Convenience and video store clerks Dante and Randal are sharp-witted, potty-mouthed and bored out of their minds. So in between needling customers, the counter jockeys play hockey on the roof, visit a funeral home and deal with their love lives.
Over the years, I have really enjoyed Smith's comic book writing, but this is the only film so far I have seen him direct. My cinephilic friends tend to dismiss his recent works, but this was very enjoyable. I like the influence he has had on independent cinema. 1994 certainly proved to be an important year for it, with the smash successes that independent studios had with 'Clerks' and 'Pulp Fiction'. I hope he sticks to directing films that he himself writes. I have the feeling he wants to expand his horizons but isn't quite sure how to go about it without alienating his huge fanbase. I have great confidence in him, and feel that if he puts his heart into it, he can be a great filmmaker, instead of a good one. I think for him to do so, he could do himself a great service and read a few less comic books and watch a lot more movies, particularly by the Hollywood greats from the Golden Age, such as Sir Alfred Hitchcock, Howard Hawks, Raoul Walsh and John Ford. It would be quite exciting to see what he comes up with, once his creative juices are recharged.
Quite a controversial movie, I would say, yet the very one from all by Kevin Smith I actually like. Not for those below-the-belt jokes but this lowlife vibe most of us lost on the halfway to adult life. Now I find myself lying with my laptop on a couch, like I always do after a long day at work, filling out the form 8862 and recalling the times like that. The times when the bare minimum seemed to be a freedom and the only thing one needs to be satisfied with their life.
**A rude but understandable film.**
I just saw this film, and honestly I was hoping for a slightly different comedy, with a more elaborate, more conventional structure and not based so much on endless dialogues. It is, however, an independent film, made a little outside of what traditional circuits and big studios are, and the budget is limited. If we consider all this, I think we can understand the film better.
The film basically accompanies a day in the life of two commercial employees who hate their jobs but need them, like any mortal. They work closely together and are friends, but the day promises not to be easy for either of them. The film is based on jokes of a very rude nature, sometimes also on the inelegant manners of the characters. There are a lot of allusions to pop culture throughout the movie as well, and I didn't always get that. It's not the kind of humor I really enjoy, though the film has its moments. Perhaps this style of humor works better with young people and teenagers than with someone more adult...
The cast features a number of actors that I don't really know. Brian O'Halloran and Jeff Anderson had their most relevant work in this film, from what I've seen. The film is quite restrained in terms of costumes and scenery, and I believe that real stores were used for the production. What can be considered a weakness, the low budget, was to some extent an advantage, taking into account the type of film they preferred to make here. The cinematography is very good and well used, and is perhaps the film's most artistic feature.
