to, we may get a new Askewniverse.
This is definitely sounding like an apology to Smith for the backlash, so let me just list what is worthwhile about the flick. Nazi Osment; Yogi Justin Long; Work for stars who have taken a chance on this director; Johnny Depp collecting a check while having fun; An impressionist/mad scientist; Everyone you want to see lay down an overly thick Canadian accent, delivering on that accent.
The latter portion leaves me fearing what the Canucks will think of us. It is fun enough to pop in fun Canadian stereotype items (the "Good Old Hockey Game" cover during a Bratzi battle kept my interest), having Natasha Lyonne and Genesis Rodriguez be annoying with it may cause a culture war. Like "South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut" animosity.
If you want a great B-Movie, "Yoga Hosers" delivers. It leaves me thinking that I may have under complicated my zombie-wrestling comedy "Main Event of the Dead". (You be the judge by requesting a treatment via russthebus07@gmail.com.) Just know that you are seeing a B-Movie and appreciate that a director is allowed to make what he wants.
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