Clerks 2 II (2-Disc Widescreen Edition)

 

 

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Making a film sequel to a comedy is like performing heart surgery while blindfolded. In 1994, Kevin Smith struck the world with his debut, Clerks, a black and white, minimalistic and very profane indie, not to mention one of the best comedies ever made. 12 years later, he brings everyone's favorite slackers back, with hilarious results.

Things have changed over the years, despite the apparently normal opening sequence: still in black and white, it sees Dante Hicks (Brian O'Halloran) getting ready for a new day of work. Then comes the shocking discovery: the Quick Stop store is on fire! From that point on, the film is in color, as it chronicles Dante's last day working at Mooby's (a fictional McDonald's-like place). You see, he's moving to Florida with his fiancée, Emma (Jennifer Schwalbach, the director's wife), which implies leaving his boss Becky (Rosario Dawson) and nerdy co-worker Elias (Trevor Fehrman) alone with the consistently rude Randal Graves (Jeff Anderson). Oh, and Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Smith), quite simply two of the best comedy characters ever, still hanging outside the store doing nothing. But last day doesn't mean it's any different form other days: as usual, Dante and Randal do anything except work, whether it's discussing racial insults or receiving unexpected visits from old high school mates (Jason Lee in a cracking cameo). Same situations, different movie, then?

Not quite, as Clerks II has one special thing that was missing back in 1994: sentiment. This time the characters have feelings, even Randal who, despite refusing to admit it, is going to miss his friend (as the beautiful, Butch Cassidy-referencing go-kart sequence shows). As for Dante, his scenes with Becky are the most touching material Smith has ever shot, thanks to brilliant dialogue and a great performance from Dawson.

This new ingredient, however, doesn't mean the director has forgotten what made the first movie so great: the outrageous, so-filthy-you-won't-let-your-mom-see-it humor. Moving it may be, but fundamentally Clerks II is exactly the same as the original: extremely funny and incredibly foul-mouthed. The jokes are relentlessly crude, but the actors'comic timing (particularly Jeff Anderson's) ensures viewers will keep laughing long after the end credits have stopped rolling.

This was the best Kevin Smith's movie I've seen. I can assure you that Clerks 2 is much better than the original one. I didn't stop laughing since I pressed "play" on my DVD player. Don't trust negative review, Clerks 2 is A BOMB

What can I say? I thought I had touched on cult classic gold with the release of Clerks back in the day back in the old black and the white. Very funny quotes from sharp writing and some memorable characters as a result. Sure they all sounded like they were formed from the same mind but it was visceral and the bottom line: these characters were willing to continue their tirades in hell, which seemed like a fitting place for them. You probably didn't want to share fridge space with Dante or Randal, but what they had to say about promiscuity, porn, Star Wars or funerals was absolutely hilarious.

We watched Kevin Smith have continued success with Mallrats, stupid as it was, and what he could write for Jason Lee, essentially catapulting his acting career. Mallrats and Chasing Amy became a little one note for me in terms of really only liking a few characters and ultimately realizing that Kevin Smith was never really going to expand his directing abilities or challenge himself. The preachiness began to set in, chit chat, talking heads with so much dialogue but really very little actually to say. What can I say? I avoided Jersey Girl and anything more to do with Kevin Smith altogether. He came to my town to talk about what he thought was important and charged quite a bit for it. A few of my friends went, paid the money and listened to what Kevin had to say. Me? I was done. The proof is in the pudding and that culminates in Clerks II. This is the Ishtar of a sequel that should never have been made. Kevin wants you to revisit his characters from the original and wants you to care for them. Trouble is Kevin made these characters completely and adoringly unlikeable on purpose. Then he brings them back for an encore and we want to see them happy?

What.

There is a go-cart scene in this movie which runs 2-3 minutes with none of that time devoted to any shenanigans or ill will or comedy whatsoever. There is bestiality that is noticeably thrown in to incite 'edgy' like Archie Andrews dying his hair black. We know the character no matter what he does and honestly, at this point, we know Kevin Smith and what he is capable of at this point: being completely and utterly sold out.

After I rejoined with my then girlfriend after the movie, which she left 20 minutes prior to its conclusion, I bought the original Clerks DVD at the box-office, something I had never needed to do before. I decided to rewatch it to remind myself how far from right the sequel managed to get and pretend, like I would at a funeral, that what I had just seen was a stale carcass of what had been so very alive before. Clerks is as fresh today as it was yesterday, which is all you need to see at this point. There's nothing to see here.

If you feel you must watch this, you would be saved by Jay and Silent Bob who give a very funny nod to Silence of the Lambs. Only problem there? They do it twice.

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