Clerks II
Directed by Kevin Smith
Starring Brian O’Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Jason Mewes, Rosario Dawson, Trevor Fuhrman, Jennifer Schwalbach, and, of course Kevin Smith.
Backstory
I love Kevin Smith’s movies. I particularly enjoy Clerks, which always made me feel better after toiling at Extra Foods on a tough shift. So, with rumours of a sequel starting to go around after Dogma, I was always kind of wary. But, you know, it’s Kevin Smith, it’s characters he created that I loved…I felt it was going to be good.
Plot
10 years later…. Randall accidentally burned down the QuickStop, so Randall and Dante now find themselves working at the fast food place Mooby’s. Dante seems to have finally broken out of his rut. It’s his last day at work. He’s engaged to Emma, and he’s about to move to Florida and manage one of Emma’s father’s car washes. Dante’s got one problem, though…an unrequited love for his boss, Becky. So Dante’s faced with the problem that the Clash once posed: should I stay or should I go? Meanwhile, Randal’s starting to get kind of bitter, so he vents his frustrations by accelerating the loss of innocence of Elias, the very Christian, Transformers-lovin’ nerd of a clerk. And, Jay and Silent Bob are back, too, but thanks to some court-ordered rehab, they’re pimping a new drug: Jesus. And it becomes yet another life-altering day of reflection for Dante and Randal.
What I Liked
The musical number. The donkey show. Randal’s rant about racial slurs. The many very loving jabs at Transformers. Rosario Dawson. How Randal grows and evolves. The fact that it’s funny as hell. The fact that Kevin Smith made these characters grow up with his audience. And a climax that made me want to laugh and cry at the same time…something that hasn’t been done since I first saw Chasing Amy.
What I Didn’t Like
OK, so there are a few clichés, some will say it’s a little hokey, and it does follow a bit of a formula highly reminiscent of the first film.
Final Assessment
If it’s not painfully obvious, I’m able to look the other way about what I didn’t like. What can I say? Kind of like how the first one reflected my time at Extra Foods, this one reflects how I feel about my life right now. It touched me…a movie hasn’t done that in a long time.