Clerks II
Starring Brian O’Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Rosario Dawson
Written & Directed by Kevin Smith


I’ll be honest with you, when I first heard that there was going to be a sequel to Clerks -- I freaked out. How could Kevin Smith do this?! Why would Kevin Smith do this?! Clerks II was one of the best indie films of the early 90s and is loved by film geeks around the globe for its hilarious dialogue and insightful look at guys in their early twenties and how they would rather slack around than face growing up. Clerks was cheap, it was dirty, it was wildly creative -- and now it is going to get a sequel and be in color?! God forbid! I refused to watch it. Then I saw it.

On a very recent road trip to Portland with my friend Norm, he introduced me to a theatre called Bagdad where you have tables in front of your seats so you can drink alcohol and munch on food as you watch a film -- this is where it would happen. This is where I would watch Clerks II. I knew it would happen eventually, but I didn’t expect to see the film until it was at least a seven day rental at Blockbuster. But it happened and I am so, so, so, so, relieved to say that it didn’t stink at all. It was good. Not great -- but good.

Dante (Brian O’Halloran) wakes up as usual and opens the doors of the local convenience store where he and his buddy Randal (Jeff Anderson) have been working for the past ten years, however this particular morning the place is engulfed in flames due to Randal forgetting about the coffee pot as usual. This leads them to find new jobs at Mooby’s, a chain restaurant similar to McDonalds with a friendly cartoon cow as its mascot. They are thirty year olds working at jobs meant for teenagers... This is sad stuff. But of course this has not stopped Randal and Dante from enjoying themselves. Randal loves the job because it allows him to hit on teenage girls and mess around with geeky co-workers and Dante has developed a really close friendship with Becky (Rosario Dawson), the attractive manager of Mooby’s. All would be fine if not for the fact that Dante has a fiancee and he is going to be moving away to Florida with her where his in-laws have a cushy car-wash management job waiting for him. Doesn’t sound too bad, but add the fact that he loves Becky, who is pregnant with his child after a passionate romp in the restaurant one night, and his best friend Randal has nobody to turn to but him and you’ve got some high stakes drama on top of all the immature laughs.

Being part of the 25 to 34 year old age bracket, I am proud to say that Kevin Smith has always used his “view askew” to provide us with hilarious and heartfelt films that take on life from our point of view and with Clerks II he does the same, regardless of the fact that it is a sequel. Clerks II makes us laugh with its rude and crude antics, but it also makes us face our anxieties regarding love, work, friendship, and growing up. Besides the names of the main characters and appearances by our buds, Jay and Silent Bob, Clerks II actually has very little to do with the first Clerks. Clerks II could have been titled something else (the film is actually quite similar to Waiting with Ryan Reynolds, so I am told by Norm) and it still would have been a good film, but titling it Clerks II I felt automatically set the bar too high. A bar it could never surpass. But I will tell you this -- it does come close. Clerks II is like meeting up with an old college buddy for some drinks after years of separation -- it is familiar, a little different -- but always nice to see.


THE RUNDOWN:

The Good: Clerks II is rude, crude, and as funny as you would expect. Surprisingly it is also filled with quite a bit of heart and maturity.

The Bad: It is in color.

The Law: Don’t let the “II” beside “Clerks” stop you from seeing this film -- it is a good time and won’t disappoint, especially if you are a View Askew fan.