Clerks (1994)

“You know, there’s a million fine looking women in the world, dude. But they don’t all bring you lasagna at work. Most of ’em just cheat on you. ” – Silent Bob

Number of Times Seen – at least 5 times (video, DVD, 1 Jan 2005 and 16 Jun 2016)

Brief Synopsis – Two convenience store workers spend their day bored with their work and try to find meaning in their lives.

My Take on it – I joined the Kevin Smith party a bit late, and only really started watching the movies in this series around 1998.

This first film of the series has always been one of my favorites because the way it is shot and written makes it seem to feel so real.

The characters of Dante and Randal are typical American young twenty-somethings that don’t have many aspirations in life and prefer to just pass the time however they can.

The dialogue is written superbly and the vast array of subjects discussed in this movie are perfectly placed.

My favorite conversation (obviously) is the Death Star one and it really cracks me up every time that I listen to it.

The characters all seem realistic and its easy to relate and empathize with all of their issues.

We are first introduced in this movie to Jay and Silent Bob who become the anchor for the entire series and both Director Kevin Smith and his buddy Jason Mewes are perfect in these roles.

The characters are all somewhat on the extreme side, but the realism is there and we can relate to the problems dealt with here.

It’s too bad that this film had to be shot on a shoe-string budget using Black and White film because it feels too much like a student project, but at the same time, it makes us believe that we are watching something real because of it also.

The version I watched has the added funeral scene which was done in animation and is so funny. I couldn’t stop laughing as I watched that scene for the first time.

Absolutely… Genius!!!

Bottom Line – What a great movie mainly because of the superb dialogue written by Smith.  The characters are a bit extreme, but they still feel realistic and have real problems that anyone can relate to.  It’s a bit unfortunate that it was filmed in Black and White and looks like a student project, but on the other hand that helps make it feel even more realistic. The addition of the lost scene makes this film even better because it is soooo funny! Highly Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Jason Reitman has said that this film revealed to him his desire to be a filmmaker. Reitman later told Kevin Smith this, which lead Smith to jokingly quip, “You’re the son of Ivan Reitman. You grew up on the sets of Ghostbusters (1984), and Stripes (1981). It took ME to let you know that you can be a director?”.(From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy

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