Clerks II

By Dylan Biles
Staff Writer

It’s been 10 years since we last saw Dante and Randal, the now infamous slackers who starred in Kevin Smith’s landmark indie flick, Clerks.

While little has changed for the characters in the ensuing decade, the same can’t be said for their creator. Kevin Smith has become one of the most recognizable directors in Hollywood due to the success not just of Clerks, but the critically acclaimed Chasing Amy and Dogma, and the much-maligned Jersey Girl.

It’s always a risky proposition when a director decides to do a sequel to a film that became iconic (George Lucas, anybody?) and fans of the first film must have concerns that Smith was going back to the well.

Luckily for those fans, Clerks II isn’t a mere rehash of the original, but an honest continuation of the story about two people who are ten years older but perhaps less mature.
After an unfortunate incident closes down the Quik-Stop, Dante and Randal are forced to work at Mooby’s Burgers.

The new setting provides a different setting for Smith’s rapid-fire, pop-culture-filled dialogue while simultaneously bringing in new characters for them to interact with.
The most notable addition is Becky, the Mooby’s manager played by the beautiful Rosario Dawson. Her ease with the Smithian script provides a believable center to the film. You actually believe that she might love Dante… that’s saying a lot.

That romance is the added element to the sequel that wasn’t in the original. While the first film was edgier, Clerks II has more heart. If the first film was about people in their twenties who don’t want to grow up, then this film is about being in your thirties and being forced to by the simple passage of time.

That’s not to say that the trademark Kevin Smith dirty dialogue is gone. There are some great set pieces, the funniest of which is when Randal engages in a Star Wars vs. Lord of the Rings saga-off with some Hobittian fans.

Oh, and the film’s climatic love scene occurs while a show that would be more at home in a Tijuana back room plays out behind them.

But despite all that, this is a more mature film that proves itself worthy of the second helping. It’s hard to say that this film is better than the original, but it’s certainly not worse.