Review of Clerks II (2006) by Bassbait T — 28 Dec 2010

Better than I thought it would be. Kevin Smith really did define the geek culture of today with his films, and I think this one is a good summary of why. Randall's character in this film reminds me of myself - constantly willing to insult others at their expense, with a subtle amount of care for them. Randall is a jerk, but he's a jerk that you would be ok to be around. He insults The Lord of the Rings (rightfully so), and sticks up to the death for Star Wars (rightfully so). He knows the lyrics to songs by King Diamond (personally, I know too much about King Diamond to not nit-pick them for abridging "Welcome Home" and then singing "The Invisible Guests" as if they were the same song). Him and Jay and Silent Bob make the movie. Jay and Silent Bob are like Beavis and Butthead to me, but I like B&B better. But it's interesting to see this kind of character taking a back-seat. They aren't the stars of the film, they are just sitting around while the plot unfolds.

Another compliment about this film is it's small scale. I'm sick of suburban films where they are all over the place. The film basically taking place at Mooby's the entire time is very respectable, as I like small scale films much better, when it comes to films with this kind of premise.

The film isn't cheesy, but it does have a soft emotional feel. I like films that can be comedic and dramatic, like this film is. A BAD example of this is The Royal Tenenbaums, a "drama" "comedy", which isn't dramatic or comedic in anyway. It was an utter bore-fest, with a good look, but that's it. Clerks 2 actually looks fairly good too, but it actually HAS comedy for a change. So it was good.

However, I don't want a film to be 95% conversations about random stuff. This is so close to real-life that it almost becomes plot-less. There are only about three plot points in the movie. I wish the film would be a BIT more developed. Other than that, great film.