Cynical Cinema

Clerks (********8/10):  Alliance Films is releasing a three-DVD set of Kevin Smith movies on October 21st, and it’s a set well worth revisiting. While Smith is still best known for his movie Clerks in 1994, he has done many other good films. Clerks was a tiny little indie movie, shot by Smith and starring his friends, in black-and-white and for a minuscule budget, that managed to become a hit, and a cult sensation in future years. It remains a slacker classic, one that will still set off a spark of painful recognition in anyone who has worked a retail job. The eight hours at a time of standing around doing nothing. (Actually, the retail jobs I’ve had have involved eight hour shifts full of busy work. Like “cleaning” things that are already clean, so it doesn’t look like you have nothing to do but stand around for eight hours.) The dialogue is crisp, fresh, filthy and hilarious, and the actors are all considerably better than one would expect for a film that cost $27,000 to make.

Clerks II (****4/10):  That being said, Clerks is substantially over-rated. It gets high marks for being very good for a $27,000 movie, and it is. But the dialogue is what carries it, and it is basically just as good as watching an hour and a half of really good, funny stand-up. And it’s influence has mostly extended to other Kevin Smith movies. With mixed results. For example, Clerks II, which was very disappointing. Clerks II is not as good as Clerks, but there are some fantastic moments of nerd dialogue. The best is a scene where Lord of the Rings nerds battle Star Wars nerds for the title of One Trilogy To Rule Them All. But the movie culminates in a scene involving a man, a donkey, and sexual intercourse. Kevin Smith seems to think this is very funny, and he’s right to a point. The characters seem to think watching a woman having sex with the donkey will be an interesting thrill. But when they find out it’s a man and a donkey, apparently that’s just gross. Either way, it’s SEX WITH A DONKEY! Who cares if it’s a woman, a man or an octopus? The joke runs out of steam after three minutes, but goes on for thirty.

Chasing Amy (**********10/10):  But where Clerks has become over-rated in the past 14 years, other Smith movies have been under-rated. And one of those movies is Chasing Amy. Ben Affleck stars as a comic book writer who falls in love with Joey Lauren Adams, who is a lesbian. Some brilliant dialogue comes from Jason Lee, who plays Affleck’s best friend and illustrator. His Jaws-style comparison of scars received during oral sex with Adams is fantastic, and his dissection of Jughead and Archie’s homosexual relationship is magnificent. In fact, this entire film is magnificent, in the way it approaches young people in relationships. Jealousy, homosexuality and sexual experience are all given a brand-new, totally refreshing treatment, and the results are both intelligent and hilarious. Chasing Amy deserves to be considered one of the all-time greatest angst-and-relationships movies.

All three of these films are featured on the new Threesome With Kevin Smith set. Clerks is a must-have, a classic that while it doesn’t hold up over time remains hilarious and must be watched by those who haven’t yet seen it. Chasing Amy is a classic, a movie that will stand the test of time and then some. The DVD of that movie included in this set is from the Criterion Collection, a series of classic films released with incredible restoration and the best picture imaginable from a regular DVD. And the third movie is Clerks II, a disappointing effort that has decent moments. I suppose it is included in this set because it is the logical companion to the first film. But I would have much rather seen Clerks, Chasing Amy and Dogma included together, since Dogma is also a very under-rated Kevin Smith movie. But as it stands, two out of three isn’t bad.