CLERKS II
US, 2006, 97 minutes, Colour.
Brian O' Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Rosario Dawson, Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith, Trevor Fehrman, Jennifer Schwalbach, Jason Lee, Wanda Sykes, Ben Affleck.
Directed by Kevin Smith.
Kevin Smith’s films are probably an acquired taste. This is one for his fans – others had better find another movie.
In 1995, Smith, then in his early 20s, made a black and white comedy about two ‘slackers’ who spent the day at their convenience store counters discussing life (in the vein of cheeky and somewhat crass schoolboys), sexuality and relationships and contemporary US culture as manifested in comics and Star Wars. Outside the store stood a stoned slacker who could not comprehend the reality of work, Jay, and his pudgy friend, Silent Bob, played by Smith himself, who barely said a word, just looked reactively expressive. It was a hit and cult movie – leading to some short films with these characters, an animated television series as well Jay and Silent Bob turning up in Scream 3, Dogma and their own Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.
With Smith married and a father, many expected him to settle down and grow up. His cinema attempt to do this, Jersey Girl, was rounded on by critics. (In the credits of this film, Jersey Girl is thanked for taking the attack so quietly!). So, he has gone back to his clerks and Jay and Silent Bob. It’s much the same kind of talk – and an attempt to be a bit more daring with a donkey and bestiality gag – but you can see (and hear) that his clerks, Dante and Randal, are now in their mid-30s, as are Jay and Silent Bob. In many ways, with its conversation about growing up, marrying, settling down, romantic love and commitment, friendship and doing in life what one enjoys and finds right, Clerks II is Kevin Smith’s Apologia Pro Vita Sua for this stage of his own life.
Which means that there is more in Clerks II than what sometimes meets the eye and ear. For those not on this wavelength, it may seem a rather tiresome adolescent talkfest with some slapstick and some sentimental moves towards a happy ending. But, Smith is much more shrewd than that. Clerks II is more than a sequel. It is a New Jersey slacker, pre-midlife crisis movie.
Brian O’ Halloran as Dante is dismayed when he finds that the Quickstop store has been burnt to the ground. It is Jeff Anderson’s Randal’s carelessness and fault. When they get a job in a fast food outlet, we spend a crucial day with them. Dante is planning to marry Emma (Smith’s wife, Jennifer Schwalbeck) but is attached without quite realising to his boss, Becky (a nicely attunded performance by Rosario Dawson). Randal is oblivious to good sense and good taste (the donkey gag as well as a blatant denial of a racial epithet) but realises how much he values Dante’s friendship. There is confusion and chaos before some breakthroughs.
Kevin Smith always brings something of his Catholicism into his films (apart from God always getting the first thanks credit) but it is always in a post-modern style (Smith was born in 1970 and is not your old-style Catholic). Friends Ben Affleck and Jason Lee turn up in cameos – and there is a very funny sequence where Randal mocks the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
There is no reason not to have Clerks III in a couple of years.
1. The popularity of the original film? Slackers in the 1990s? Lifestyle in New Jersey? The verbal humour?
2. The work of Kevin Smith, his age, now in his mid-thirties, identifying with the characters, his experience, the New Jersey background? His creating the character of Silent Bob?
3. The New Jersey suburbs, the Quick- Stop store, the fast-food outlet, the streets, the fun fair? The musical score, the range of songs - and the fun fair and 'Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head'?
4. The transition from slackers in their twenties to men in their mid-thirties? The curve of their life, their enjoying their work, the video store, the movies, the chat about cult movies, the limited number of friends, the attitudes towards women, casual sex, aims in life, settling down? Pranks?
5. The structure of the film, Dante arriving to see the Quick-Stop? burnt down? Randal and his arrival? He being to blame? The day at the fast food outlet? Their work, interactions, Elias coming to work, the customers, the crisis about love, pregnancy, the future?
6. Dante and Randal as characters, known from the previous film, short films made by Kevin Smith, the animated television series?
7. The age transition, the crisis for each of them, echoing Kevin Smith's own experience - and the film as a kind of apologia for his life? Their work, dead-end jobs, future or not? The issue of marriage, romance? Children? Growth, maturing, challenges?
8. Kevin Smith as Silent Bob, character, silent, relying on his expressions, raising of his eyebrows, blank looks, affirmation - and his finally talking at the end? Jay and his being in prison, drugs, incessant talking, crass attitude towards sex, the graffiti on the wall, the drug clients and the deals, the place of women in their lives, the money, the deal for Dante and Randal, his comments on their friendship and the ironic gay slights, his life standing against the wall?
9. Dante, familiar from the first film, the burning down of the Quick- Stop, his disbelief and dismay, Randal absentmindedly entering? Randal's fault? Dante and his new life, his relationship with Becky, bonding at the store, the past sexual experience, his fiancée, his love for her, her expectations, her parents, going to Florida? His beginning to conform, his hopes? Becky and the critique of romantic love? The personal effect on him, his handling of issues with both women?
10. Randal's day, at work, with Dante, their friendship, with Bob and Jay outside, with Elias and the interactions, ridiculing him? Discussions with Becky and her exasperation? His interactions with Emma? His attitude towards Dante's engagement? Talk, the visit of the man who liked The Lord of the Rings, his mimicry of The Lord of the Rings and praise for Star Wars? The gawking Guy and his visit, Lance Dowds and his criticism, his being hurt? Going with Dante to the dodgem cars? The different customers, the black customers, his offensiveness in talking about 'porch monkeys', unable to see its offensiveness? On the T-shirt? His dilemma about Dante and the pregnancy, Jay overhearing it, Becky knowing and her reaction? His arranging for the sex show, the donkey? The man's arrival, the prurient curiosity? The importance of his outpouring to Dante about his feelings, the friendship, being lost without him?
11. Elias, his Christian background, Lord of the Rings, his devotion to the Transformers, his involvement in the work, with Becky, the drinking, the sex performance, his own behaviour?
12. Emma, her background, the visits to the shop, expectations, love for Dante, seeing him with Becky, the cake and her anger?
13. Becky, relaxed, her work as manager, relating to the staff, her speech about not believing in romantic love and commitment, the irony of her pregnancy, telling Dante, her being upset when the others knew, driving away, her return - and finding the donkey show?
14. The guest stars, Ben Affleck and his awkwardness, Jason Lee and his taunting of Dante and Randal, the man who loved The Lord of the Rings and Randal's reaction? The black customers and the insult about the porch monkey? The ordinary customers?
15. The crisis, the donkey man, the performance, the gag about bestiality, the behaviour of the man, the arrival of the various customers, their bemused watching, Becky? The police and the fire brigade? The arrests? In the cell? The consequences, the donkey man and his reaction, the discussions between Dante and Randal, the truth? Elias and his being bemused?
16. Dante, the collapse, his love for Becky, Becky's speech, the possibilities, buying the Quick- Stop, redecorating it, reopening, with Jay and Silent Bob outside? A future?
17. The humour, adolescent, adult, verbal, slapstick, the range of topics, bad taste, sexuality? Kevin Smith and his religious background, the insertion of reflections on religion? Values?
18. The final credits - with God thanked first andforemost?
