Clerks II - Preview
Preview by Jack Foley
TWELVE years after Clerks helped to introduce director Kevin Smith to audiences world wide, and seven years after Dogma, the keenly-anticipated follow-up, Clerks 2, has made its way into US cinemas to considerable acclaim.
The story takes place now that New Jersey mini-mart clerks and best friends Dante Hicks and Randal Graves have reached the “ripe old age” of 33 – they still work with each other, slack off all day, and get paid for it.
But when the local Quick Stop that has been their entire life and livelihood suffers a cataclysm, Dante and Randal have to do the unthinkable: find new minimum-wage jobs.
Now, they’re bringing their rapid-fire one-liners, bad attitudes and unbridled love of fun at the customer’s expense to Mooby’s burger joint, where the only other employees are an uber-nerd and an entirely too sexy manager.
But when Dante announces that he’s going to leave Jersey forever and marry Emma Bunting, his co-workers plan one last send-off that quickly goes awry.
As unbridled debates rage over such burning matters as Return of the King v. Return of the Jedi; George Lucas v. Peter Jackson v.Jesus; and how far is too far in every area from teenage sex to “customer relations,” Dante has to figure out an even bigger riddle: just how friendship, love, work and having a great time every single day can all come together in one humble adult existence.
The film played out of competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival to widespread acclaim and is widely considered as a welcome return to form for Kevin Smith.
Commenting on why he decided to return to the world of Clerks, Smith says: “Clerks is a movie I wrote about what it’s like being in your 20s, and now I felt like I had something to say about being in your 30s. So Clerks II checks back in with Dante and Randal ten years’ down the road at age 33. The underlying question the film asks is if you can still be a kind of lackadaisical, cynical, wise-ass in your 30s or if you have to in some way grow up and how you do that while still being who you are.”
Critics in America mostly enjoyed contemplating the answer to this question with Smith.
Variety, for instance, wrote that “if Clerks II doesn’t have quite the scabrous kick of its predecessor, the chance to revisit a classic premise must have renewed the writer in Smith, whose banter here often achieves a sharpness and quality.”
Entertainment Weekly, meanwhile, observed that “if you’re a fan of Clerks, the convenience store slacker comedy made for $27,000 that, in 1994, established Kevin Smith as the who-needs-a-budget-when-you’ve-got-attitude auteur of his generation, you’ll probably want to see Clerks II”.
And the Hollywood Reporter gleefully reported that “Smith is able to revert to his low-budget origins and strike a genuine sequel”.
The final word, however, goes to the San Francisco Chronicle, which wrote: “Whatever your expectations, they will almost certainly be exceeded by Smith’s hilarious and creative return to low-budget cinema.”
And yes, Jay and Silent Bob do re-appear!