There's only one return. Okay? And it ain't of the King, it's of the Clerks.

Clerks II.



It's finally here. Clerks. Again. The second coming. I admire Kevin Smith. On the top of people id would like to hang with, Kevin Smith marks up there, he in using his vernacular, is one cool cat. And how has he grown? Back when Clerks released, he was a kid with some dough that he got from credit cards. Fantastic idea! Not really. But it paid off for the man, big time. Gave him his career. Then he went to MallRats. Not really much of a step up from Clerks. I'll be honest, Clerks is not that great of a movie, Clerks II however is. Clerks was as he puts it himself, a bunch of dick and fart jokes. The movie in of itself is much better in small doses, ala "Which did you like better, Jedi or Empire?" After MallRats, Kevin Smith hit a touching note and retained his inner geek with Chasing Amy. And Lando has never been the same, not for me at least. From there he moved on to Dogma. Another fine movie. Though I'm not as keen to it, I'm not Catholic, I'm not religious, though some of its ideas were general ideas brought very well, and fuck, there's a rubber poop monster in it. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back! In all honesty, drop in quality. Vowing not to return to the Askew universe he had Jersey Girl. It was his first real movie. It fit the mold, there was nothing extremly profound from it. Well, maybe George Carlin's performance at the very end with the touching lines of "I just dont wanna die alone." that's where I define my view of Kevin Smith. He retained his geek and really gave those touching points. Clerks II his is latest and I will say Greatest achievement.

Clerks II picks up ten years after the original. Dante and Randal have moved to their new delightful counter digs at Mooby's. A fictional fast food burger joint akin to McDonalds and BurgerKing. Does it change their outlook on life at all? Not really. And we love them for it. Dante has moved on with his life, his last day in Jersey is shown to the audience and the exploits that follow it. Choosing to marry an "up-town" girl and getting the hell out of Jersey is what he thinks is expected of him. Becky (Rosario Dawson) is his manager at Mooby's and she doesn't fully accept his leaving. If you catch my drift. Randal, Dante's long life Hetero Life Partner is also not as happy as one would be with Dante's soon departure. The movie has everything one would expect from a Clerks sequel. Dialogue, dialogue, dialogue! For me, I think it should be the core of every movie, along with plot. Normally, Kevin Smith films either have plot and not much heavy side bursting laughter dialogue, or side bursting dialogue and no plot. Pick! Clerks II, not the case. There is enough plot to keep most (I say most because Joel Siegel could not stand it) in the theater. The plot of the movie is most touching towards the end. It is a very nice film. How about comedy? Does it make you hurt from laughing or is it cheap joke after cheap joke?

When talking Kevin Smith and jokes, he will take the easy joke and use it. This was evident in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Many easy jokes, just not funny. Clerks II does have easy jokes, but there laid out fully, all cards on the table about them and nothing ceases to let the audience even breathe. Some jokes were insider Transformers references, some jokes were just plain racial, some jokes invovle inter-racial erotica. Every single joke however hits its mark. None will ever let you down, all will keep you up. Often you cannot hear the follow up to a joke because of your own laughter, the laughter of the audience and the characters pace of never stopping. This movie goes everywhere! I went with a broad range of people, some of whom aren't really all into some of the jokes that Kevin Smith would and does make, however afterward, she enjoyed the film because it had a touching plot and that the jokes were innately funny, how disturbing they were however. On the other end of the spectrum, those of us who know Kevin Smith and his capability of making an audience laugh, (see An Evening with Kevin Smith) Clerks II did not have as much as I was expecting. I really expected joke after joke after joke after joke riddled throughout the movie like the original Clerks. For those who didn't see the original Clerks, I would assume that Clerks II was so fast paced in comedic timing that any more would be too much, those of us who want it and expect it got what we came for but still felt like a little more could of been pumped out.

I mentioned plot, which the movie does have, and it's kinda interlaced into the movie. There are parts where the plot drags on and there are no gags, though those parts end with a gag as expected. All in all however, in today's market, a movie without plot will flop, see Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. A movie with plot will go far and for a comedy its a must. Last year saw Wedding Crashers and 40 Year Old Virgin. Both had great gags and jokes but both also had there share of plot and even some dancing! Come to think of it, 40 Year Old Virgin had "The Age of Aquarius" and Wedding Crashers had "Jump and Shout!" Kevin Smith's Clerks II has "ABC easy as 123" by the Jackson Five. Hot damn! Dancing is funny! That little side track aside, the movie has a lot of plot which was needed. It really showed the maturation of Smith and his ability to develop a script and an idea and portray the idea to a degree that in a movie with blatant, really blatant, beastiality, to also have touching feelings and sentiment. The end of the movie, one cannot but feel a sense of satisfaction, a sense of happiness for the characters because it is sweet.

Clerks II hits all eight cylinders, one will not be disappointed. Granted the jokes are with out a doubt going to be for the late teenagers and up on to adults but the movie is a good one. Laden with enough plot and enough jokes to make it a very satisfactory film. Those who follow Kevin Smith's work would all agree, Smith has become a great film maker, and his latest Clerks II really marks the best he's ever done. My next mission in my quest of Smith, is to go to Red Bank New Jersey. I am going to go to the Secret stash and pick up a copy of An Evening with Kevin Smith, and by the time I head down there, An Evening with Kevin Smith: Evening Harder will be out so I'll pick that up too. Kevin Smith does not disappoint, he's a great film maker and Clerks II is a great film. I'm sure at this point Kevin Smith would say "Okay enough dick sucking, go see my fucking movie! I need money!"