Clerks II *spoilers*

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I highly recommend seeing it, either forking over for a theater screening or a DVD copy.

Kevin - big thanks for keeping your promise to Jason.

Jason - bigger thanks for getting and staying clean.

The guys are pudgier, older but they still have It.

Randall is my attitude to most everything, except for the, uh, 'argueable' racial epithet. His hard core slamming of FotR, TT and RotK were spot on. The only way that bit could've been funnier is if Kevin Weisman were replaced with Elijah Wood. Thanks for bringing The Wrangler Dance back again.

Poor, poor Dante still has bad girlfriend/fiancee choices. I love the bridge between Clerks. and this film of him painting nails.

Kinky Kelly and the Sexy Stud brought a Three's Company type of misconception I found hilarious.

 

I never saw the first one... are either of them really that funny? They sound like they are trying to be the Office Space of cashier jobs...

 

Well, actually, it's kinda apples and oranges - a better comparison would be Dilbert and Office Space.

Moreso, Kevin Smith really nailed that 'Generation X' feeling of ennui that young folks of the time had; jaded whilst still in their teens, no really big opportunities presenting themselves, and a fanatic devotion to obscure pop culture (or is that contradiction in terms? ).

The original really hit me deep in the funny bone and stopped me cold (even on video five years after release) - it cast a light on the 'holding pattern' my life was in at the time.

Then the following 'askewniverse' movies proceeded to take this character or that character and tell similar stories.

One big appeal that I like about Smith's writing is that these characters aren't sanitized for a 'broader appeal' rating from the MPAA; these people fling profanity like most people do when hanging with their friends, in particularly the social circles that Dante, Randall, et alles run in. (At the theatre I (and coincidentally, kuemper - saw ya there! ) went to, it was the ONLY non-PG rated movie showing in the afternoon matinee; R-rating all the way babee! )

Clerks II shows HOW to make a sequel - keep the same writer/director/producer, and the 'heart' of the cast; shopping around for someone else's screenplay inspired by your writing, or another person's direction, etc. just isn't going to have the same spark.

Anyways, if you're interested, rent the original first to get an idea of what's going on, then go see the movie.

Oh, and if you're sensitive to profanity, adult situations (and out-and-out perverse situations) you might be better off giving the 'askewniverse' movies a pass - a fairly tame example:

Mallrats - the father of protagonist's girlfriend is holding a cable-access 'dating game' in the hopes of attracting network attention and a deal in national TV. Our hero makes an off-hand remark about weight to a friend who's going to volunteer as one of the 'bachlorettes' on the show; she gets so neurotic about it she works out to 'trim down' in time so hard that she dies of an anyeurism in the swimming pool. Thus, our hero is villified as callous and mean by others (apparently unfairly) and accused of scheming to ruin his g/f's father's aspirations (definitely unfairly). And all this occurs before the movie actually begins and we learn of it through annecdotes and dialogue.

 

And that girl who dies in the pool is the wake Randal and Dante close the Quik-Stop for.

 

Clerks came out long before Office Space did. While both are great in their own right, it'd be more fair to say of Office Space: "They sound like they are trying to be the Clerks of office jobs..."

 

Technically, no. Office Space the feature film WAS, in 1999, five years after Kevin Smith's premiere opus, but the original Mike Judge cartoon made for Saturday Night Live was aired in 1991 (and also aired before SNL on 'Night After Night' in 1989.

Admittedly, I was tempted to say the same thing when I saw the first remark. But a quick check of the IMDb confirmed the info above.

But really, the two aren't THAT similar; one deals with downtrodden corporate office wage slaves struggling against their malevolent managers, and the other is jaded retail employees slacking off and holding their customers, their jobs (and ultimately their own lives) in contempt.

Both good, but still, apples and oranges.

[ July 25, 2006, 14:44: Message edited by: apathetic empath ]

 

Huh - I had no idea judge was ever involved with SNL. Fun facts to the rescue!

 

AWESOME EFFIN' MOVIE!

I love all of Kevin Smith's work, huge fan!

 

Just saw a small scene of the movie, what on earth is a porchmonkey?

 

It's a derrogatory term for black people.