A day in the life of a convenience store register jockey.
It's Dante (Brian O'Halloran)'s day off from work. He didn't get much sleep, and now his boss has called him into work because another man is sick. So much for his hockey game that afternoon.
Dante works at the Quick Stop, a small-town New Jersey convenience store which, in real-life, is a convenience store in Highlands, New Jersey. Next door to the Quick Stop is RST Video, where Randall (Jeff Anderson) works.
This, however, is no ordinary day. It is Dante's day off, and just about everything bad that can go worng this day, does. Just another day in the life of the register jockey.
Both Randall and Dante are slackers. They don't do much work anyway, and they don't much care for the customers, either. So that's why the Video store is almost always locked up, or why Dante closes the Quick Stop to go play hockey or go to a wake.
Dante cannot seem to forget about his ex-girlfriend, Caitlin Bree (who just-so-happens to be marrying an Asian design major), and laments about how he misses her. Randall can't watch enough porno. Dante can't get over how his current girlfriend, Veronica, sucked 36 "other" dicks. Randall can't stop making fun of that fact, and Dante cannot decide which girl he really wants.
After a $500 fine, and blown hockey game and his old girlfriend going crazy, you'd think nothing else could go wrong for the Quick Stop clerk...
This is fast becomming my favorite movie. (Well no, I still like The Shawshank Redemption better.)
I am a register jockey. I can relate to Dante. I get the stupid questions. I get the annoying customers. So Dante's problems are the same as my problems, essentially. John Q. Public is still as brain dead as the next John Q. Public. It will never end.
Thanks to Kevin Smith, I now have my new motto in life: "Just because I serve you, doesn't mean I like you." It is soooo true.
But if one thing is true, Kevin Smith knows how to write a movie. The endless banter between characters is very well written which is always one of the highlites of a Kevin Smith film.
An instant hit at the Sundance Film Festival in '94, Clerks was one of the first true "indie" films (low budget, non-studio films that are usually really good). Clerks still stands up even today, a decade later. People haven't changed and either have the Clerks.
Often raunchy and totally irreverant, Kevin Smith's directorial debut runs a fine line between decency and moral taboos. Love it or hate it, ask yourself this: how many films have you seen where the main characters discuss explicit sexual acts and debate the ending of Return of the Jedi??
Plot: 
Kevin Smith knows how to write a movie. His dialogue is always witty and sparks of intelligence that you don't often find in normal, every-day conversations. In any movie written by Kevin Smith, you can be sure to find dialogue filled with obscure adjectives and stirring arguments on even the littlest of topics. Case in point is this classic wrtting by Kevin Smith, which sums up Clerks quite nicely:
"Oh, fuck you! Fuck you, pal! There you go again trying to pass the buck. I'm the source of all your misery. Who closed the store to play hockey? Who closed the store to go to a wake? Who tried to win back his ex girlfriend without even discussing how he felt about it with his present girlfriend? You want someone to blame for today? Blame yourself. 'I'm not even supposed to be here today.' You sound like an asshole! Jesus, nobody twisted your arm to be here today. You're here under your own volition. You like to think that the weight of the world rests on Dante's shoulders. Like this place would fall apart if Dante wasn't here. Christ, you overcompensate for what's basically a monkey's job. You push fucking buttons. Anybody can just waltz in here and do our jobs. You're so obsessed with making it seem so much more epic and important than it really is. You work at a convenience store, Dante! And badly, I might add! I work at a shitty video store, badly as well. That guy Jay's got it right, man. He's got no delusions about what he does. Us, we like to think that we're so much more advanced than the people that come in here everyday to buy paper, or, god forbid, cigarettes. Well, if we're so fucking advanced, what are we doing working here?"
See what I mean?
Visual Effects: 
NONE. Nope, nadda. Nothin'. There is not one special effect in the WHOLE ENTIRE movie. Sorry, but with a budget of $27,800, he couldn't very well afford computer graphics a la The Return of the King.
Camara shots are static and do nothing for the film; the sets feel closed-in, although this does do a little bit for the plot. But not much. The black and white look was simply a cost-saving measure; color film was too expensive. The Black and white film gives Clerks a unique documentary feel, however.
Sound:
There is a soundtrack to the film and it works well.
Character Development:
Over the course of the day, both Randall and Dante evolve. Yes, they do. Dante really explores his true feelings (with Randall's help) and Randall learns a few things that he never knew before.
Atmosphere:
Anyone who ever jockyed a register can relate to these characters, Randall and Dante. The characters stay fun and fresh throughout the film, never loosing thier charm, never becomming dull. The film never stops of slows down; Clerks picks up quickly and gets you into the right into the film.
Realism:
The film is based in whole and in part on Kevin Smith's friends and on his own experiances working at the REAL Quick Stop and RST stores in Highlands, New Jersey. (Kevin Smith actually used the two real stores as shooting locations.
And yet the film is still as fun and as fresh as it was a decade earlier. The times may have changed, but people are still the same. Things will never change.
Warren�s Rating:
8.58/10 Is the movie worth your time to watch?
06-10-04
