The Big Whatsit

Yes, I’m still watching Monster, but as a break from endless episodes of Japanese animation (not that I want to make out it’s a bad thing) I caught Clerks II on DVD yesterday. Kevin Smith is one of the few people who can inspire me to go to HMV on the day of one of his releases and make a purchase. Actually, it’s a very long time since I waited outside the store for it to open, such was my desperation to get my hands on something, and I think that particular item was Vauxhall and I, by Morrissey. These days, being there on the first day is about as good as it gets, and is reserved for very special objects of desire - the latest edition of Football Manager, any of the four-disc The Lord of the Rings sets, and a film by Kevin Smith.

It would be fair to say that I have lived my adult years roughly alongside Smith’s output. He was born almost exactly two years before me, and Clerks was released shortly after I graduated from university, and began my true, grown up existence. It should be depressing to find that Clerks II, which traces the lives of the characters from the original classic, some twelve years on, tells the story of true slackers, people who have done very little with themselves. The film’s (anti) hero, Dante Hicks (Brian O’Halloran), is a lot like me - indecisive, waiting for the big thing to happen whilst doing nothing much to seek it out, and, dare I add… nice? Then again, I’m a bit like Randall Graves (Jeff Anderson) also - bored beyond belief, sarcastic, childish, yet capable of profundity. These are characters within whom I find it easy to identify. Considering the two movies add up to about one instalment of Peter Jackson’s Rings trilogy, you get to find out an awful lot about them. Indeed, these are fleshed out people, with backgrounds that exist, even if you don’t need to know very much about them, cast into situations that are all too easy to identify with… well, perhaps not a live show featuring bestiality, er I mean inter-species erotica, but you get the general idea.

When Clerks II was announced, Smith was slated for going back over old ground. Surely, the Viewaskewniverse had ended with Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, the 2001 riot that, if you sat through the credits, depicted God (Alanis Morissette, in this view of the world) closing the book on his cast of characters. Afterwards, Smith went on to make Jersey Girl, roundly criticised with the Bennifer (Affleck and Lopez star in the film) backlash reaching its zenith. I enjoyed it, but would agree it was as though the director was neutered, making something that came across very much like a run of the mill softcore romantic comedy. True, the familiar wit was there, but it was diluted somehow. Smith just didn’t seem that comfortable when it came to the mainstream. After a brief dalliance with an adaptation of martial arts superhero flick, Green Hornet, Smith decided to go back to his roots and do what he did best, returning to his situation comedy of yore.

Did he do it for the money, for a cheap last laugh? Was it the easy option? Quite possibly, but that doesn’t make it a bad thing, and Clerks II is very, very good. Next to the continuing saga of Dante and Randall, Smith’s other films can’t help but pale. Dogma and Jay and Silent Bob don’t have the same depth. Jersey Girl is puff pastry. Mallrats is the weakest of the lot. Chasing Amy comes close, yet even Smith’s most critically accomplished work doesn’t match up to the sheer joy of Clerks and its sequel.

The latest release finds the pair basically doing the same thing as in the original, working behind the counter in the belly of America’s vast retail beast. Instead of the Quick Stop, though (we see it burn to the ground in the opening scenes), our heroes have graduated to Mooby’s fast food restaurant. You can picture them festering there forever, but when we join them, it turns out to be Dante’s last day. He’s getting married, moving to Florida, and his dysfunctional partnership with Randall is about to end. For some time, this doesn’t seem to be an issue. It’s like any other day, as the odd couple go to work, get on with their chores, Randall endlessly bullying teenage clerk, Elias (Trevor Fehrman) whilst Dante flirts with the boss, Becky (Rosario Dawson). Even Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Smith) are back, loitering outside Mooby’s just like they did the late Quick Stop. Of course, there are all kinds of layers to this, reams of ‘previous’ that emerge as the story unravels. But to a degree none of that really matters. For those who love these characters, it’s enough to watch them at work and play. Smith is good enough to indulge us, serving up Randall’s witticisms, Dante’s outrage, and various stoner observations, whilst quietly in the background, the plot kicks in.

There are more hilarious moments in Clerks II than I can mention here. Randall’s comments on The Lord of the Rings is almost worth the price of the DVD alone. Jay’s homage to Silence of the Lambs isn’t far behind. There’s a fantastic dance sequence, confusion over Anne Frank, porch monkeys and the pickle fucker, and this just scratches the surface. You get what you might expect from the four veterans, but a shout please for Rosario Dawson. An effortlessly sexy woman in anything she does, here she lays aside the leathers of Sin City to put in some of the sweetest work imaginable. Her chemistry with Dante is instant. The lingering looks she sends in his direction would melt the hardest of hearts (perhaps not Randall’s, though), and when her character reaches its conclusion, there’s a feeling that Becky deserves everything she gets. And to think the part might have gone to Liv Tyler!

Clerks II isn’t for everyone. Critic Joel Siegel walked out of a press screening at the first mention of, um, inter-species erotica, and narrow minded pundits aside, the humour is coarse and largely juvenile. For everyone else, there’s plenty to enjoy, though the fans are best served, with numerous director trademarks to spot, and constant references to Smith’s previous offerings. Check out the Jesus t-shirt Jay wears in one scene, or his sweater with ‘Justice’ written on it. To those who have been there from the beginning, Clerks II is a real treat. It doesn’t put a foot wrong, and that’s not just a comment on Dawson’s dancing.