| Today Kevin Smith remains a god or has been cast as a has-been, depending on who you talk to. The director crashed into the movie world with a flurry of slacker-minded, geek-infused, slice-of-life films like Chasing Amy and Mallrats, following with irreverent jewels like Dogma. But for many his magnum opus was also his low-budget debut, Clerks.
Dante is a store clerk in New Jersey, depressed with life and looking for a quick fix out of his rut. Forced to work on his morning off, he also has a fight with his girlfriend and starts pondering hooking up with the ex that left him broken a few months before. Fortunately he has the company of Randall, the completely antagonistic clerk from the video store next door. Meanwhile life goes on around the store and Clerks rotates through a colourful cast of extras, most patrons of the shop.The most (in)famous of these are Jay and Silent Bob, who would appear in several of Smith’s movies. They are joined by Grisly, the man who likes a ‘snowball’, a Russian death metal singer, an over-zealous chewing gum rep and an assortment of other oddballs. The motley crew of characters often serve as clients and many jokes revolve around their interactions with the clerks. This film is worth seeing if only for Randall’s relentless torment of his so-called clients and the constant activity around drug-peddling Jay and Silent Bob. It is hard to explain what makes Clerks such a great movie. It is certainly a sum of its parts: the ultra-low, low, low budget meant the film was shot in black and white, with limited sets and performances that at times feel very spontaneous. All of this works in its favour – one reason why the sequel is not remotely as good as this classic. The gritty style of the film also makes it feel more ‘real’, which in turn cast the absurd characters as even more relatable. While you may never act like Randall or Jay, you’ll definitely wish you could. There is something empowering about the brutal honesty of Clerks‘ characters. Clerks is that rare occurrence in film where a comedy is both completely wacked and yet still goes very deep – all without the audience noticing. While he made other great films, Smith never reached this level of genius again. For that matter, no other director has either. Clerks is unique and cannot be replicated, only imitated. If you only watch one film from the 90s… |
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Best Scene: Any scene where Randal has to interact with a video store customer…
Best Line: “37! My girlfriend sucked 37 dicks!” “In a row?”
Cinophile is a weekly feature showcasing films that are strange, brilliant, bizarre and explains why we love the movies.
Last Updated: May 12, 2014
Alien Emperor Trevor
May 12, 2014 at 14:47
This is such a fun movie. Quite enjoyed the sequel too.
Kromas
May 12, 2014 at 14:51
Clerks is my number 2 movie. Mallrats still top the list.
And for all its worth I love Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.
Rincethis
May 12, 2014 at 14:56
I need to watch this again!
Skyblue
May 12, 2014 at 23:42
As do I, great film.
Skyblue
May 12, 2014 at 23:41
One of my all time favourite movies and agreed that Randall was definitely the best character in the film. Quite an achievement when considering how many brilliant lines there are in the film.
Some of my other favourite lines in the film were:
The whole Star Wars debate on the Death Star and the Rebels killing civilians, epic!
Randall: “This job would be great if it wasn’t for the fucking customers.” – I used to work in a video store so this had me falling off the couch with laughter.
Dante: You sucked that guy’s dick!?
Crazy ass Russian metal singer “My love for you is like a truck, BERZERKER! Would you like some making fuck, BERZERKER!”
You cannot talk about Clerks and not mention the soundtrack Mr Francis ;p
Much love for the article, thx.
Btw, I got around to watching Utopia. I really enjoyed it but did have some reservations about what I felt were some bad casting decisions. Neil Maskell as Arby (R.B.) was sublime imo. Artistically the series was mostly fantastic however I did feel it lost momentum towards the end and the final two episodes were a bit of a let down.
James Francis
May 13, 2014 at 17:51
I agree Utopia gets a little strained at the end, but I figure it had a lot to do with how much weight it was starting to carry. But I’m forgiving just because it has such a unique style.
Regarding the quotes, my personal favourite is the response to the metal singer: “Did he just say ‘making fuck’?!”
To be honest, the Clerks soundtrack isn’t an OST that stuck with me, not like The Crow or Mortal Kombat.
Skyblue
May 13, 2014 at 21:49
Ahhhh, The Crow is the Holy Grail of OST’s, much respect.