Clerks II - Are you gonna see it?

Just got back from it. I loved it. Smith stayed very true to the characters, which is always the biggest worry when it comes to a sequel. Dante is still anal-retentive and the guy who chews out Randal, protects Randal from getting his ass kicked and secretly agrees with Randal. Randal is still the prototype of the slacker who wants to do nothing more than sit around, rip on customers and have great rants. Jay....that Buffalo Bill tribute might be the funniest thing I have ever seen in a movie. It never gets old and when Dante and Emma turn the corner and Dante says, "This is my surprise?"....I'm not sure I was able to draw a breath for about three minutes. Even remembering it right now cracks me up.

It's different than the original. The original was great because it was...original. You cannot recreate the feel of Clerks and Smith wisely doesn't even try. He gives enough sly references to it without trying to create one just like it. Smith knows Dante and Randal inside and out and simply puts them in a different environment and different situations and lets them take it from there. My only complaint is that I don't think Elias was the right type of character...he's so weird that he isn't believable. That line of "OK, that's just too weird" that Rainn Wilson tempts as Dwight Schrute -- Elias needs two connecting flights, three puddle jumpers and a long ride in a jeep on a dusty road just to get back to that line. I would have preferred that instead of basically giving them a fundamentalist spastic Christian Lord of the Rings/Transformers geek to kickaround that Smith had created a Frank Burns to go with the Hawkeye/Trapper combo of Randal/Dante. But it is still a very funny movie.

 

I thought about doing an edit to my previous post, but this one deserves one all on its own.

If you want to read an amazing story, read Kevin Smith's blog postings on his relationship with Jason Mewes and getting Mewes clean. Smith is a very good writer and this story should be made into a movie. Here is a site that links to all nine installments of the story:

http://www.slashfilm.com/article.php/2006040721355960

 

Dante Hicks was an annoying wuss in the first movie.
His annoyingness and wussiness are almost off the charts this time around.
That said, I enjoyed the movie.
Not even close to the original, but enjoyable.

 

One reason I enjoyed both Clerks and Clerks II is I can see a little of myself in both Randal and Dante.

 

The Elias character was the best part of the movie, especially when he tells Randall about his trouble with Pillow Pants.

 

Randall's reaction was the best part of it.

 

I read in a Kevin Smith interview that the film’s producer really wanted Pillow Pants to make an actual appearance in the picture. If they were forced to do it, they were going to dress Mewes up as a pussy troll.

SOOOOOO glad that didn't happen.