Clerks (Collector's Series)
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Movie Reviews of Clerks (Collector's Series)
Movie Review: Vulgar, raw, real, funny but not overly silly...a true cult comedy classic!
Summary: 5 Stars
Kevin Smith's first movie in "The Jersey Trilogy" is arguably still his all-time best! Shot in Black & White on a low budget, it features content over flash. It chronicles a day in the life of Dante Hicks, a convenience store clerk who gets called in to work on his day off. His friend Randall Graves works at the low-rate video store across the way. Randall is a bitter, cynical young guy who doesn't like or respect anyone or anything (except maybe hermaphorditic porn). Through all his trials in this day, Dante keeps whining his tag phrase, "I'm not even supposed to be here today!" This movie was everyone's first introduction to the characters, Jay and Silent Bob. Writer/director Kevin Smith is excellent in the role of Silent Bob. J & SB are great as minor, background silly, obscene characters to lighten the plot (which is brilliant...but even this heavily real comedy benefits from the comic relief). But in other movies where Kevin has tried to feature J & SB as main characters (such as "Mallrats", "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back"), the plots get silly, juvenile and aimed at teenagers. This is a more mature and real comedy aimed at adults. Please, Kevin.......for the sake of the part of your audience that has a brain, keep Jay and Silent Bob as minor side characters in all upcoming flicks. This is a stark, vulgar, real comedy that looks at life from the vantage point of someone who has grown up a little. It's funny, because it's real. Kevin's co-producer Scott Mosier also takes 2 small roles in the film. Mosier plays a stoner who is knicknamed Snowball because of a sex practice he likes. Scott also plays an irate customer who gets mad that Dante closed the store to play hockey on the roof. This irate customer bullies his way into the game. And when Dante gets fined for selling cigarettes to small children (even though he's innocent?) and a college girl accidentally has sex with a dead guy in the bathroom, the authorities are left to wonder, "What kind of a store are you running here, anyway?" There is nothing dirty or nasty that happens on-screen. But due to adult language and frank discussions of adult subjects, this film is not for general audiences. With the possible exception of "Chasing Amy", this is by far Kevin Smith's best film (and that includes all 5 or 6 flicks that comprise "The Jersey Trilogy"), because it is vulgar and raw and very real. Clerks has become one of my all-time favorite comedies! In one word: Brilliant!Movie Review: we need 6 stars
Summary: 5 Stars
Like "Peter Black" this a black and white classic - anAmerican classic in its truest sense, where else can you have sex with a dead person and do not realize that the partner is dead. It's rare for a motion picture to maintain the level of irreverence and humor of Clerks for its full running length. In his first outing behind the camera, Kevin Smith has given his audience the kind of film at which veteran film makers often fail
Clerks was made for $27,575. It was mainly funded by 10 credit cards that Kevin had to his name, funds garnered from store credit after he sold his comic book collection, a family donation, and paychecks from working at the Quick Stop and RST Video. Clerks was filmed using a 16mm Arri SR-2 camera and utilized Kodak Plus-X film.
The Quick Stop and RST Video are located at 58 Leonard Ave., Leonardo, NJ. (Off Route 36 heading towards the beach for those of you familiar with the area) Postens Funeral Home is located at 59 E Lincoln Ave, Atlantic Highlands, NJ
Clerk depicts a raw color of American society - it draws from the language of our society , everything that surrounds us and it is often the most difficult thing to do - this is a watershed in American movie since since here the heroes are not super build scientologist or fake lover boys - the protagonist is just a quick stop employee - every statement in this movie vibrates with our own life since we all must have gone through similar situations of defeat.
The dialogue of Clerks has accurately captured the street language common in the part of the country where the movie was filmed. There are a few lines that come across as scripted, but this is often the result of the manner in which they're delivered (the actors are good, but not seasoned). As far as the level of profanity is concerned, anyone spending time on a Monmouth County (New Jersey) street won't be shocked, but those who are offended by such language should beware.
Given more money, the director would have preferred a 35 mm color shoot rather than a blowup of a 16 mm black-and-white print, but the grainy, occasionally-"homemade" quality of the movie lends Clerks a pseudo-documentary look that a more polished product would not have achieved. It's hard to imagine the picture working as effectively with a different style -- some of the strange goings-on might then seem staged rather than natural.
Movie Review: These Clerks deserve your business
Summary: 5 Stars
If you have yet to even see "Clerks" on video or TV, (and if you say it on TV, I just hope it was on HBO or something that won't edit it) what are you waiting for? You have deprived yourself of one of the best indie films of the 1990s, not to mention one of the better gut buster comedies ever! "Clerks" is the first (major) project by Kevin Smith and it follows the lives of a few New Jersey based characters, but mainly Dante. Dante is a clerk in a convenience store and he pretty much hates his miserable job, which is destroying him slowly. His spicy little girlfriend encourages him to go back to school. Randal, his outspoken best friend and a worker at the video store next door, tires to help out his bud but often helps to paint Dante into a corner. Also, Randal's definition of friendship is wavy. You wouldn't think that a little quick-stop store would be much for an exciting adventure, but craziness does ensue as both Dante and Randal meet an annoying cast of customers (most notably Jay and Silent Bob) and somehow manage to squeeze a hockey game and a funeral into the day. And I haven't even told you just some of the snide sarcastic jabs that keep getting thrown around. Comedy is a defense mechanism and it works! The great thing about Clerks is that it doesn't try for cheap laughs, yet just every movement and line is great comedy. Of course, its not like "Clerks" is a drama, but its just that nearly everything about it gets you. Yes, it's all in a rough black and white and the budget is nill, but the material is so strong that it doesn't matter! "Clerks" is the rare gem of a comedy that, luckily, never got a real squeal. There was the little seen yet entreating "Clerks" cartoon, but it really left you wanting more. Of course, Kevin did continue to use the characters again (Jay and Silent Bob mostly), but never totally rehashed the Clerks story that much. "Clerks", the movie is classically irreverent and real, not like most of the insufferable sight gag shtick that people are so attracted to. The DVD has a hilarious audio commentary, a Soul Asylum video (ah, remember them!) and deleted scenes and s shocking alternate ending. The audio commentary is funny and gives us a lot of insight as to how the movie was made, some of the people in it and give us a few laughs along the way. A complete DVD to go with one of the most memorable little films ever.
Movie Review: "What Kind of a Store Do You Run Here?"
Summary: 5 Stars
As rude, low-brow, and dirty as his first movie was Kevin Smith captures a certain spark that he would keep for his later movies (with the exception of Mallrats, which was his comic slump) that were later known as the Jersey Trilogy.In his first movie, Kevin lets us meet Dante. Dante is the clerk at the local Quick Stop store. He has a girl friend (Veronica,) a pretty good friendship with the next-door, movie store clerk (Randal,) and a pretty good grip on reality.
The whole film is shot over the course of the day, and we begin with Dante being called into work on his day off.
He's exhausted from the night before, and has a hockey game that day. The locks on the metal *shudders* are jamed with gum, so there is no sunlight in the store, and he is forced to make a sign to stick to the front of the store (assuring that the store is in-fact open) out of shoe polish, a smell that people comment on almost every five minutes.
The first customer of the day happens to be a gum representative trying to scare everyone from smoking, and instead, chewing his company's gum. He eventually gets soo many people interested that they start to throw cigarettes at him.
Later, Dante learns of the sex life of his girlfriend, which shocks and disgusts him to no end.
Then we meet the later stars of the next couple movies, Jay and Silent Bob. Already we have the main factors of their lives down; the obsession of pot, hot chicks, beer, heavy metal, drug dealing, foul language, and Silent Bob's one line *inlightenment* that we get, sooner or later, in ever movie.
I don't want to give away the whole movie, but the next hour or so, is one roller coaster after another. Between selling cigs to 4-year-olds, dead ex-girlfriends, hockey games on roof tops, Russian metalheads, weddings, and a lot more, you leave thinking how boring your life is compared to your own.
Although the sound and picture are definatly not the best, they have to due, since this WAS after all, a cheap, underground movie.
All together, I'd say that the movie, as a whole, if very entertaining, and extremely funny. Although, there are some plot holes, and short commings, this movie is incredibly insightful and whitty, for a first movie, and show the true genius of Kevin Smith and what to look forward to in the future from him.
Movie Review: Take That All You Stupid, Big Budget Excuses For Movies!
Summary: 5 Stars
Clerks was made on a low budget and it shows, but it's still much more enjoyable, witty, smart, and hilarious than numerous movies on a big budget. The movie follows a day in the lives of two "clerks", one in a convience store (Dante) and one in the "crappy video store" (Randall). The story centers around Dante's troubled love life: he's has a girlfriend he loves (Veronica), but he longs for an ex-girlfriend (Caitlin) who cheated on him numerous times. Dante finds out his ex is engaged and tries desperately to find out if it's true and why he wasn't informed before hand. In the midst of this, Randall and Dante discuss Star Wars, make clever observations on life and the world around them, go to a wake that ends with Dante and Randall being chased out of the funeral home by a mob of angry guests, play hockey on the convience store roof, and put up with some clueless and annoying customers ("You expect me to drink this coffee hot?").The dialog from writer/director Kevin Smith carries the movie as there is little action, but it works. You get a sense that the characters are real people as opposed to many movies in which the characters are empty and emotionless. Dante and Randall are smart and witty, and you get the sense that they have some kind of great talent that they don't know what to do with. Dante is especially unsure of what he wants to do with his life, and it takes Randall to point him towards the source of his problems. Anyone who has worked retail (including me) can relate to some of the annoying customers and how at times the job can become mind-numbingly and painfully boring.
I will not spoil the most notable scene for those that haven't seen the film. It happens off screen, but will still leave you with a look of shock when you find out what happened. Clerks is not for those who are easily offended by strong language or those uncomfortable with talk about sex (including "snowballing" and deadly means of self-gratification). But the movie works without resorting to crude, sickening humor. And of course, the infamous Jay and Silent Bob make their debut. This is a must-see for Kevin Smith fans and a great place to start if you want to get into Kevin Smith's work.