Yoga Hosers (2016)

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

The first must-see film of the year.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

With a 20-year film career, Kevin Smith is entitled to indulge his passion projects. "Yoga Hosers" is one such project. A spin off from "Tusk" (the first of a proposed True North trilogy), it stars his daughter Harley Quinn Smith, Johnny Depp's daughter Lily-Rose, Smith's wife Jennifer Schwalbach Smith, Depp himself and Depp's ex-wife Vanessa Paradis, even Stan Lee and Jason Mewes have cameos. It's like a parody of the old 'Adam Sandler doesn't make movies anymore, he just invites his celebrity friends to an island and films it' joke.The plot is ridiculous: set in Canada, Harley and Lily-Rose play teenage girls Colleen and Colleen, both obsessed with yoga, gossip magazine "Them" and their phones (characters are introduced with Instagram-style text, a bit of a gimmick but it works). The girls team up with Guy Lapointe (a strangely-accented Johnny Depp) to fight Canadian Bratwurst Nazis (played by Smith himself). Seriously, these little guys are the size of a Bratwurst sausage. With ridiculously OTT Canadian accents, clichés (though the end credit version of the Colleens' singing 'O Canada' is pretty good) and a strange Canada-meets-Nazi backstory, this movie's hard to take seriously. It's a world away from Smith's more realistic and foul-mouthed earlier work "Clerks", "Mallrats" and "Chasing Amy".One of the better running jokes is Justin Long's yoga instructor Yogi Bayer constantly being sued by Warner Bros for inappropriate business names.You can take this horror-comedy two ways: either hate it for its stupidity and blatant nepotism or embrace it for its unashamed silliness.It's not a patch on Smith's great earlier work, but it's enjoyable enough.

Collen C. (Lily-Rose Depp) and Collen M. (Harley Quinn Smith) are sophomores who work at the Canadian "Eh-2-Zed" convenience store where they practice their band in the back room. They take yoga at the strip mall from Yogi Bayer. One night Puppetmaster style Nazi bratwurst invade the store....The film is comedy and not horror. It makes fun of everything Canadian, more so than "Canadian Bacon." I originally believed this was made by Canadians making fun of themselves until I saw this was shot in California. Too late. I already laughed. The film also makes sport of our over crazed smart phone teens who love celebrity and everything outside of the real world...also the target audience-whoops. The humor was quirky. I loved "Pucky Charms" cereal as well as the girls inability to sing and their gems like, "Nothing is as bad as Canadian Idol." Stupid, smart, and fun. This is not for everyone.Guide: No swearing, sex or nudity. Sexual references. You must do a shot every time someone says "aboot" and feel free to stop 10 minutes into the film.

Going into this expecting something like Clerks would be a disservice. To the film of course, but most importantly to yourself. Just watch this for what it is. A silly movie who does not take anything seriously. You may like or hate the fact that Smith and Depp have their daughters in this. Some actually are obviously annoyed by the fact they got roles just for being related to someone. But then again, they also had a smaller part in Tusk. As the same characters I may add.Whatever your feelings for the casting process is, will determine your feelings towards the movie itself. Also your willingness to be silly and take the jokes for what they are. The effects are also mostly to be taken with a grain of salt. There is not much of a story, not that you suspected any different ...

Watched it today. Harley and Lily were charming and did good. I wouldn't mind seeing them in other projects, ones that didn't involve their Dads. It was more odd than funny (or scary). But I didn't hate it.·