Oct 29, 2001 11:38 AM
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A friend of mine recently turned me on to the movies of Kevin Smith. Clerks is the first of the “New Jersey” trilogy (the others are “Mallrats” and Chasing Amy”). Smith is the guy that is responsible for the recent “Jay and Silent Bob” movie (actually, Smith IS Silent Bob, and they seem to show up in these movies as well).
This movie is a look at the unpolished and pathetic lives of a couple of sales clerks. Kevin Smith is truly a genius with low budget movies, to say the least.
Plot? No, sorry, there is no real plot. In fact that’s what makes this film so funny.
Clerks is the story of a day in the lives of Dante Hicks (Brian O'Halloran), a push-over convenience store clerk, and his slack buddy Randall (Jeff Simmons), who “works” (and I use this term loosely) at the video rental store next door. Dante gets called in to work on his day off (he reminds us the whole way through that he’s “not even supposed to be here today!). Through the course of the day we get to see the ridiculous customers that come through, from the gum salesman with the dead lung to the old guy who dies in the bathroom (and later accidentally has sex with Dante’s girlfriend -ewwwww) to the hockey game up on the roof. I would have to say that my favorite part of the film was the whole conversation between Dante, Randall and a customer about the “Death Star” (Star Wars reference) - watch it and see. Being a Star Wars fan and all..... The film is shot in black and white - this is actually a clever move on Smith’s part - definitely makes it seem more “real”. The DVD version shows the original ending as one of the special features - if they had used this ending it would have colored the entire movie a different way. I won’t spoil it - you won’t understand unless you see the movie anyway.
If there is a “con” it would only be applicable to folks that are easily offended (which I am not) and that would be the sometimes vulgar content. Watch the movie to see more about my review title. I loved this film, it is sure to be a cult classic. Go see it. Now.
