Clerks 2 DVD

You might recall from my review of “Zack And Miri Make A Porno“ that I am quite the fan of Kevin Smith, genius behind “Clerks“, “Dogma“, and “Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back” among others. In many ways, Clerks was the original “Harold And Kumar” to me, so it was interesting to see if Clerks 2 lived up to the original.

In many ways it does. In some, it surpasses it. Viewers of Zack And Miri will know there are some pretty ridiculous scenes in there, and for a non-mainstream movie like Clerks 2, the line is passed even more. (Hint: it involves a donkey).

This isn’t a movie for everyone. I’ll be the first to admit that there isn’t much of a central plot to this. (Well there is, but not in the conventional way). What it really is, is random witty bits of what would happen in everyday life. For example, a debate whether Lord Of The Rings or Star Wars is a better trilogy, and to quote Randall Graves: “There’s only one Return. And it ain’t of the King, it’s of the Jedi“. Damn right.

Elias, Dante, Becky and Randall

I wasn’t sure about the inclusion of Elias as a character of the prominence of Rosario Dawson’s character, Becky in the movie. Clerks was always about Randall and Dante (as well as Jay and Silent Bob) to me, but somehow it worked out. The inclusion of Elias, in particular, really worked for me and I could see that addition really happening between the Clerks, as opposed to someone just thrown in for fun.

While I felt the romance beats in Zack And Miri didn’t entirely work for me, the ones in Clerks 2 somehow worked better. Maybe it’s because Rosario Dawson and Brian O’Halloran are better actors, maybe it’s because Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks are too “mainstream” actors to fit such a script. Whatever it is, it works.

Jay And Silent Bob

Of equal importance to the movie, the inclusion of Jay and Silent Bob. (Silent Bob is played by Kevin Smith himself) I view Jay and Silent Bob as the droids (C-3PO and R2D2 from Star Wars) of the Kevin Smith films, primarily because they appear in all of them, thus being the constant. Jason Mewes, as always, pulls off Jay perfectly and I loved the little musical bit which was a throwback to his “song” in Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back.

Of course, if you’ve never been exposed to any of these films, you’re dead lost in my review by now. But have no fear. Watch Clerks, Dogma, Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back, Clerks the Animated Series and then Clerks 2, and you’ll be fully appreciative then. I have all the DVDs, should you want to borrow them.

Zack & Miri Poster

So with a title like that, how could I not watch the movie? Okay I kid. The truth is out of the millions of romantic comedies out there, I really wanted to watch this because it’s a Kevin Smith movie. Who? You ask? The man behind Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Clerks and Clerks II among others.

I’ve actually not caught a Kevin Smith movie in a long time, the last being Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back in 2001. I bought Clerks II but haven’t gotten down to watching it. How does Zack and Miri measure up? Read on!

The premise of the movie is simple. Friends Zack and Miri are broker than broke, so in desperation, they think about making a porn movie to make money. Of course, that brings up the question if they’ll have sex with each other, and will that change anything between them?

From the get go, you know this is a Kevin Smith movie. The expletives and sex references fly fast and furious, and while Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks do a relatively good job of pulling those lines off, it’s not quite done in the same way as the previous movies like Dogma, Clerks or Jay & Silent Bob. Probably because they are male-dominated movies.

Jason Mewes aka Lester Molester aka Jay

As far as the jokes go, the show is hilarious. Justin Long and Brandon Routh (Superman) make a hilarious cameo on the movie. Jeff Anderson (Randall from Clerks) has a crazy moment and of course Jason Mewes brings the house down in a way no other actor can in a Kevin Smith movie.

Oh and as always in Kevin Smith content, there’s stuff for the Star Wars fan. There’s a middle scene for their porn movie titled “Star Whores” that will really, really crack you up. I was laughing non-stop.

So this is essentially a romantic comedy right? The comedy is awesome, the romance? Not so much.

The way everything just fell into place with everyone just didn’t do it for me, although it’s fairly easy to suspend belief for the movie and just laugh. The characters are suitably well developed individually, but there isn’t enough to convince me that they’d be friends and a group this quickly.

Zack & Miri

Overall, does this movie live up to Kevin Smith’s previous movies? Probably not, but that said, it’s still a pretty damn funny movie that I’d recommend if you want a good laugh. As for Kevin Smith, I feel he should concentrate on what he does best: making funny movies with his standard crew of funny actors like Jason Mewes and Jeff Anderson. Watch Clerks and/or Jay & Silent Bob and tell me I’m wrong.