A Review of Kevin Smith’s Clerks II

Director Kevin Smith hit it big in the 1990s with the 1994 independent hit “Clerks,” about two convenience store employees, Dante and Randal, who struggled with their entry into adulthood and the problems of becoming more mature while working a dead end job. Smith’s other offerings, such as the cult classic “Mallrats” and the religious satire “Dogma,” which benefitted from the popularity of his work on “Clerks.”

In his latest offering, “Clerks II,” this reviewer and others who attended a screening of the film wondered whether a sequel was warranted and whether Kevin Smith was really that good a director or if he was painting himself into a corner with characters like Dante, Randal, and Jay and Silent Bob.

The plot to “Clerks II” does not veer too far from the material in the original “Clerks” movie. The movie starts with the Quik-Stop convenience store burning down and Dante and Randal having to work at the hilarious McDonald’s restaurant parody, Mooby’s. While Dante struggles between his engagement to a controlling woman and his complicated feelings toward his manager at Mooby’s, played by Rosario Dawson, Randal struggles with losing his best friend to adulthood and finding a way out of mediocrity.

I won’t ruin the way the movie resolves itself but a summary of events makes it sound very much like the original movie, such as the references to sci-fi movies like Star Wars and fantasy movies like Lord of the Rings, a particularly obscene bestiality scene, and casual references to sexual positions. Needless to say, Kevin Smith leaves “Clerks II” on a similar note to “Clerks,” which means another movie is not out of the works. However, aside from adding color to the screen, I’m not sure Smith can do much more superficially to differentiate the potential trilogy of “Clerks” movies.

Whereas “Clerks” was raw and potent in its hilariously frank discussion of growing pains, “Clerks II” is a crass and needless epilogue to a story that seemed to be resolved. Kevin Smith seems to have fallen into the Hollywood sequel machine and I hope above all hope that there is no “Dogma II,” “Chasing Amy II,” or, God forbid, “Clerks III.” It is not surprising that Kevin Smith went back to the characters that made him popular, considering his failure to do many projects outside of his New Jersey roots or outside of his self-created universe.

What is surprising is that since “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back,” we have seen little good from Kevin Smith (an appearance in “Daredevil” and his movie “Jersey Girl”) and many non-starters (like a potential remake of “Fletch). While Kevin Smith was able to parlay his Jay and Silent Bob characters into a great decade of fandom, the best move for the director would be to permanently retire such characters and get back to the writer’s desk to think of something more creative. He needs to tap into the rawness of the original “Clerks” in order to avoid falling into sophomoric films like “Clerks II.”

Grade: C-