Dir. Kevin Smith, US, 2006, 97 mins
Cast: Brian O’Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Rosario Dawson, Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith
Review by Matthew Rodgers
The View Askew universe was born from a microscopic budget and realised by an immense creative talent. From the intelligently warped mind of Kevin Smith, cinema has been given Jay and Silent Bob, Dante, Amy, Banky, Holden, the list is endless. They are characters memorable for spouting some of the most hilariously relevant and quotable dialogue in modern film. It all started outside the Quick Stop Groceries store in 1993 when a young disillusioned worker turned up on a day when he’s “not even supposed to be there” and now he’s turning up for work all over again over a decade later.
Clerks II gives us another glimpse into the lives of convenience store worker Dante (Brian O’Halloran) and his annoyance of a friend Randall (Jeff Anderson) as they continue to analyse their mediocre existence in their consumer led environment. Life is about to change (and not just because their world is full of colour) for our two disenfranchised employees when the shop burns down in an overnight fire. Fast forward a couple of months and they are now working in a burger bar, still griping about the same things and still looking for a reason to it all.
Clerks II is the merging of the two polar opposites of Kevin Smith’s chronological career output. At one end we have the raw, dialogue driven black and white realism of Clerks and at the other is the saccharine coated and much maligned Jersey Girl, and therein lies the film’s problem. The tone is all over the place, it’s a complete mess. The wry observations of the foul-mouthed Jason Mews remind you that it is without doubt Smith’s best film since well, Clerks, only for the enjoyment to be yanked away from you with an Alanis Morrisette accompanied montage or tongue-in-cheek Jackson 5 sing-a-long. With that said, though, the soundtrack is a nostalgic treat to befit the theme of revisiting places long forgotten.
The returning cast help to achieve this. Dante and Randall have failed to develop on every level since they last served us so it’s refreshing to watch them bicker like its 1993. The new additions are also very welcome in the form of the ever watchable Rosario Dawson who brings a sweet innocence to an otherwise thankless role, and young newcomer Trevor Fehrman with his more modern contextual references to the forthcoming Transformers movie and the new “Holy Trilogy” of The Lord of the Rings provide comedy gold with Randall’s angry Star Wars retaliation.
The exchanges of dialogue between the key characters unsurprisingly provide the stand-out moments in Clerks II, aswell as some welcome cameos from some Smith favourites (“the bomb” that is Ben Affleck and ‘My Name is Earl’s Jason Lee) so its such a shame that the films finale revolves around such gross-out escapades that even the American Pie scriptwriters would pass over. The occasional dick and fart jokes can be forgiven but the perverse sexual nature of the climax is below the writer/director’s standards and leaves a very bad taste in the mouth.
Smith enthusiasts will be both elated for the chance to the return to the old haunt, getting to hang outside with Jay and Silent Bob again, but in equal measure they will be disappointed that the gang couldn’t quite reach the highs (no pun intended) of days gone by. For casual viewers the Quick Stop Groceries store may be one to pass on by.
Paramount Home Entertainment have announced the UK
Region 2 DVD release of Clerks II for 19th February
2007
Extras on this two-disc set include:
- Feature Commentary with Director Kevin Smith, Producer
Scott Mosier and Director of Photography Dave Klein
- Feature Commentary with Director
Kevin Smith, Producer Scott Mosier and Actors Jeff Anderson,
Trevor Fehrman, Jason Mewes, Brian O’Halloran and
Jennifer Schwalbach
- Podcast Commentary with Director Kevin Smith, Producer
Scott Mosier and Actor Jeff Anderson
- Introdution by Kevin Smith & Scott
Mosier to the film
- Deleted Scenes with optional introduction
- A Closer Look at Interspecies Erotica featurette
- Easter Egg (Disc 1)
- Back to the Well 90-min documentary with optional introduction
by Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier
- Blooper Reel with optional introduction
- Train Wrecks: Video Production Diaries with optional
introduction
- Easter Egg – Hooray for Hollywood
- Easter Egg – Clerkin’ Off
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