It would be the height of buffoonery to have an independent movie blog without a post about Clerks. It was written, directed, funded and acted in by Kevin Smith, the dweeb of dweebs, who went on to make a demi-franchise out of his stoner characters Jay and Silent Bob. It’s a requirement to talk about, because it is possibly one of the most independent movies ever made. It was filmed on a budget of 27,575 dollars, shot inside a newsagents, and it’s all in black and white. As legend would have it, Kevin Smith maxed out 10 credit cards, used up his college fund, and sold his comic book collection to raise the money. He made a cult classic and has since made all of that money back, hundreds of times over, so it must have been worth making it. Is it worth watching though?
The Bad:
With it’s limited budget, most of Clerks takes place inside a convenience store, where the sole till operator Dante and his friend Randall slack off together. Here is what I don’t like about the film. It’s Dante and Randall commenting on and interacting with a series of odd occurrences that take place in and around the shop. Throughout, Dante has girl troubles that loosely tie the series of occurrences together, and make it seem like a plot. But Dante is hard to like, and I found it difficult to care about his girl troubles.
The absurd moments, such as the guidance counselor searching for the perfect dozen eggs, serve no theme or purpose, and to me, just seem like filler, or notebook ideas that never should have made it to screen. In between, you have barrages of smart ass dialogue, where Dante and Randall discuss Star Wars and being a clerk. So really, bar Dante getting frustrated occasionally and swearing about things, not much happens. Plot wise and character wise, it’s unsatisfying.
The Good:
There’s one brilliant thing about Clerk’s, and that is (cop out answer incoming), it exists. In spite of everything I don’t like about it, it is so unique and weird, and it’s the vision of one person. It’s so rare that we get to see that on the big screen. We see it other mediums – visual art, video games or apps that blow up out of nowhere, but in TV and film, it’s refreshing to see something driven by one, fully committed person, rather than a committee.
Clerks isn’t formulaic, visually astonishing, or even the best scripted film, but it’s different, and pretty punk. So perhaps it’s worth watching just for that – if there’s something to take from Clerks, it’s that if you commit to it you can make anything you want. Even if, like director/writer Kevin Smith, you can’t find a satisfying ending. That’s something that I struggle with myse
Dweebs Do Movies 