Clerks (1994) * * *

Directed by:  Kevin Smith

Starring:  Jeff Anderson, Brian O'Hallorhan, Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith


This was a film that didn't work for me on my initial viewing, but became substantially better upon future viewings.     Some movies work that way.    If I remember correctly, I chalked up my dismissal of the film to not enjoying humor in which the protagonist is constantly barraged by pests and other bad people.     Then again, I should've realized that the hero worked in a North Jersey convenience store and those are the types of people that shop there.    If anything, Clerks feels realistic and some of the humor masks desperation.    Without little ways to make yourself laugh, how could it be possible to get through a workday sane?

Clerks opens with a convenience store clerk named Dante looking forward to a rare day off.  He is called into work by his boss who has to leave due to an emergency.    The emergency is actually him going skiing in Vermont, but Dante doesn't learn that until later when he is knee deep in kooky customers.     Dante's life is rather hopeless.    He quit college and has no hopes of going back.   His girlfriend cheats on him and is alleged to have "sucked 36 dicks".     As he is approached by customers who have oddball requests and do oddball things, Dante realizes that his life isn't going as it should.

Dante's buddy Randy works next door in the local video store (remember those?).    Professional treatment of customers is not a priority for him.    He is forever agitated by people who can't seem to find the new releases even though the signs make it adequately clear where they are.    Randy handles angry customers by telling them off and even closing the store so he and Dante can play a rooftop hockey game.   He is the opposite of Dante.  

Hanging out outside the stores are Jay and Silent Bob (played by Kevin Smith himself), who since this movie became a familiar duo in Kevin Smith films.   They are drug dealers, but business is rather slow.    Jay is the way more vocal of the two, while Silent Bob stands by observing and commenting with facial expressions.    Smith would've been a good silent film comedian back in the 20's. 

There is little plot in Clerks.   Situations and issues to be resolved arise throughout the day, much to Dante's dismay.    His refrain is "I'm not even supposed to be here today," as if the goofballs who accost him actually care.     Clerks is a simple, humorous study in the drudgery of work and how workers somehow manage to avoid being crushed by it.    Smith made the film on a low budget, but the film doesn't look cheap.   It is a black & white film which adds to the proceedings.    Dante, Randy, and others like them put in a long, long day on the job, but mercifully the day does eventually come to an end.    Even a day in which one of them is supposed to be enjoying a day off.