Clerks

Starring: Brian O'Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith
Directed by: Kevin Smith
Rating: R
Genre: Comedy
Box Office: $3,151,130
1994

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Two convenience store clerks deal with life and love while doing their best to make it through boring, ordinary work.

Review:

Tim: Kevin Smith is a terrific director and this is for all intents and purposes, his first real motion picture. I always love watching the directorial debut of a young talent. The films are so fresh and show both the strengths of the director, as well as his or her weaknesses from the utter lack of experience that comes with their first film.

Clerks is a vulgar, hilarious look at ordinary convenience store clerks. It is a stroke of genius for Smith to have his two main characters as regular guys with crummy jobs. He mixes in humor, grim reality, and some important life questions all into one film. This is an achievement.

Unfortunately, Clerks really isn't as funny as you might think it would be. However, keeping in mind this is Smith's first film, that can be somewhat expected. The humor is more lowbrow and subtle, but this is not a laugh out loud film.

Clerks is worth seeing primarily as an example of where Smith started as a director, and should be viewed in conjunction with his other films to trace his development.

Smith also introduces his iconic characters, Jay and Silent Bob with this film. Jason Mewes is, of course, Jay. Smith himself plays Silent Bob. These two characters will appear in many more films and I enjoyed seeing their original entrance onto the big screen.

Clerks is a pretty decent comedy for Smith's first film. It is really interesting to watch a movie about people living a pretty ordinary life. However, the film is not quite as funny or entertaining as it should be.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Chasing Amy, Jersey Girl, Mallrats