Clerks II - Palm Beach Post movie review

'Clerks II': Dudes can still make us laugh

By HAP ERSTEIN
Palm Beach Post

"I'm done with cynicism," Kevin Smith told me two years ago, making the rounds to promote his new mature, slightly sentimental side, in the movie Jersey Girl. But that movie was hooted off screens by his fans, so Smith has returned to his cynical, scatological roots with Clerks II, a follow-up to the ultra-low-budget movie that brought the writer-director sudden national attention in 1994.

There is something disheartening about a talented filmmaker knuckling under to the forces of commerce and taking several steps backward artistically, but there is no denying that Smith has again struck a rich lode of humor revisiting convenience-store slackers Dante Hicks (Brian O'Halloran) and Randal Graves (Jeff Anderson).

Weinstein Company

'Clerks II'

The verdict: Succeeds on its disjointed moments rather than any overall cinematic arc.

Director: Kevin Smith
Starring: Jeff Anderson, Rosario Dawson, Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith, Trevor Fehrman
Run time: 1 hour, 37 minutes.
Release date: July 21, 2006
Rating: R for language, sexual content and drug use.
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Meet the director
Kevin Smith says he seeks to tell stories he can "identify with."

On the web
Official movie site
View the trailer
Trailers require Quicktime

Granted, the humor is hit-or-miss, and the movie's comic momentum comes and goes, as if Smith purposely erased everything he learned about filmmaking from his memory bank.

Nevertheless, these foul-mouthed, ambitionless, wisecracking dudes can still make us laugh, and that has a way of excusing a lot.

The movie opens with a black-and-white shot of the renowned New Jersey Quick Stop mini-mart, which quickly burns down because of a careless oversight by airheaded Randal. The two of them are out of work after 12 years at that dead-end career, but at least the flames give Smith the excuse to switch his film stock to color. Dante and Randall make no such forward progress, as they grab the lifeline of jobs at a dreary nearby fast-food joint called Mooby's, with -- sure enough -- a cutesy cow theme.

There is not a lot of plot to Clerks II, but that saves time for the guys to ramble at will about the gay subtext of Lord of the Rings, various sexual taboos and a running gag about confusing Anne Frank and Helen Keller. Randal spends most of his energy annoying terribly earnest Mooby's underling Elias (Trevor Fehrman), while slightly more adult Dante is actually making plans to move on with his life. Well, to move to Florida, at least, where his overbearing fiancée Emma (Jennifer Schwalbach, Smith's real-life wife) has his every waking moment pre-programmed.

You would want to escape that fate, too, even if your Mooby's manager (hottie Rosario Dawson) did not have spontaneous sex with you on the food prep table and you did not spend hours in her office getting your toenails painted.

Anyway, Clerks fans will probably be pleased to know that Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Smith) are back. The long-haired drug dealer and his mostly mute sidekick, who used to station themselves outside the Quick Stop, have made the transition to Mooby's with reassuring ease.

Like Clerks, Clerks II succeeds on its disjointed moments rather than any overall cinematic arc. Chances are the fun will run out for you before the movie's 97 minutes do, but there are some genuine laughs to be had before that happens.

I am ready for Smith to move on to more challenging material, but if we must wait out this artistic pause in his career, Clerks II is an entertaining enough place to hang out with him.