OK this blog needs posts, so here is another one, it may turn into something of film, TV, theatre review fest, but yes there will other types of posts interspersed here and there. Sooooo here is another on one of my favourite comedies from the 1990s, Clerks, Kevin Smith's debut movie about two slackers who work in a local convenience store.
There isn't a great deal of plot in it other than it just follows the events of Dante (Brian O'Halloran) during his day job at the local Quickstop convenience store, based in New Jersey. Dante is an OK guy, but he is rather cranky, whiny, and always feel hard done by, and on this morning he has to come into work to cover for his boss, who unbeknownst to Dante is away to Vermont. Dante also has a co-worker friend Randall (Jeff Anderson), who is very much an anti-authority figure, who frankly doesn't care about his job, as he works in the video store just along from Quickstop, and he takes delight in dishing out abuse to his customers. Dante meanwhile plans on getting back together with his ex-girlfriend Caitlin Bree (Lisa Spoonhauer), who is coming back into town, although he finds out through a local newspaper ad that is she getting married to an Asian design major. Dante also rows with his current girlfriend Veronica (Marilyn Ghigliotti) who pops in and out of the store throughout the film. The other characters in the film also include, what would become the centre of Kevin Smith's first five flicks, Jay and Silent Bob (played by Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith respectively), who are two drug dealers who hang around outside the Quickstop. Jay often spouts obscenities to anyone who comes near him, meanwhile Silent Bob, as his name would suggest doesn't say much at all, except he might spout the odd little piece of advice (like he does to Dante later in the film). As the day progresses things get more chaotic, as Dante decides to close the store to play hockey on the roof with his buddies, attend a funeral of an ex-girlfriend, gets a fine for selling cigarettes to a child (although it was Randall that actually did it). And towards the end his ex, Caitlin, comes back to see him, as they prepare for a date, so she goes to the bathroom in the store, and unwittingly has sex with a dead man in the bathroom, mistaking it to be Dante! And by the end Dante is ready to go spare as he keeps ranting about "he's not even supposed to be here today!" and he endures the fun of working at a 7/11.
Clerks really did herald the arrival of a great comic talent in Kevin Smith, who actually successfully blends crude humour with intellectualism in his debut film. Dante and Randall, although they are both just lazy slackers, also come across as being likeable, although Randall is by far the more dispicable of the two of them. In one scene, probably his most obnoxious, Randall spits water at a customer who can't stop blathering on about the stupid tabloid headlines from a newspaper. Dante also flirts with danger as he pines after his ex-girlfriend Caitlin, who actually it is revealed wasn't really good for him, as she cheated on him constantly at high school, but it all ends badly of course.
Kevin Smith also provides plenty of crude jokes in the film, and one of the funniest being Dante's current girlfriend, Veronica, who reveals to Dante that prior to dating Dante, that sucked off 36 guys, and Dante asks her "does that include me?????", and Veronica bashfully admits including him "its 37", and he explodes "I'M 37?????????????!!!!!". Randall also has quite a few funny moments, one of my favourites being when he is in the video store, he sits on the counter reading a newspaper, ignoring a customer who asks his advice on a film, and he says "I don't watch movies, I think its best to stay out of other people's affairs". Smith also goes even further with some of his gross out dialogue, as an example he talks to Dante about nudie booths, in which guys stand in and watch girls perform a sex show, and guys whack off, while watching them, and how they employ a "jizz mopper" to clean the booth afterwards!
There is of course also Jay and Silent Bob, who both become really entertaining characters as the films progress, and Jay delivers one of my favourite lines in the film where he berates Dante as they are about to leave the store "Let's get the fuck out of this gyp joint, with this fuckin faggot, Dante! You cock smoker!". Silent Bob, played by Kevin Smith, is also a source of much amusement as all he mostly does is stand around, trying to look cool and smoking cigarettes, and his best moment comes when he puts a stereo on near the end and starts dancing along with Jay!
Performance wise, Clerks is actually very good, and Brian O'Halloran is excellent as the cranky Dante, who tries his best to juggle his thankless hectic day job, as well as deal with Randall and try and go between he current and ex-girlfriends. Jeff Anderson is also very good as Randall, and you almost admire how he comes across as an anti-establishment figure who keeps being rude to the customers, as he must voice alot of what store employees must think, and he also delivers one of the film's best speeches about how Dante should stop blaming everyone else except himself. Marilyn Ghigliotti is also good as Dante's current girlfriend, as the two of them row constantly, as she wants to see him go back to school, rather than keep working at the convenience store. And Lisa Spoonhauer is also good as Caitlin, Dante's ex, who comes back into his life, as they plan on going out on a date, but before they do, Caitlin has an encounter with a dead guy in the bathroom (she didn't see because the lights were off!). And finally Jason Mewes as Jay is great, and allegedly Jay's character was basically an extension of Mewes's own personality, and Smith decided to cast him apparently after he saw Mewes one day go around and pretend to fellate everything in sight!
Direction wise Smith does a fine job, with what was a very small budget, as the film probably cost no more $30,000 to make, hence the use of the black and white video cameras. Since then Clerks has been re-mastered on DVD and even on Blu-ray although its not exactly a film that lends toward needing more definition then it already doesn't have! And the presentation is pretty basic, or as basic as you can get. Smith also makes good use of the soundtrack with the catchy theme tune for film, performed by Love Among Freaks, and he also includes other classic tracks such as Alice in Chains's track "Got me wrong". The film itself also apparently had an alternate ending where Dante is shot by a robber who comes into the store and steals money from the till, but it was decided to drop it, which was the right choice, as at the end of the film you just want to see Dante go home after such a chaotic day, rather than get killed at the end of it. And in later years, Smith finally decided to make a sequel, Clerks II (good title) which saw all the characters reunite although that might be saved for another post.
So that's it for my Clerks analysis, its a very funny film, and it marked an impressive debut from Kevin Smith, and he really announced himself with this one, and he went on to make some more fine movies with dick and fart jokes in them. :-)
And so I will leave it there.
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