Clerks 2

This really won't be much of a review, more of a gush piece really. I am an admitted Kevin Smith junky. Whatever he is selling, I am buying. I still remember watching Clerks for the first time and thinking it was just about the funniest thing on Earth. I then saw pretty much every Smith movie in the theater, and with each new film he remained funny while becoming more and more comfortable as a filmmaker. I waited him out through Jersey Girl, where he seemed to be trying to do more than just dick and fart jokes, and even that movie worked on a certain level. But, whether he likes it or not, Kevin Smith is the king of dick and fart jokes (no offense to the South Park guys who rock the D&F jokes at a high level as well). It looks like with Clerks 2, Smith has decided to take the head first plunge back into the genre that made him a household name, and the results are up to par as always.

The premise is pretty simple, it is 10 years later and both Dante and Randall are still clerks. The Quickstop has burned down because Randall left the coffee machine on, so now they are forced to work at Mooby's, the fictional McDonalds clone from Dogma. Dante is engaged and about to move to Florida. Jay and Silent Bob are still selling weed outside the store, but fresh out of rehab Jay has found god. That is pretty much the set up...simple enough. The movie takes place on Dante's last day before moving to Florida and of course craziness ensues. All the returning actors jump right back into their roles at a high level, including O'Halloran, who has become a much more comfortable actor since the first Clerks. Rosario Dawson has been added to sell a few more movie tickets as the (way to hot to actually be) manager of Mooby's. There is also a really funny Jesus freak/Lord of the Ring's nerd who works the drive through and Randall terrorizes. I had never seen the actor before, but he was quite funny. There are also a handful of cameos from some of Smith's standby actors like Affleck and Jason Lee along with Wanda Sykes who is involved in the funniest scene in the movie where Randall refuses to believe "Porch monkey" is a racial slur. Classic.

If you like Kevin Smith movies, this one is a no brainer. If you don't...slap yourself and watch Clerks and Chasing Amy again. Clerks 2 may not be quite as funny as its predicessor, but because Smith has grown as a filmmaker in the 10 years between Clerks flicks, this is one sequel that is better than the original.