Kevin Smith movies are usually best known for their witty dialogue, as the script is where he excels in filmmaking. However, at the same time, his work is often full of pop culture references, and his characters are normal people and never really the brightest of individuals. With that said, there are characters in each of his movies who are smarter than others.
These intelligent characters often stand out in a crowd of otherwise clueless and hapless people struggling to make it through the story in one piece. From characters who make wise decisions in the face of adversity to those who just happen to be the smartest person in the room, Kevin Smith has written some smart characters that can at least carry the plot.
Guy LaPointe In Yoga Hosers (2016)
Only Cop Out was worse reviewed than Kevin Smith's 2016 movie Yoga Hosers. The movie starred Kevin Smith and Johnny Depp's daughters, Harley Quinn Smith and Lili-Rose Depp, respectively, as two clerks who ended up in a battle with Satanists and one-foot Nazi clones.
The smartest person here, and that is stretching it somewhat, was Johnny Depp's Guy LaPointe, who previously appeared in Tusk. He knew the girls were telling the truth but he was almost worthless in helping them in the end.
Jimmy Monroe In Cop Out (2010)
Cop Out was one of Kevin Smith's lowest-rated movies and part of that might come from the fact that it was based on a script written by someone else. It also wasn't helped by the fact that Bruce Willis less than great in the movie.
Despite that, it was Willis' cop, Jimmy Monroe, who was the smartest character in the movie. He made a lot of bad decisions, but it was because he followed his heart instead of his head, and he was still the most reliable cop in the movie.
Brodie Bruce In Mallrats (1995)
There is a true lack of intelligent characters in Mallrats. This is a sex comedy about two guys who can't keep their girlfriends because they do stupid things and won't take responsibility for it. However, in the end, at least one of them wisens up.
Brodie, played by Jason Lee, convinces T.S. to smarten up and ask Brandi to marry him and then figures out a way to prove that Ben Affleck's Shannon was cheating with Brodie's ex, which wins her back for him. It all ends with Brodie realizing his dreams and becoming the star he always wanted to be. He isn't smart, but Brodie is the smartest person in Mallrats.
Holden McNeil In Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back (2001)
The main characters in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back are Jay and Silent Bob, and while Bob has his moments, these are not bright people. As they race to California to try to disrupt the Bluntman and Chronic movie, they run across lots of familiar faces.
The smartest person in the movie has to be Holden McNeil. While Holden was not that smart in Chasing Amy, he had a grip on his life here, moving on from his failures and living a better life. He was also the man who introduced Jay and Bob to the internet — although that may not have been the best idea.
Delaney In Zack And Miri Make A Porno (2008)
Zack and Miri Make a Porno is a Kevin Smith romantic comedy about the title roommates who get the idea to make an adult film to help pay the bills. They are best friends and agree not to let sex get in the way of their friendship. They fail miserably.
Delaney is Craig Robinson's character and might be the only person in the movie thinking with his actual head. He is the man who convinces Zack to come back and give Miri another chance and he is the one who helps them start their own company with money he made from a worker's compensation settlement. He isn't that smart, but he did solve the problems for the couple in this movie.
Cardinal Glick In Dogma (1999)
There is a good argument that Metatron is the smartest person in Dogma, as he was able to help lead Bethany to save the day. There are other reasons that Azrael was the smartest since he figured out the loophole that almost destroyed the world.
However, Cardinal Glick, played by George Carlin, was the smartest person in the entire movie. Glick knew that religion was falling out of favor and came up with the Buddy Christ idea. He knew that he needed to move the Catholic Church into the future and it was his forward-thinking that made him so smart.
Joe Keenan In Red State (2011)
Red State was the first movie Kevin Smith ever made that wasn't a comedy by any definition. The movie was based loosely on the Branch Davidians and their standoff with federal agents in 1993. In this movie, the cult was led by Michael Parks' Abin Cooper.
The smartest person in this movie was ATF Special Agent Joe Keenan, played by John Goodman. He was the only person trying to avoid bloodshed and when he failed, he was still smart enough to work the entire situation in his favor, receiving a promotion at the end of it all.
Howard Howe in Tusk (2014)
Easily the strangest movie in Kevin Smith's career was his 2014 horror-comedy Tusk. In this movie, Justin Long stars as Wallace Bryton, a podcaster who interviews eccentric people to make fun of them. He bites off more than he expected with Michael Parks' Howard Howe.
In Tusk, Howard is a man who was rescued from a shipwreck by a walrus he named Mr. Tusk. What followed was Howard drugging and mutilating Wallace, turning him into a walrus. While Howard was a "mad scientist," he was clearly a brilliant man.
Silent Bob In Clerks (1994)
There weren't many smart characters in Clerks, the movie that defined Kevin Smith's style. Dante was smarter than Randal, but both were just drifting through life, and Dante made some terrible decisions when it came to his girlfriend Veronica, whom he dismissed based on her past.
Silent Bob might have been a man of few words, but when he speaks, he is wise beyond his years. In Clerks, When Dante was trying to decide between Veronica and his ex-girlfriend Caitlin, Bob said he saw Veronica bringing him food, rubbing his back, and even changed his tire once. Bob knew what was up, even if Dante didn't.
Dante In Clerks II (2006)
In most of Kevin Smith's movies, the characters move from one thing to the next and never seem to want to grow up or even try to move on to the real world. Dante Hicks made the decision to move on in Clerks II. He knew that he couldn't stay in the 9-to-5 world when he found a way out.
However, he also showed that he could grow. When Dante realized that Emma was not right for him, he broke off their engagement and proposed to Becky, who was right in front of him the entire time. While he ended the movie where he started, it was reopening the Quick Stop as the new owner, one of the most heartfelt moments in the View Askewniverse.
Milly Faulken In Jay And Silent Bob Reboot (2019)
In Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, Jay and Silent Bob head off on a mission that is almost a duplicate of the one they went on in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. This time, they have four people along for the ride in Sopapilla, Jihad, Shan Yu, and Milly.
Milly is Jay's daughter with Justice from Strike Back, but she doesn't know. She forces Jay and Bob to take them along, drug them, ditch them, and end up helping to save them in the end. While Milly was betrayed by one of her friends, she proved resourceful — and nothing like her dad.
Bart In Jersey Girl (2004)
Kevin Smith went outside his wheelhouse when he made Jersey Girl, which was a romantic comedy mixed with a sweet story about a man and his daughter. Ben Affleck starred as Ollie, whose wife died while giving birth to their daughter and he ended up a single dad.
Ollie was a smart and capable person, but he was lost and needed help. What he found was George Carlin's Bart, his late wife's father, who came to help him raise his daughter and dished out the advice and words of knowledge that Ollie needed to hear.
Alyssa Jones In Chasing Amy (1997)
In Chasing Amy, Ben Affleck stars as a comic book write named Holden McNeil who falls in love with Joey Lauren Adams' Alyssa Jones. The problem is that Holden has a bad problem of self-sabotaging.
Holden has no problem giving good advice to people like Jay and Silent Bob, but his own life was a mess. Holden couldn't hold onto his relationship, and Alyssa was the smartest person in the movie, shooting for the stars and then pulling out when she saw Holden wasn't worth her time. She ended up living her best life in the end.