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| Clerks II |
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  (7/10)
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Runtime: 97 |
| Public Rating: 8.48 (64 votes) |
Director: Kevin Smith |
MPAA Rating:  |
| Genre: Comedy/Drama |
Year: 2006 |
| Writer(s): Kevin Smith |
| Distributor: The Weinstein Company |
| Reviewed by: Mel Valentin |
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Any time a filmmaker revisits the stories and characters that first made him famous, there’s a good chance said filmmaker is in the middle of a career slump, desperately or semi-desperately trying to dig his way out and reclaim his status as a filmmaker with something, anything to say, and more importantly, regain the confidence of money-holding studio executives and finance his next project, whatever that might be. Yes, we’re discussing none other than fanboy-turned-indie writer/director Kevin Smith (Clerks, Chasing Amy, Dogma Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back), eager to recover from Jersey Girl, a box-office and critical disappointment that proved one dud too many for fading actor/star Ben Affleck.
Whatever his reasons, Smith decided to bring Dante Hicks (Brian O'Halloran) and Randall Graves (Jeff Anderson), the squabbling best friends/menial workers at the center of Clerks, back for the sequel. In Clerks II (aka The Passion of the Clerks), Dante and Randall are still clerks, but the Qwik-E-Mart that Dante managed has burned down in a fire. With non-existent job skills, Dante and Randal end up working at the local Mooby's, a McDonald’s-like fast food restaurant short on edible food and long on semi-seedy squalor. And let’s not forget Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith), slackers with nothing else to do with their time than hanging out in front of Mooby’s.
Randall spends most of his free time verbally sparring with customers or verbally abusing Elias (Trevor Fehrman), a slower-than-slow, fundamentalist Christian teenager with an obsession with all things Transformers and Lord of the Rings. Dante has other plans. He’s engaged to the ultra-thin, wealthy, controlling Emma (Jennifer Schwalbach). Dante and Emma are scheduled to move to Florida in 24-hours. Next stop for Dante: wedded bliss, a “free” house, thanks to Emma’s generous parents and a car wash for Dante to manage.
Dante, though, may not want what’s he getting. His relationship with Mooby’s manager, Becky (Rosario Dawson), seems to have gone beyond the platonic. And as much as Dante wants to move on from his extended adolescence, he’s bound to miss Randall. For his part, Randall has big plans for Dante’s last night in New Jersey. Choices, choices, and more choices await Dante, Randall, Becky, and the others, as Clerks II answers the question everyone, well Kevin Smith’s remaining fans, want answered, will Dante and Randall finally grow the [insert expletive here] up? And will anyone really care?
Short answer or rather answers: yes and probably not. Smith has Dante and Randall share several maudlin heart-to-hearts about their friendship, including a penultimate scene that drags on too long. Note to Mr. Smith: you can’t write sentiment. Still, Smith delivers what even casual moviegoers have come to expect from his films, vulgarity, crudity, sex jokes, toilet humor, an odd bit of slapstick here and there, and at least one taboo-shattering scene that’s equal parts repulsive and hilarious. Never one to stray far from the formula that’s made him the envy of fanboys everywhere, Smith peppers his dialogue with an overabundance of f--- bombs, even when, strictly speaking, they're unnecessary.
Since Smith’s characters live otherwise dull, vacuous lives, vulgar humor only goes so far. Like his near contemporary, Quentin Tarantino, the trashier and more obscure the pop culture reference, the smarter it’ll make Smith (and his audience, of course). Sure, we get the obligatory Star Wars references, but Smith goes easy on the prequel trilogy (Smith and Lucas are, if not friends, more than casual acquaintances) and instead takes (well deserved) potshots at Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy and its barely submerged homoerotic subtext. Ten years ago, the Lord of the Rings takedown might have been fresh, but that was pre-Internet, when anyone with a low-end PC and a modem can join an online forum and endlessly discuss their favorite (or least favorite) films.
If a Clerks sequel sounds vaguely familiar, it should. Smith tried his hand at an animated Clerks series six years, but no one, or almost no one watched (it was cancelled after a handful of episodes), but apparently it’s non-canon, as comic book fans like to say (Star Wars and Lord of the Rings fans use similar language to describe problematic story or character developments they'd prefer to forget than accept as part of the universe). It didn’t take (e.g., it wasn’t watch in sufficient numbers to merit more than a few episodes). Apparently, Smith’s brand of humor can’t be mainstreamed. After all, Clerks with PG-language isn’t Clerks at all. Smith knows at least that much now, for what that’s worth.
Rather than get into how Dante and Emma got together or discuss the usual criticisms of Smith’s simplistic "point-and-shoot" filmmaking style or his inability to get convincing performances from his undertalented cast, it should be mentioned that at least Clerks II rarely slows, momentum wise, moving quickly from one joke-filled scene to another. Some jokes are near brilliant, some aren’t (Smith often doesn’t know when to stop), but at least moviegoers will leave the theater with at least one indelible image (or several, but they occur mostly offscreen) on their minds involving a large bald man in chaps and an unfortunate donkey. Yes, it’s sick, it’s repulsive, but it’s also one of the funniest scenes in Smith’s oeuvre. As for Smith, now that he’s gotten the Clerks bug out of his system for good, maybe he'll try something entirely new for his next project. A co-writer wouldn't hurt either, especially for the emotion-laden character moments Smith seems incapable of handling on his own.
© Mel Valentin, 21st July, 2006
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