By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Blistering performances.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Let me get the positive out of the way: Clerks actually has a really important message for the dissatisfied clerks of the world and dissatisfied people in general: if you don't like your life stop complaining and actually change it. That's a really good message that not a lot of movies try to tell nowadays.Unfortunately, this message is mostly lost amongst the non-talents of a first time director and his equally unskilled crew. Even for a first time director Kevin Smith displays a severe lack of education in basic film production. He doesn't use the rule of thirds, the pacing of his actors is abysmal, none of the backgrounds are composed properly and the cinematography is god awful (how hard is it to make it so that 90% of the shots aren't tilted over???) The acting from everybody involved can be likened to that of a middle school play (and even that's being generous) and most of the dialogue is contrived and unnatural sounding. Maybe this just hit a cord with a lot of Gen-Xers that watched it, but speaking only as a 20-year-old millennial, I'd just recommend watching it once and never again.

"Clerks" are about two guys, Dante and Randal. Dante is the main character, who is having the worst day of his life. The day never goes right for him, for starters he isn't meant to be at work, on top of that there are constant bickers with his girlfriend and not to mention his video store sidekick Randal. Whereas Dante is dislikeable and at times annoying Randal is the comic relief. A genius character, who doesn't give a damn about his work. The two characters work off each other brilliantly, the picture and direction may not be great but the script is genius, extremely funny and witty, which makes it one of the funniest movies of all time. Kevin Smith rocks!The charm of this film resides entirely in the dialogs and in strange and sometimes weird (even creepy) situations. The conversations between Dante and Randall cover a large variety of topics, including but not limited to "Star Wars" and life in general... The conversations they have with various customers are even better... Two small time marijuana dealers, Jay and Silent Bob, who make their sales in front of the two shops, intervene in a couple of occasions - they don't say much, but their contributions are important. The language is very strong and the humour occasionally doesn't fly very high but still, this film has considerable charm and some gags are simply irresistible. Cynical and lucid Randal is a character somehow more appealing than Dante, on whom the whole story focuses, but ultimately I grew fond of both of them. Bottom line, this is an excellent, quite clever little comedy, with certainly a lot of strong language (but ultimately not so many "F" bombs) and a little bit of necrophilia, but ultimately surprisingly tender and gentle.Overall rating: 9 out of 10.

When was the last time you had a day at work turn into an existential crisis? If you work in retail or any other service industry for that matter, it's likely more often than you care to admit. If you're Dante Hicks, it was on your day off. Played by Brian O'Halloran, Dante gets called in to cover for a sick co-worker at the Quick Stop convenience store. Dante is joined by his articulate slacker co-worker, Randal (Jeff Anderson), who mans the video store next door, albeit poorly. In between closing shop to play hockey on the roof and getting thrown out of a wake for knocking over a casket, the duo encounters a revolving cast of exaggeratedly eccentric characters; including the loitering drug dealers, Jay and Silent Bob, played by Jason Mewes and writer/director himself, Kevin Smith. An already trying day only gets worse for Dante as he finds himself caught in between his current girlfriend Veronica (Marilyn Ghigliotti) and his ex, Caitlin (Lisa Spoonauer). Dante is forced into self-examination, with plenty of witty and profane commentary from friends and patrons along the way.Are we defined by what we do for a living? This question seems to be ingrained in almost every scene. Throughout the film, many of the roles are characterized by the person's job. They define themselves by what they do. Each with a different standard for what it means to be happy or successful. Education, sex, relationships, physical appearance, and dealing with fears or anxieties are all addressed in some way, but none more so than occupation. Each customer with substantial dialogue relates via their employment; the Chewlie's gum rep. that incites an anti-tobacco riot. The roofer who weighs in on the Star Wars debate. The personal trainer who insists Dante is out of shape. The most eloquent and insightful, however, comes when a customer states "It's important to have a job that makes a difference, boys. That's why I manually masturbate caged animals for artificial insemination."Dante and Randal's outlook and subsequent behavior in this regard is wildly different. Dante believes his job defines him but is unable to change his situation for the better. Begrudgingly, he performs his job duties, for the most part, in consideration of his employer to maintain some semblance of being good at his job. He is obedient and non-confrontational. On several occasions his passive subservience is explicit in his attempts to pacify customers for their inconveniences; letting an old man have a roll of softer toilet paper and a nudie mag to take to the employee bathroom, or refunding money to a customer Randal spits on. When Veronica suggests he quit and go back to school he avoids the notion by saying "the last thing I need at this point is a lecture" followed by his oft exclaimed "I'm not even supposed to be here today" (Smith, 1994). Randall, on the other hand, either doesn't believe his job defines him, or doesn't care if that is how others perceive him. He is insubordinate and impulsive. He disregards his responsibilities and is content in his deficiency. He confronts Dante, saying "You overcompensate for having what's basically a monkey's job. You push f#%kin' buttons! Anybody could waltz in here and do our jobs. You're so obsessed with making it seem so much more epic, so much more important than it really is."Shot on a tight budget, and its setting limited almost entirely to the convenience store, the film was shot in black and white as a solution to lighting issues and as a cost saving measure. However, it adds to the overall film by allowing the viewer to focus on the characters and on-screen action without diversion. Efficient and creative use of camera angles keeps the setting from becoming dull. As a result, the film has a unique and pleasant texture and following the characters for the entirety of their workday ties in nicely with the theme.Ultimately, Clerks doesn't offer any profound insights, or even really tackle the question asked by its theme. None of the characters really change in an appreciable way, and for all the trouble they go through, seem likely to continue their lives unaffected. That being said, Dante and Randal are convincing and relatable, the dialog is witty and memorable, and the caricature exaggeration of the customers is genuinely funny, especially to anyone who has had the joy of working in customer service or retail. I think we could all agree with Randal when he says, "This job would be great if it wasn't for the f#%kin' customers." Clerks is a satirical observation of the customer service industry much like Office Space (1999) is of white collar careers, but with its own uniquely charismatic style. I've seen this film at least a couple dozen times now, and it's still hilarious every time.

I would say "love it or hate it", but really it's not about that. I don't "hate" this. I'm biased that 90's movies are the best, so if anything I tried harder than necessary to get into it. The random conversations, the intentionally stupid-witty dialog, the black n white angle, 90's youth culture with crossover alt metal in the background with the VHS rental and everything...But if this is basically a collection of short comedy sketches sown together to make something of a movie, and it can be mostly judged for its smaller parts, then it really isn't top notch stuff, and overall isn't anything more than a self-indulgent ultra-subjective account of impressions. It's fine that a film can be super subjective, but it does need to deliver in the quality of whatever craft it handles. Here, the humor is clear. It's obvious the edge the film is operating to reach.I'm not now deciding for everyone and saying it's horrible and no one should watch, but yes indeed I am. Just kidding. But it's pretty ordinary stuff. If it's your thing, you dig it, it means something in your personal life's development, it's nostalgic...perfect. But if you're an eager comedy fan and don't necessarily want to hear about hockey and edgy Star Wars opinions with 'cocks and dicks' every five minutes, and are looking for top notch, well constructed 90's "standup" more universal material, go straight for Seinfeld, it's outright superior stuff, or in a similar standup-style flick from 3 years earlier, check out Steve Oedekerk's "High Strung", absolutely hilarious.4/10.