Clerks II (2006)

The 1990s were an important decade in independent filmmaking. Movies like Boys Don't Cry, Natural Born Killers, The Big Lebowski, and the work of Quentin Tarantino brought many little-known actors and directors into the spotlight. Such was the case with Clerks, a low-budget black and white movie from 1994. Directed by first-time filmmaker Kevin Smith, the movie following a day in the life of two convenience store clerks became a cult classic among Gen-Xers and brought much recognition to its director.

Smith and went on to direct four more entries into the fictional universe dubbed "the View Askewniverse" (named for View Askew, Smith's production company), each film each gaining a devoted following among his fans. But when Smith decided to venture outside the View Askewniverse in 2004 with Jersey Girl, it wasn't met with the same reaction as his prior work. In fact, it was crapped on by damn near everybody.

Perhaps due to the movie-going public's backlash against movies featuring Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez in the wake of the Gigli disaster, Jersey Girl barely broke even, was nominated for three Razzie Awards, and was even subjected to playful derision from Smith himself. He returned to what brought him to the dance two years later, writing and directing the first true sequel in the View Askewniverse, Clerks II. And personally, I think it may be some of Smith's best work.

Dante Hicks (Brian O'Halloran) and Randal Graves (Jeff Anderson) are still living a minimum wage existence as the clerks of the Quick Stop and RST Video. But when their places of business accidentally burn down, you'd think that would be the spark that would get them moving on to bigger and better things. Turns out that they merely went from ten years of convenience store hell to fast food hell when they get jobs at the local Mooby's restaurant.

A year passes, and Dante is preparing for his final day of work at Mooby's. The next morning, he's packing up and leaving New Jersey for Florida, where he plans on wedding his white-collar fiancé Emma (Jennifer Schwalbach). It's unimportant to Dante that his heart truly belongs to his boss, Becky (Rosario Dawson); she claims to not believe in romantic love, nor can she promise a way out of Dante's rut like Emma can.

Randal is devastated by the prospect of losing his best friend for good, but hides it under his sarcastic personality while he finds humor in tormenting their dorky teenage coworker Elias (Trevor Fehrman). And it's just another day for newly-sober Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith), who are only concerned with standing outside and selling drugs.

If Clerks tells the story of slackers at that awkward stage between youth and adulthood, then Clerks II tells the story of slackers that have reached adulthood and aren't sure what to do with their lives. By bringing the View Askewniverse full circle, Kevin Smith shows that he has matured as a filmmaker while staying true to what brought him fame in the first place. Yes, Clerks II is a raunchy affair that will primarily appeal to Smith's devoted fanbase, but that doesn't stop it from being intelligent, fun, and even a little heartwarming.

Smith's maturation over the twelve years between his debut film and its sequel is especially evident in his direction. I'm not for sure if that was due to budgetary restrictions or his relative inexperience, but it seemed that in the original Clerks, Smith was content to just point the camera in one direction and let the action go down. But with Clerks II, we actually see the camera move around a few times. Smith — with a little help from cinematographer Dave Klein — still utilizes the "point and shoot" method for the most part, but he throws in a few crane shots and some handheld stuff. He also uses a simple yet effective move, rotating the camera around Dante and Randal during a particularly dramatic dialogue exchange. Things like that really work to enhance the overall feeling that Smith was trying to go for, and I think he did a great job. The screenplay penned by Smith is also as wonderful as ever, in spite of a few flaws. We never really believe that Emma is ever a contender for Dante's heart, especially since Smith has chosen to write her as a ball-busting shrew that just doesn't seem to really love Dante for who he is. That sort of thing afflicts most movies with a "torn between two lovers" air, so I guess it should be expected out of Clerks II as well.

But no matter, the script is still hilarious, with very few misses. While not as outright vulgar as Clerks, Smith makes this one just as raunchy — and as fanboyish as well. From discussions regarding the difference between Helen Keller and Anne Frank, to debates over the value of a particular sexual act and whether or not the phrase "porch monkey" should be a racial slur, to a rant regarding the quality of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, Smith is in rare form. He even throws in a donkey show and a musical number too. The jokes may not fly for everybody, but those that get a laugh out of this sort of thing will enjoy what Smith brings to the table.

I spoke of Smith's evolution as a director, but it should be noted that his cast has evolved as well. As good as they might have been, it was still obvious that the cast of the original Clerks were amateurs, nobodies that could have randomly walked into the Quick Stop on any given day and landed a role in the movie. But with the passing of a dozen years, his returning major players have drastically improved. Brian O'Halloran is still kinda stiff, but he's still quite fun as a character that seems to be perpetually stuck behind the eight-ball of "The Man."

And as he was in the original Clerks, Jeff Anderson is a total scene-stealer. As uncouth as Randal may be, Anderson's performance makes him charming and amiable. And although the roles of Jay and Silent Bob are downplayed, Jason Mewes and Smith are hilarious as always. Their memorable moments are limited, but the presence of Smith's most popular characters are much welcomed.

The new cast members aren't too bad either. Jennifer Schwalbach, who one may recognize as either Mrs. Kevin Smith or pigtailed jewel thief Missy from Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, is entertaining as Emma. Like I said, we can tell from the start that her relationship with Dante isn't going to end well, but Schwalbach has fun in the role and it shows. Also having fun is Trevor Fehrman, who is incredibly amusing as Randal's nerdy and woefully sheltered sidekick Elias. The character isn't very deep, but Fehrman does provide the movie with some of the movie's best scenes ("Pillow Pants," anyone?).

But something that even Smith will readily admit is that the best actor in the entire movie is Rosario Dawson. Adding another entry onto her already colorful résumé, Dawson is nothing short of wonderful. She plays the role with a passion, and does such an impressive job that she nearly makes everyone else in the cast look bad by comparison. Dante and Becky's relationship is one of the film's strongest points, and while O'Halloran is no slouch, Dawson really helps elevate it into something that we the viewer want to see more of.

I don't really know for certain if Clerks II is the absolute final chapter of the View Askewniverse. Smith said the same thing about Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back back in 2001, and look where we are now. Maybe when 2018 rolls around, we'll see Clerks III, where Smith can do a movie about slackers in their forties raising teenage slacker children. But as it stands now, Clerks II makes for a perfect finale for the View Askewniverse. I'm certainly not complaining if it did end here. Go check it out, and see if you can find my name in the MySpace credits at the end.

Final Rating: ****

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001)

If you've seen Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, and Dogma, you might have noticed a recurring trend: the repeated appearances of Jay and Silent Bob. The dynamic duo of the "Askewniverse" movies, they always appeared in the background, supporting characters to the main action. But when Kevin Smith decided to retire the "Askewniverse," he decided to move his two most popular creations into the forefront. How does it hold up with its four predecessors?

Jay and Silent Bob (Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith) have spent practically their entire lives hanging out in front of their beloved Quick Stop convenience store. But as the movie begins, they've finally worn out their welcome and are banned from being within 100 feet of the store for a year.

The upset duo soon discover, however, that Miramax Films will soon be beginning production of a movie based on the "Bluntman & Chronic" comic book seen in Chasing Amy. They're rightfully pissed, since the comic's characters were based on their likenesses and they haven't seen that first dime from the movie deal. And not only that, but the announcement of a Bluntman & Chronic movie has been met with a resoundingly negative reception online. Combining being stiffed from their fair share of the movie deal with being personally insulted by the movie's poor reception, Jay and Bob decide to hike to Hollywood to stop Bluntman & Chronic: The Movie from being made. (Or at the very least, they can hopefully get Miramax to cut them a check.)

They encounter a number of colorful characters on their trip across the country, most notably a quartet of women (Eliza Dushku, Ali Larter, Jennifer Schwalbach, and Shannon Elizabeth) posing as animal activists to cover up the fact that they're jewel thieves. Their latest heist, involving a pharmaceutical lab, leaves Jay and Bob as wanted fugitives with a federal wildlife marshal (Will Ferrell) hot on their tails. But Jay and Silent Bob remain undeterred in their plans to raise hell in Hollywood.

If any movie requires you to have some knowledge about its characters, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is it. The movie is basically one gigantic in-joke, where only Smith's fans or friends will get any of the winks and nods directed toward them (though some of the most inside of inside jokes were left on the cutting room floor). This flick was made for nobody but Jay and Bob's most hardcore fans, as it rightfully should have been.

Taking center stage for the first time, both Mewes and Smith are the most hilarious they've ever been. Smith's script isn't as strong as it could have been, but considering the two main characters, there's no real problem with it. It provides lots of funny quotable lines, so I definitely won't complain about the script. Will Ferrell and Chris Rock (who plays the the Bluntman & Chronic movie's director) are great, and many of the cameos (like Mark Hamill as Bluntman and Chronic's cinematic archenemy "Cock-Knocker," Affleck and Damon as themselves, and the live performance of "Jungle Love" by Morris Day and The Time at the end of the movie) were all very much enjoyable.

As a whole, I'm gonna give Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back three stars. It's not Kevin Smith's greatest, but it's definitely a great note for Jay and Silent Bob to walk out on.

Final Rating: ***

Dogma (1999)

If you watched Clerks all the way to the end of the credits you probably noticed the line, "Jay and Silent Bob will return in Dogma." Five years came and went, and despite Jay and Bob returning in both 1995's Mallrats and 1997's Chasing Amy, Kevin Smith's two follow-ups to Clerks were not the Dogma he promised at the end of his debut film. Smith finally got around to making the project he'd been working on for so long, and was it worth the five year wait? Read on.

Many years ago, the angels Bartleby (Ben Affleck) and Loki (Matt Damon) were cast out of Heaven and banished to Wisconsin for all eternity after angering God. When they hear about a New Jersey bishop (George Carlin) that is reintroducing a long-forgotten part of Catholic dogma known as the "plenary indulgence," Bartleby and Loki discover a loophole that would circumvent God's ban and allow them to return Heaven, and they go on a road trip to New Jersey.

Now while this may sound like a setup for a fun buddy comedy, there's a little snafu. The angel Metatron (Alan Rickman), who serves as God's messenger, appears to Bethany (Linda Fiorentino), a jaded Catholic and abortion clinic employee. After she sprays him with a fire extinguisher thanks to his arrival in a pillar of fire, Metatron explains that if Bartleby and Loki are able to get back into Heaven, God's infallible word will be overruled and existence itself will cease to be. He goes on to inform Bethany that she will meet two prophets, and that she must follow them to the New Jersey church and stop the angels from destroying the universe.

Along the way, we meet the "prophets" Jay Silent Bob (Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith), a stripper/muse named Serendipity (Salma Hayek), and Rufus (Chris Rock), the lost thirteenth apostle that was written out of the Bible due to his skin color. However, trying to stop Bethany from succeeding is a rogue demon named Azrael (Jason Lee), who wants the angels to succeed and end the universe just so he won't be stuck in Hell anymore.

To be totally honest, I'm not too knowledgeable on the intricacies of Catholicism, so all the doctrine and whatnot went over my head. I didn't even know what a plenary indulgence was until I looked it up on the Internet. But as someone who holds his religious upbringing in a somewhat high esteem, I thought Dogma was a very enjoyable movie. I don't get why people protested this movie as blasphemous, because I think God would have liked it. Isn't it obvious that He (or as Dogma would lead you to believe, She) has a sense of humor? The duckbill platypus is proof enough of that. Besides, God probably likes to have the occasional laugh at humankind's expense. I would.

As usual, Smith's script is good. In this case, it's almost too good. Dogma's long dialogues about religion's place in life seem to be better suited for a novel, but that's not a complaint. The acting, as with Smith's three prior movies, is mostly good. Fiorentino's tough-as-nails portrayal of Bethany is perfect, and Mewes and Smith are once again hilarious as the "hetero life-mates" Jay and Bob. Rickman is also great as the sarcastic voice of God, but the standouts are Affleck and Damon. Their banter with each other and the other characters are some of my more favorite parts of the movie. However, I really disliked Salma Hayek. I'm not a big fan of hers, and she just didn't do anything for me here.

Approaching Dogma from a spiritual point of view is good, because the protagonists are a bunch of imperfect dummies out to do what they feel is right. Those who see religion as a bunch of supernatural mumbo-jumbo nonsense won't care too much for it. The same goes for those who don't have a sense of humor when it comes to religion. You know who I mean. The kind of people that thinks a joke that starts with "a priest, a minister, and a rabbi walk into a bar" is blasphemy. Dogma takes religion away from people like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell and entrusts it to the unwashed masses. It even suggests that God might actually want people to go to Heaven. Of course, it also suggests that God is a female rock singer from Canada, but that's a different story.

Final Rating: ****

Chasing Amy (1997)

Most romantic comedies seem to follow the same formula. Someone with a secret falls for somebody else and they have a relationship, but when the secret is revealed, the fit hits the shan and the couple has a falling out before making up by the end of the movie. But when Kevin Smith made his third movie, he took that formula and turned its on his ear, resulting in Chasing Amy.

Holden McNeil (Ben Affleck) and Banky Edwards (Jason Lee) are two comic book artists slowly gaining fame from their Jay and Silent Bob-inspired comic "Bluntman and Chronic." When the two attend a comic book convention in New York, their friend Hooper (Dwight Ewell) introduces them to his friend Alyssa Jones (Joey Lauren Adams). Holden is immediately smitten, and he and Alyssa soon form a close friendship.

After a while, Holden develops a crush on his new friend, but he soon finds out Alyssa's secret. It turns out that he's fallen in love with a lesbian with a salacious sexual history. Go figure. Confronted by his feelings for Alyssa and the confusion caused by them, Banky's jealousy and homophobia (which may or may not be a cover for his own closeted sexuality), and his own self-doubts, Holden's life has just got turned upside down and he doesn't know how to fix it.

Chasing Amy is arguably the best movie Kevin Smith's ever made, and it's definitely my favorite. It has more real emotion than most comedies I've seen, probably due to both the extremely talented cast (as with Mallrats, many scenes here are stolen by Jason Lee) and Smith's semi-autobiographical script. The main cast have a great chemistry together, and they all try their best to make the movie seem real. Each of them can be easily identified with, and they're all likable as well. Affleck is believable as the lovelorn cartoonist, while Lee and Adams are absolutely perfect as Holden's loud-mouth sidekick and love interest, respectively.

Dwight Ewell is great as Hooper, the militant black man by day/gay bartender by night, and the brief one-scene appearance of Jay and Silent Bob (played for the third time by Jason Mewes and Smith himself) is excellent, making Jay and Bob more than just a brash drug dealer and his silent comrade. They're helped by Smith's brilliant screenplay, which works in racism, the Star Wars movies, and the differences between "inking" and "tracing" in the comic book industry, but still speaks with a lot of heart and feeling while managing to be hilarious at the same time. His characters are complicated, and each of them has their own thing going on.

Overall, there's nothing else I can say about Chasing Amy, except that it should be seen by everyone that thinks they have love figured out. With a great script, great acting, and jokes abounding, I'll give Chasing Amy five stars. It doesn't deserve any lower than that.

Final Rating: *****

Mallrats (1995)

Okay, pop quiz: You've just directed a critically acclaimed, low-budget independent movie about a bunch of slackers that hang out at a convenience store. You want to go ahead and start work on another movie. What do you do? If you said, "I'd make a movie about a bunch of slackers that hang out at a mall," a winner is you! That's exactly what Kevin Smith did following the success of Clerks. Let's get to the review...

When slacker twenty-something T.S. Quint (Jeremy London) is dumped by his girlfriend Brandi (Claire Forlani), he turns to the only person he can for help: fellow slacker Brodie Bruce (Jason Lee). Having been dumped by his girlfriend Rene (Shannon Doherty) earlier in the morning, Brodie can empathize with his friend's plight. He suggests that they can deal with their loss by spending a day at the local mall.

Along the way, they encounter an odd cast of characters, including Willam (Ethan Suplee), a dim-witted guy obsessed with a Magic Eye picture; Gwen (Joey Lauren Adams), one of T.S.'s ex-girlfriends; Tricia (Renée Humphrey), a 15-year-old girl writing a book on her extensive sexual experiences; a topless fortune teller from the nearby flea market (Prescilla Barnes), and bad boys Jay and Silent Bob (Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith). Eventually, T.S. and Brodie decide to win back their significant others while embarrassing their respective enemies, Brandi's father (Michael Rooker) and a fashion store clerk (Ben Affleck).

Sure, critics and theatrical audiences didn't care much for Mallrats, but that doesn't make it a bad movie. Actually, Mallrats is pretty funny if you give it a chance. While it may not have the same feel as Clerks, it still has the same wit and charm. Smith's knack for writing humorous and intelligent dialogue is once again apparent. With the larger cast, the comedy more fast paced, and at times is almost funnier than Clerks. Once again, the cast is extremely talented, holding the viewer even during what would seem like the most boring stretches of dialogue. Jason Lee is the best example of that, stealing every scene he's in. All of the scenes featuring Jay and Silent Bob are also really fun. Even if they go from drug dealers in Clerks to a simply mischievous duo in Mallrats, they still make a fun on-screen team.

It's sad that a movie as fun and entertaining as Mallrats is more cult classic than mainstream hit. The black sheep of the Askewniverse movies, it certainly fits the "teen sex comedy" mold of movies like Porky's (oddly enough, the producers called Mallrats "a smart Porky's") and the American Pie trilogy, yet can stand alone without being compared to them. Overall, despite a few times where it just tries too hard to be funny and falls flat, I'll give Mallrats three and a half stars. It's not quite up to Clerks material, but it's still great and still funny, no matter what any critic tells you. Check it out. 

Final Rating: ***½

Clerks (1994)

Perhaps one of the most thankless jobs out there is that of a convenience store clerk. The pay is lousy, the customers can often be uncooperative, and the work itself is generally mind-numbing. Clerks the world over finally got a little bit of respect in 1994 when Miramax Films released a modestly produced film appropriately titled Clerks. The directorial debut of independent film darling Kevin Smith, Clerks is very much a slice of Generation X life, which we see while it follows two twenty-something slackers as they waste a day at their dead end jobs and try finding their way into the real world.

The plot is effortlessly simple, yet very involved. Woebegone convenience store clerk Dante Hicks (Brian O'Halloran) is called into work on his day off. Though he assumes it'll be just another day at the Quick Stop, he's dead wrong. Once there, he's forced to deal with more problems than he knows what to do with. Dante's girlfriend Veronica (Marilyn Ghigliotti) reveals certain parts of her sex life that knocks him for a loop; Caitlin (Lisa Spoonhauer), the ex that Dante never got over, is getting married to an Asian design major; and Dante's friend Randal (Jeff Anderson), a clerk at the video store next door, spends all his time at the Quick Stop hassling Dante's customers.

Add in various insane and moronic customers, an anti-cigarette lynch mob, a funeral, a rooftop hockey game, detailed discussions of sex, a debate over whether The Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi is better, and wild drug dealers Jay and Silent Bob (Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith) raising hell in front of the store, and Dante's day just can't get any weirder.

While Clerks is not perfect, I find it to be an great debut for Kevin Smith and the View Askew team. For a movie shot at a convenience store in black and white for less than 30,000 dollars with no professional actors, it's pretty darn good. The movie's extremely low-rent feel only adds to its charm, making it seem like it was all filmed with convenience store security cameras. As the movie takes place in and around your average run-of-the-mill convenience store, one would think that it would get tiresome after a while. It'd be easy just to have everyone sitting around doing nothing while reciting their dialogue, but the handling of each scene is well done. One early scene features Dante and Veronica sitting under the counter, having a chat. While it seems like a rather boring setup, a touch of feeling is added by having Dante paint Veronica's fingernails while they talk. Even though it's a little detail, it contributes a lot to the scene.

On the acting end, I did very much enjoy pretty much everyone. I wasn't exactly sold on Marilyn Ghigliotti, but that's no fault of hers. I didn't think the character was exactly solid, more of a shrew than a love interest. But eh, what can you do. Lisa Spoonhauer is charming in her role as the flirtatious Caitlin, while Jason Mewes and Smith himself are hilarious in their first appearance as Smith's popular weed peddling duo Jay and Silent Bob. However, the best parts of the cast are its leads, Brian O'Halloran and Jeff Anderson. Their interaction with one another is quite entertaining, with O'Halloran's Dante playing the straight man to Anderson's uncouth Randal. They're helped by Smith's excellent script, which not only boasts great dialogue, but looks into the lives of Generation X society. The characters of Dante and Randal are at that awkward stage in life, stranded somewhere between adolescence and adulthood, going through life on cruise control, waiting for their big moment to find them instead of finding it themselves. If this aspect was Smith's intent, I don't know. Either way, it makes the movie that much deeper and stronger because of it.

Quentin Tarantino may have gained fame as a video store clerk that went on to make movies, but Kevin Smith has gone above and beyond that by being a convenience store clerk that made a movie about the convenience store itself. While the language is filthy and crude (which originally warranted an NC-17 rating from the MPAA, but was changed to an R after Miramax appealed), Clerks serves as a very real, yet very over the top, look at twenty-something Gen-X slackers in the mid-90s. And because it features quite a few laughs, I'll give it three and a half stars, leaning toward four. Go check it out, won't you?

Final Rating: ***½