Category: Comedies - Comedy - Comedy Video - Feature Film-comedy - Movie
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DVD Clerks II (Two-Disc Widescreen Edition)
Lo and behold, Clerks II defies the odds as a sequel that even the most ardent Clerks fans can be happy about. Twelve years after Kevin Smith turned the independent film world upside-down with his $27,000 black-and-white comedy, perpetual slackers Dante (Brian O'Halloran) and Randal (Jeff Anderson) return for another raucous romp in suburbia, but this time there's no beloved Quick Stop mini-mart to ensure their low-level employment. Now they're aimless 33-year-olds flippin' burgers at Mooby's, a fast-food joint with a cow theme that's "udderly delicious." Dante's engaged to his long-time girlfriend but has unexpectedly fallen in love with Mooby's manager Becky (and since she's played by Rosario Dawson, can you blame him?), and Randal's still holding out for life, liberty, and the pursuit of low ambition. The responsibilities of adulthood are rearing their ugly head, and with Jay and Silent Bob (Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith) still dealing weed and generally being obnoxious, well... something's gotta give, right? The way Smith has written this long-awaited follow-up, the dilemmas of Dante, Randal, and their ongoing friendship are something that anyone can relate to, and with Dawson lighting up the screen (in a role demanded by producer Harvey Weinstein to boost box-office appeal), the movie's romantic chemistry is surprisingly delightful. Rest assured, also, that Smith (shooting mostly in color this time, on a $5 million budget) hasn't forgotten where he came from: Clerks II is jam-packed with the same lewd, crude humor that made Clerks an indie-film phenomenon, and Smith's good-natured sincerity is still on full display, ensuring that only the most prudish viewers could possibly be offended. For everyone else, this is as enjoyable as any sequel could ever hope to be, with amusing cameos by Smith-movie veterans Ben Affleck and Jason Lee, among others. --Jeff Shannon
Review(s): DVD Clerks II (Two-Disc Widescreen Edition)
Not Recommended
I loved "Clerks". I even enjoyed "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back". I tend to like goofy, low-brow humor - HOWEVER "Clerks 2" is just simply horrible, boring, poorly timed, poorly written, poorly planned and woefully not funny. There was one line I appreciated, the one that contains the words "sex nuts and retard strong". In fact, that was the only time I laughed.
The best idea and the best scene from "Clerks 2" is the opening scene where the guy walks up to the store from "Clerks" (all shot in black and white just like the original), rolls up the protective metal screen and sees the interior of the store ablaze (the interior shot is in color while the outside stays black and white). That scene deserves a nod, but the rest of the movie will insult your intelligence, it's predecessor and all sophomoric, low-brow, potty humor that has ever made us laugh. You might even start to question your liking of the original "Clerks" and re-rent it just to see if you've lost your mind. But, no. It's not you. "Clerks 2" is just a horrible, horrible movie and a dreadful sequel to the original, innovative idea and presentation.
A positive sequel that expands and remains true
When I first heard that Kevin Smith was going to do a sequel to his 1994 black and white cult hit Clerks, I was not jumping for joy. Despite the fact that the 10th anniversary Clerks DVD sits proudly in my collection; Smiths slacker comedy following Dante and Randals usual yet unusual hours working at the Quick Stop convenience and RST Video stores was a movie that seemed of a time and a place. The early 90s after all was a funky time in pop culture containing Seinfeld, grunge rock and Pulp Fiction. There seemed to be the usual desire for something different from teenagers and young adults, but with the Internet still years away, all that existed was new takes on established forms of entertainment. Smiths low budget, blue language comedy fit perfectly into this world.
The timing of the announcement of Clerk II also seemed a little dubious after the failure of Jersey Girl. Having gone out on a limb with a movie removed from his usual assortment of potty-mouthed Jersey characters, Smith seemed to be retreating with Clerks II after seeing his last film swallowed up by the Bennifer fiasco. Any fans of Smith probably knows of is comment in his Evening With Kevin Smith DVD, filmed prior to Jersey Girls release, that important characters Jay and Silent Bob would never appear in another of his movies, they're in Clerks II.
I gradually accepted the movie was going to happen and knew as the release date for Clerks II approached I would see it in theatres at least once. I have since seen the film twice, a rare event in my life, as I was pleasantly surprised by Smith's choices of script and character development. Better than the original? No, Smith will always be tied to his first film, Clerks II is good enough however to be seen as its own accomplishment.
The story sees central characters Dante and Randal coming to work for another day at the stores only to be met by a fire burning down the only place of work the characters have seemingly known. Flash forward a year later and the two have simply slid over to fast food restaurant Moobys for their next job. Like the original, Clerks II centers around one day in the life of both characters, this day sees Dante one day away from leaving Jersey with is fiancée Emma for Florida.
As in the original, Dante's issues with the women in his life and the choices he is not handling well are central to the story of Clerks II. We realize Emma likes Dante not because of his qualities but because of his inability to do anything exceptional, therefore he is the perfect teddy bear to be pushed into a life of her choosing. But instead of finding this sad, Dante seems to realize that giving a life in Florida a try is clearly a step up from his current station. Even as the story shows Dante may doubt the depth of his feelings for Emma, there is something commendable now about Dante's longings. In the original Dante was a whiner who couldn't take responsibility for his life. In the sequel he still can't make great decisions but he is willing to step up and give something a try. It may have taken 12 years, but it appears Dante is willing to take the dump he and Randal discussed in the first movie.
Equally as important as the elevating of Dante in Clerks II is the tearing down of Randal, a daring rebuke of the original. The wiseass who Dante once looked up to is now a cranky old man even though he has yet to turn 40. Randal is still full of rage unable to deal with people and therefore has to over rely on his friendship with Dante as it is his only real relationship. A scene where the two take a look at the burnt down remains of Quick Stop is revealing as while Dante is glad to have moved on, Randal looks at the charred remains with a longing that one day the store will return, as if he knows there is nowhere else he is going to succeed with his crusty demeanor. Randal is still funny in Clerks II, but there is an underlying sadness to him now. His picking on of a 19-year-old co-worker Elias feels tragic. Check out a scene where a successful old classmate of Dante and Randals walks into Moobys. Elias gets his business card after a quick offer of a potential venture, while Randal can do no better than engage in petty ridicule and lowbrow behaviour.
It is this flipping of Dante and Randal that makes Clerks II work as its own film. Dante is no longer envying Randals screw everybody mentality. As the story unfolds it is in fact Randal who has to elevate himself to keep him and Dante's friendship alive. This reinterpretation of the characters is what made the sequel as interesting as it challenges your original view of the two. Now for those who have yet to see the film let's just say that within the day of Clerks II, Dante decides not to go to Florida, the Quick Stop gets reopened and a donkey gets corn holed. But the film ends with a key point that is very much of its time; eventually everyone has to decide on a life or you may wind-up with no friends wearing a purple shirt serving something called a cow tipper.
One of the few enjoyable sequels out there
Clerks was a severely low-budget movie that was big at Sundance as well as the movie market in general, creating somewhat of a cult status filmography with director Kevin Smith. After the disappointment(some of it unwarranted as it wasn't that bad) of Jersey Girl, Smith returned to the 2 characters that brought him the success but unlike most sequels where it seems like an obvious cash-in, and let's face it, this one at times felt like it going in, but it manages to be hilarious and even slightly better than the first one, if many on a laugh scale. The first one was great but at times unfunny but it had a certain novelty nostalgia, this one though is quite funny period.
Almost 10 years after we left Dante and Randal, the Quickstop has burned down prompting them to get jobs at Mooby's, a fast food chain with a cow theme modeled after McDonalds or Burger King. Jay and Silent Bob are back, however they're sober, but they're still dealing. Dante is getting married and moving to Florida which doesn't sit well with Randal. Adding complication is that Dante is falling in love more with his boss Becky. So Dante again finds himself between 2 girls and we get little vignettes of customers that Randal always tends to have a beef with.
Awhile ago I watched Kevin Smith's "An Evening With ...2" and while he's quite a talkative speaker and a very intelligent one, he was especially vulgar and profane. Now I have no issue of course with vulgarity or profanity, but it would be like seeing respected people swear up a storm and talking about sex acts. So of course we have the sequel to a film that brought us the knowledge of a "snowball" or having sex with a dead guy. Here it's actually worse. We get trolls that live in...women parts, the disdain for *** to mouth as well as a live adult show involving a human and...a donkey. The one thing though is that it does tread familiar ground: Randal and his new protege Elias get into a big riff about Lord of the Rings which recalls the discussion about Empire Strikes Back's ending or the Death Star II's construction.
What sets it apart from the first film however is an emotional core that's quite surprising. Dante's problem in the first one was that he didn't want to disrupt things if it was an inconvenience to him or others. In this film, he just goes along with things because that's what people expect of him or because it's easier. Randal however goes through the biggest change since not only is he losing his best friend but he does feel like there's nothing for him to achieve. Jeff Anderson probably has the best scene, acting-wise at the end where he goes into a big monologue about his life.
Is it better than the first one? At times. There's moments here that are way funnier than most of Clerks but other times things just don't really fit(such as a big dance number to an Abba song) but it's still a worthy sequel. Ugly box art though.
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