Clerks II Review
by samseescinema (sammeriam AT comcast DOT net)July 27th, 2006
Clerks II
reviewed by Sam Osborn
rating: 3.5 out of 4
Director: Kevin Smith
Screenplay: Kevin Smith
Cast: Brian O'Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Rosario Dawson
MPAA Classification: R (for strong language and a bizarre scene of bestiality)
Clerks II is not some bang-up afterthought of a sequel by that sappy loser Kevin Smith who directed...what was it? Oh yeah, Jersey Girl. No no. This is the rash and all-but-forgotten return of the crazed indie filmmaker Kevin Smith who did that crazy Clerks film eleven years back. Oh right...that guy. And although it's easy for some critics to rest on their film elitist laurels and point their nose to the ceilings at this sludge, to rest of us folk Clerks II is a comedic joy.
But let's face it, the original Clerks was no masterpiece. Its glory can be attributed to shock factor; not just from the nasty material, but also from its slight beginnings as a black-and-white shoestring production out of Sundance. Looking at it now, it's easy to see the film's shortcomings.
Since Clerks, Kevin Smith has matured as a writer and director. His material hasn't, but his talents have been finely honed and no longer do his films stink of rawness. But almost as throwback, Smith has seemed to've decided to regress a bit into his old Clerks skin. The dialogue is yet again clunky, trying to work in great jokes where, in other films, straight-laced dialogue would be spewed. And inspiration and life aspirations are again weighed out by our anti-heroes in awkward diatribes akin to his younger days. But it's almost as though rawness was the tone of the original Clerks, and without it the sequel wouldn't ring true.
And so with the old dialogue also comes the old actors. Yes, Brian O'Halloran as Dante Hicks is as bad as
he was eleven years ago. But Jeff Anderson as Dante's loser best friend is just as hilarious. Added to the mix now is Rosario Dawson playing Beckie, the boss managing the Mooby's fast food joint. Up against Beckie in another two-girl dilemma is Jennifer Schwalback Smith as Dante's fiancée Emma. Dante's scheduled to leave New Jersey the next morning for Florida with his bride-to-be and head up the car wash business his father-in-law has set up for him. He's been working at Mooby's for the past six months, after previously working eleven years at Quik Stop (until Randal burnt it down), and feels his life must sometime take a turn towards relevance. But, of course, leaving one life for another is never easy, especially when you have a guy like Randal Graves as your best friend.
This time around, Mr. Smith totes a romantic struggle with some actual gravity. The story takes the ordinary steps and goes through its motions, but since we've come to love the film's characters, it's easy to fall for their romance. And in an ode to his nineties origins, Smith throws in a Collective Soul tune to ruffle out Brian's inevitable downfall. The effect is something near sorrowful and strikes a chord deeper than we would ever have expected from a sequel to Clerks.
But still, the best laughs come from the raunchy mouth of Jeff Anderson, playing Dante's friend Randal. We see more of him this time around, as he's working the same job as Dante now and isn't located in the next-door video rental. His antics rely mostly on unmentionable topics and wordplay of the most expletive degree, but Kevin Smith wrote the character with the same striking intelligence as the original and manages to always catch us off-guard with Randal's sharp tongue. The best scene involves Randal verbally jousting in the name of the original Star Wars trilogy. His opponents are Lord of the Rings worshipers and will tolerate no disrespect towards the ever-great Peter Jackson. But when Randal drives one Ring-er to vomit in repulsion to his Lord of the Rings blasphemy, he takes his victory happily, even with the consequence of mopping up his opponent's mess.
For all my nay-saying and petty critiques of the original Clerks, I'll admit to a staunch fear that Kevin Smith would screw up the sequel. It'd be so easy to ruin what Clerks has built and tarnish its reputation with a hackneyed sequel. But I guess we forgot that Kevin Smith is, after all, Kevin Smith. And Clerks II has more in common with Clerks than even Clerks has. It's the same great hodge-podge of sticky rawness and aspiration, but the ruffles have been smoothed out by experience and, dare I say it, maybe a little wisdom.
-www.samseescinema.com
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