Years ago, Kevin Smith left a bad impression with me, consistently missing comic book deadlines (though more recently he’s proven he can make comics deadlines). Tonight, my pal Curt Holman invited me to attend an advance screening of Smith’s new film (set to be released in October), Red State, at the Cobb Energy Centre.

As discussed in Holman’s recent interview with Smith: “Smith claims that Red State will be his penultimate film, and that he’ll retire from directing features after his upcoming hockey comedy Hit Somebody…He seems far more excited by the immediacy of social media through his Tweets as @ThatKevinSmith and his popular weekly podcast, the SModcast on Sirius XM Radio. Smith is frustrated with the long lead time to share Clerks-style comedy or the political arguments of Red State through the film medium.”

Smith loves talking to his fans, for example after the film showing, he took questions from the audience. He took more than 30 minutes answering the first two fans’ questions-and was still going strong when I left at 10:30 PM (deadlines and family commitments took priority, Mr. Smith, sorry).

As for the film? Smith cast John Goodman in a major role. For me, any movie with Goodman is a great film.

I may have judged Smith too harshly, clearly it’s time I reconsider his work. The man loves storytelling and comedy through podcasting-and those are three things that appeal to me.