Tusk

If youre a Kevin Smith junkie, as I am, youll appreciate the verbal pinwheels he spins around the horror genre in Tusk. If not, go dull your brain cells at Hollywood multiplex gunk. Tusk feels as offhand and undercooked as a podcast, which is how it started for Smith, so the jokes are hit-and-miss. Justin Long impresses as Wallace, half of an L.A. podcasting team Teddy (Haley Joel Osment) is the other specializing in the bizarre. That leads Wallace to Winnipeg, where he meets wealthy recluse Howard Howe (Michael Parks, relishing a role that allows him to be charming and bug-fuck nuts). Howe wants to turn Wallace into a walrus, and he has the surgical tools to do it. Ill say no more, except watch out for an A-list star in prosthetic disguise as Guy Lapointe, a Quebec cop with an outrageous accent. Smith leavens the gags and gross-outs with surprising heart. It wont help. Tusk is a mesmerizing mess that will make Joe Popcorn yak. Jay and Silent Bob will love it.