Skip to main content

Kevin Smith month: Clerks

A review by Brooks Rich

We kick off Kevin Smith month with his first film, Clerks, a small independent film made for less than $28,000 dollars. It grossed over three million dollars in theaters! The indie boom was in full swing in 1994 and Clerks was a new kind of movie. This wasn't a film about action heroes or gangsters or superheroes. This was about the workers at the local convenience store and their views on life. They'll serve you, but they don't have to like you. Dante and Randall are real people. Every town in America has a Dante and Randall. 

The story takes place over the course of one day. Dante Hicks is called in to work. Throughout the film he keeps expressing that he wasn't supposed to be there that day. And finds out his high school sweetheart is getting married. He discovers this after having a fight with his current girlfriend about the number of ex-lovers she has. Dante must also contend with his friend, Randall, who works at the video store next door, and Jay and Silent Bob, a pair of stoners permanently camped outside the store. That's basically it. 

Clerks is a very slight movie, but not in a bad way. It's low budget, black and white, and crude. The f- bombs fly fast and furious. There're a lot of scenes unrelated to the plot. The plot is probably wrapped up in twenty minutes of screen time. The rest of the film is spent playing hockey on the roof, discussing how dumb Dante and Randall find the customers, and arguing about the morality of blowing up the second Death Star in Return of the Jedi. They have this debate with the same seriousness as two people might discuss our country invading another country. I've had debates like that. This stuff matters sometimes. 

I love Clerks. It's easily my favorite Kevin Smith film. I love Mallrats and Chasing Amy as well, his two follow ups to Clerks.... but I always go back to Clerks. Dante and Randall are great characters. Randall is my all-time favorite Kevin Smith character. They are assholes, but assholes you wouldn't mind having a debate with. Smith gets a lot of shit these days for his films and the excuses he makes when a film doesn't do well, but I'll always respect the guy for what he did with Clerks. This film is the reason I wanted to cover him. 


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

A retrospective by Brooks Rich Let's kick off the spooky season with a bona fide classic. I love the horror genre, but not much really scares or creeps me out. Most horror films I just watch and enjoy. However, 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' is one of those that really gets under my skin, and not just because the Sawyer family are eating people. The way Tobe Hooper shoots the film gives it an almost documentary feel. If you have never seen 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre,' you should probably fix that immediately. Do I need to explain what it's about? A group of '70s kids is driving across Texas in a van and runs afoul of the Sawyer family, including the man himself, Leatherface. It's a classic of the horror genre and one of the pioneers of the '70s and '80s horror boom. The film has a reputation for being sickeningly bloody and violent, but that is not true. It's essentially a bloodless film, which makes it even more horrifying. Most of the violence...

Forgotten Film Friday: Absolute Power

Clint Eastwood stars as Luther Whitney, a jewel thief who works in the Washington DC area. One night while he is stealing from a mansion he is forced to hide in a secret compartment with a two way mirror. From there he observes a sexual rezendevous with the wife of a powerful man and the President of the United States Alan Richmond (Gene Hackman) Suddenly the president gets aggressive and while defending herself the woman is shot to death by two Secret Service agents. Luther manages to get away with a letter opener the woman stabbed the president with. At first Luther plans to flee the country. But when he is disgusted by a statement the president makes, Luther decides to expose the crime. I miss these kind of films. The nineties was a great time for thrillers exactly like this. They are not the flashiest films but they are also not obsessed with big action scenes. It's all plot and character with them. Sure this plot might be a little out there but Eastwood makes it work. He's...

John Candy month: Summer Rental

 A retrospective by Brooks Rich Air traffic controller Jack Chester (John Candy) is given paid time off when he nearly causes two airline disasters. He takes his family down to Florida for a vacation. Hijinks ensue because its '80s comedy and Candy ends up challenging a pompous Richard Crenna to a yacht race to close out the summer.  This is a movie that has been forgotten to time in the grand scheme of Candy's career. Even with Carl Reiner directing it does have the same name recognition as some of Candy's other works. But I think it's a solid entry in his filmography. He plays a great everyman who we have no problem rooting for. The slobs versus snobs relationship he has with Crenna works like a charm and he genuinely seems like a good father and husband. Candy was always great at playing both the everyman and the aloof goofball. Sometimes he'll even play both. His character of Jack Chester in this is a good example of that. At times Jack is the goofy comic relief...