Clerks (Kevin Smith) (1994)
in Movies ·
Clerks (Kevin Smith role)
Release Year – 1994
Screenplay – Kevin Smith
Cast – Jeff Anderson, Kevin Smith, Brian O'Halloran
Before I even saw Clerks, I had watched K. Smith's Mallrats on VHS. That was actually what tipped me off to check out Clerks, which seemed to be playing exclusively at the local movie theater (or at least during its initial run)... I absolutely loved it, so I went right back for seconds the very next day. By day two, the movie theater was noticeably more packed than the day before; clearly, word-of-mouth had piqued the interest of people who otherwise might have just waited for it to hit the rental shelves.
Kevin Smith wasn't exactly some unknown nobody, especially to anyone following the film festival circuit. Smith picked up a special Jury Prize at Cannes during the same year that Quentin Tarantino started taking over the world with his own work. His Pulp Fiction cast such a massive shadow that it wasn't just Cannes, but the entire globe, talking about nothing but the ingenious former video store clerk from Los Angeles, Q. Tarantino.
One thing that’s genuinely intimidating is the fact that Smith shot Clerks for a measly $20,000 to $30,000, which completely guts those theories that you need millions of dollars to make a decent movie. What’s necessary is having an original idea and the talent to execute it. As the legend goes, Kevin Smith filmed Clerks with a group of friends while he spent his days working shifts at the actual convenience store where they were filming. He wrapped the whole thing in about a month and premiered it at the Sundance Film Festival in 1994, where it raked in the accolades. Most of the actors in the film had virtually zero experience, which gives it this incredible sense of authenticity. The characters don't speak in polished, scripted prose; they talk exactly like real people do... complete with an endless stream of profanity.
Clerks is set in a small town in New Jersey and follows Dante, a convenience store clerk, and his buddy Randall, who works at a video store. Dante dropped out of college and is pretty miserable with his current social standing; emotionally, he's spiraling while processing his feelings for his ex (who he just found out is getting married) and his current girlfriend (who he discovers has slept with three other guys, including him, and performed oral sex on 37 others, including himself, of course). Randall is brutally blunt, constantly pushing Dante to "face life head-on"—or as he puts it, "either get off the toilet or take a crap." Randall knows they are typical Gen Xers doomed to a certain version of the American Dream, but unlike Dante, he doesn't have any moral hang-ups regarding his customers. He mostly treats them like garbage, or at best, exactly what they deserve (which, most of the time, is being treated like garbage).
Then you have the two sidekicks who pop up in basically all of Smith's movies—Jay and Silent Bob, who hang out selling weed by leaning against the store wall. Kevin Smith plays Silent Bob himself. While Clerks is incredibly funny, it’s also much more than that. It speaks a plain, honest language and doesn't try too hard to please anyone. One small caveat if you want to enjoy this film: just leave your ego at the door. I mean the people who go watch a Tarantino film and then complain, "That was stupid, it's too much"... for an audience like that, I'd suggest sticking to light Hollywood teen comedies.
Keep an eye out for Randall's theory about how the roofers and plumbers were the ones actually building the Death Star in Star Wars... 😂
Release Year – 1994
Screenplay – Kevin Smith
Cast – Jeff Anderson, Kevin Smith, Brian O'Halloran
Before I even saw Clerks, I had watched K. Smith's Mallrats on VHS. That was actually what tipped me off to check out Clerks, which seemed to be playing exclusively at the local movie theater (or at least during its initial run)... I absolutely loved it, so I went right back for seconds the very next day. By day two, the movie theater was noticeably more packed than the day before; clearly, word-of-mouth had piqued the interest of people who otherwise might have just waited for it to hit the rental shelves.
Kevin Smith wasn't exactly some unknown nobody, especially to anyone following the film festival circuit. Smith picked up a special Jury Prize at Cannes during the same year that Quentin Tarantino started taking over the world with his own work. His Pulp Fiction cast such a massive shadow that it wasn't just Cannes, but the entire globe, talking about nothing but the ingenious former video store clerk from Los Angeles, Q. Tarantino.
One thing that’s genuinely intimidating is the fact that Smith shot Clerks for a measly $20,000 to $30,000, which completely guts those theories that you need millions of dollars to make a decent movie. What’s necessary is having an original idea and the talent to execute it. As the legend goes, Kevin Smith filmed Clerks with a group of friends while he spent his days working shifts at the actual convenience store where they were filming. He wrapped the whole thing in about a month and premiered it at the Sundance Film Festival in 1994, where it raked in the accolades. Most of the actors in the film had virtually zero experience, which gives it this incredible sense of authenticity. The characters don't speak in polished, scripted prose; they talk exactly like real people do... complete with an endless stream of profanity.
Clerks is set in a small town in New Jersey and follows Dante, a convenience store clerk, and his buddy Randall, who works at a video store. Dante dropped out of college and is pretty miserable with his current social standing; emotionally, he's spiraling while processing his feelings for his ex (who he just found out is getting married) and his current girlfriend (who he discovers has slept with three other guys, including him, and performed oral sex on 37 others, including himself, of course). Randall is brutally blunt, constantly pushing Dante to "face life head-on"—or as he puts it, "either get off the toilet or take a crap." Randall knows they are typical Gen Xers doomed to a certain version of the American Dream, but unlike Dante, he doesn't have any moral hang-ups regarding his customers. He mostly treats them like garbage, or at best, exactly what they deserve (which, most of the time, is being treated like garbage).
Then you have the two sidekicks who pop up in basically all of Smith's movies—Jay and Silent Bob, who hang out selling weed by leaning against the store wall. Kevin Smith plays Silent Bob himself. While Clerks is incredibly funny, it’s also much more than that. It speaks a plain, honest language and doesn't try too hard to please anyone. One small caveat if you want to enjoy this film: just leave your ego at the door. I mean the people who go watch a Tarantino film and then complain, "That was stupid, it's too much"... for an audience like that, I'd suggest sticking to light Hollywood teen comedies.
Keep an eye out for Randall's theory about how the roofers and plumbers were the ones actually building the Death Star in Star Wars... 😂
