Clerks - Commessi

I am very biased on the 9 rating i gave this movie. I could have even given it a 10 for I am, and for a long time has been a clerk. This movie to me was as moving and compelling as Passion of the Christ was for some Catholic people i know. In fact, in some moments, it even brought me to tears. The film is about a guy who works in a convenience store. He comes across the weirdest and most annoying customers that, ironically, don't shy too far from those in real life that I, myself have come across. This clerk is visited by his girlfriend and regularly visiting by his distraught and careless friend who is a clerk at the neighboring video store. If you aren't a clerk, and you watch this movie, remember this: This movie is as true to form as it gets. Some people claim it to be one of the best comedies of the past decade. I say it's the best Documentary of all time.

Everyone has to start somewhere. Kevin Smith started his popular Jay and Silent Bob series with Clerks., a $50,000 film whose soundtrack cost more than the actual movie cost to make. It's poorly done, it's monochromatic (which actually works to its advantage), it's cheap, but it's funny, and that's all that really counts. The story is more than I thought it would be, and it's continuously funny throughout the whole short runtime. Many of the crude adventures of Dante and Randal are now legendary.

Dante (Brian O'Halloran) works at the Quick Stop convenience store. He's called in on a day off. His friend Randal (Jeff Anderson) works next door at a video store, but sporadically closes it to hang out at the Quick Stop. Throughout the day, various things occur, such as a gum representative trying to get people to stop smoking and chew his gum, a rabbi using the employee's bathroom (with an unexpected twist at the end), disrupting a wake, and the now-classic scene at the video store with "Happy Scrappy Hero Pup".

This movie has non-stop humor going for it. Whether it's Dante's or Randal's confrontations with the unruly customers (who seem over-the-top yet regular), their conversations about nothing (especially Star Wars), or their departures from their respective stores to play hockey or whatnot. I can see that Clerks. is to minimum wage earners as Office Space is to office workers. Dante's always a little timid when it comes to dealing with the unruly customers, but when Randal takes the stage, it's a lot funnier.

Although the parts about Veronica (Marilyn Ghigliotti) and Cairlin (Lisa Spoonhauer) weren't that interesting (except for the 36...make that 37 people), they were necessary, and seemed to create a plot out of this, basically, sketch comedy. It succeeded, and turned it into a great all around film. Most of these people had never acted before, and although it does seem like they're just reciting their lines (there's almost no break in between the dialogue), they do a good job at it. Sometimes it seems a little too scripted (for voice and diction, etc.), but for a bunch of first-timers, it's not bad at all.

Considering the rest of the series (besides Mallrats, which I haven't seen), I'd say Clerks. is close with Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back for the funniest Kevin Smith movie. They're also the two crudest, and the first and last in the series, respectively. But Clerks. will always stay as it was when it was released 10 years ago-revolutionary. It showed that money and action aren't important to make a movie funny.

My rating: 8/10

Rated R for extensive use of extremely explicit sex-related dialogue.

This movie completely and perfectly describes the details of over the counter life as a clerk! It is one of the funniest movies i have ever seen.Kevin Smith is a very talented and insightful director with a great since of humor.The movie does look very cheesy and low budget, but a little movie trivia, Kevin Smith sold his comic book collection to fund this movie. Then after the movie became a hit he bought his comic books back! I currently work for blockbuster video and life is exactly like this movie! Thanks to this movie some of us are thinking about holding a hockey game on the roof of the store when we quit!I recommend this movie to every person who works as a clerk in a convenience store, or in a video store. This movie for those who don't work in mediocre place such as this will explain to you why we are the way we are!

In 1994, an ambitious filmmaker named Kevin Smith was left nearly dead-broke by his commitment to his low-budget debut feature, "Clerks." Shot in black & white and filmed in and around a New Jersey convenience store, "Clerks." is genius on celluloid despite little change of scenery, wooden acting (none of the actors are professionals), and a shoe-string budget; it's also pretty damn funny. "Just because they serve you, doesn't me they like you" became an immortal tagline for one of the best independent comedies of all time, which also launched the career of its director. There's nothing PC about this debut feature, and the relentlessly explicit sex-related dialogue got the film its original certificate, the dreaded "NC-17" rating, which was later dropped down to an "R" rating on a successful appeal by the filmmakers; the characters harass their customers, leave the store during the day to tend to personal matters, and hang-out with girlfriends - not the stuff of responsible employees - and definitely NOT something you would see in any Hollywood production today. In an era rife with censorship and political-correctness, "Clerks." would undoubtedly receive the scorn and protests of the fundamental religious Right and Left. The film features Dante (Brian O'Halloran) and Randal (Jeff Anderson), two bored New Jersey convenience store employees who are both called in on a Saturday (Dante is especially upset because it's his day off) and the two break every rule in the book as they meander through the day and encounter all sorts of colorful characters. Throughout the day, Dante complains about about his girlfriend Veronica's (Marilyn Ghigliotti) sex life, Randal shirks his convenience store duties by shooting the breeze with Dante, philosophize about their daily predicaments, play hockey on the roof of the store, and observe unruly and bizarre shoppers. There's little plot but it's pure fun all the way to the ending with plenty of laughs too. But if you're the sensitive type, you should stay as far away from "Clerks." as possible, as the dialogue will certainly make you squirm in your seat. "Clerks." also contains many Smith trademarks including "Star Wars" talk, references to Spielberg movies, comic books and hockey, all qualities of which would do Smith good in his so-called "New Jersey Trilogy." P.S.: Watch out for Smith in his iconic role as Silent Bob with sidekick Jay (Jason Mewes) as they loiter outside the store and hassle customers.

10/10

Clerks (1994)

**** (out of 4)

Kevin Smith's cult classic about a two store clerks (Brian O'Halloran, Jeff Anderson) who have nothing to do except be bored and deal the cards life gives them. It's hard to believe this film is now fourteen-years-old as it seems just like yesterday when it made a splash on the indie circuit. This was my first time watching this in at least six or seven years and it hasn't lost any of its magic. I still think Smith hit on something truly great in the fact that he manages to take this type of job and show all the hassles and frustration that comes with it. I believe it was Roger Ebert's review that mentioned movies never deal with jobs unless the job is that of a cop, robber or something like that yet here we get to see the life of a clerk who is stuck at a job he hates and surrounded by people that can't really add too much to his life. The real key here of course is Smith's screenplay, which I'd call downright brilliant. To have 90-minutes of nothing but dialogue speaks a lot for his screenplay as it remains so constantly entertaining with the majority of the jokes working. The politically incorrect nature of the humor from the "37" to various other sexual things is downright hilarious and that includes the surprise in the bathroom. The performances in the film have taken a lot of unfair heat in my opinion because while they aren't perfect I do think they fit the roles just fine and mixed with the B&W it makes the film seem all the more like a documentary.