Clerks II (2006)

Clerks II (2006)

6/10

Starring

Brian O’Halloran

Jeff Anderson

Directed by Kevin Smith

We all remember Kevin Smith’s first film, Clerks, in 1994. Well, after making many other movies in his View Askewniverse, we’re back with the two men from the convenience and video rental store. Many of our old friends have moved on, but we still have Dante (Brian O’Halloran) and Randal (Jeff Anderson), along with their weed-dealing friends Jay and Silent Bob.

Clerks 2 is just as good as the first one, and the introduction of new characters makes the movie dynamic. Made more than a decade after the first movie, it’s nice to see that our leads are still struggling to get their lives together. The idea of them being stuck in the same stagnation from over a decade ago is something many can relate to.

I also really appreciate how Smith (who wrote, directed, and produced the first movie and wrote and directed this one) burned down the place we’re so familiar with from the first movie.

The plot follows our two guys as they get new jobs at a fast-food restaurant. You can probably guess that Randal, with his immature attitude, had something to do with the fire that destroyed their old stores. A year after working at the fast-food joint, Dante decides to take charge of his life and make something of himself. He plans to move to Florida with his fiancée, whose father will provide them with a home and a business to run. As usual, Dante’s love life is in a weird love triangle—this time between his fiancée and his boss (Rosario Dawson).

Randal is resentful toward Dante for this decision and handles it in his own way. Meanwhile, our fun drug dealers, Jay and Silent Bob (Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith, respectively), follow Dante and Randal and now loiter outside their fast-food restaurant. Their lives also take a different turn.

We now get to journey through the lives of the former clerks as they try to navigate life outside the comfort zone of their previous stores.

It was hard to judge the acting in the first movie because it felt like they were just people trying to make a movie and putting in their best effort. Here, you can see the maturity in their characters and their acting. This maturity in both the acting and the writing is what, for me, makes this movie more inviting than the first. Plus, the movie doesn’t fall into the slump of a sequel not living up to the original.

We also get to enjoy better cinematography and lighting. Just like the first movie, this one was a critical and commercial success. It’s a fun movie to watch and enjoy, but you’ll need to either see the first movie or read up about it to fully appreciate Clerks 2.