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Clerks - Collector's Edition Customer Reviews (4 - 6 of 86 Reviews)

An Early 90's Must Have
If you like Kevin Smith, you like Clerks. I realize that every rule has millions of exceptions, but Smiths low budget indie feature from 1994 reveals everything great (and not so great) about this director/writer/actor (if you call Silent Bob acting).

Clerks came out during an early 90's time-period when culture was taking a step sideways instead of forward. A generation brought up with 80's hair metal, Eddie Murphy movies and The Cosby Show wanted something different. Instead of moving forward, our culture wanted smarter versions of the established entertainment, music fans embraced Nirvana and Pearl Jam, television watchers tuned into Seinfeld and film embraced new visions from the likes of Quentin Tarantino. Enter Kevin Smith into this time with his no budget masterpiece that probably wouldn't have been seen if it were made five years later.

What made Clerks stand out was its revelation that a great script is all you need to make a great movie. You didn't enjoy Clerks because of its A- list actors, big budget action sequences or filmmaking tricks that director's greatly over hype; you liked Clerks because it was funny and relatable. Smith's writing captured the everyday feel of his early 20's life as his main characters Dante and Randal's shift at the Quick Stop and RST Video becomes an unexpectedly crazy journey. Dante's struggle with his inability to resolve the issues in his life is what lies at the heart of every great Kevin Smith film. Right up to Clerks II he is a master at writing a realistic interpretation of male insecurity. Dante and Randal both remain believable male characters even while revealing feelings that many males may never actually talk about. Randal becomes the voice of the audience watching the shenanigans of Dante's life unfold trying to make Dante realize his life is ultimately up to him, while cracking the comments and flipping the bird to his work commitments that both the audience and Dante envy.

The 10th Anniversary DVD holds up surprisingly well as the makers realized that most followers of Smith's had seen this film dozens of time (if not more). Instead of simply providing a nicer looking version of the original, the package contains two must haves for collectors. The first is the original version of Clerks that appeared at New York's Independent Feature Film Market, which started the ball rolling on Clerk's eventually being picked up by Miramax. The original version reveals the dark tone that Smith was originally going for an ending that reveals Dante's struggles to be very small in life's grand scheme (if you see it you'll understand). The other added element is The Snowball Effect, a documentary about the making of Clerks that takes you from Smith's humble beginnings in New Jersey to his the joy of his $27,000 flick being picked up. The documentary is as addictive as the original Clerks as the sheer audacity and long shot reality of Smith's venture, a young man mortgaging his future on a small flick, is an amazing feat to revisit.

With the release of Clerks II there might be more of an audience for Smith's original. If you wish to indulge in this deluxe package it is worth it, unless of course you are one of the million of exceptions to the originally stated rule.


I'm not even supposed to be here today
I watched this one after I'd seen all of Kevin Smith's other films,so I caught the humor pretty quickly.I loved the fact that these two had such a blatant disregard for their customers and got to act however they wanted.It also occured to me that the whole film was in black and white.I loved it anyway.Brian O'Halloran and Jeff Anderson were quite experienced for their first time out.Escapade after escapade ensues as these two store clerks get wrapped up in just about every misfortune you can think of.Clerks rocks!

Generation X at its (best|worst) -- strikeout which doesn't apply
Like many others, I believe, I got hold of the original 1994 "Clerks" because of the recently release sequel. What I found in this first installment is a good, authentic, sometimes quirky, sometimes hilarious comedy which I think we should take a bit more seriously that it takes itself.

Despite being shot pretty much in its entirety in the same two basic settings - a convenience store and a video rental store - "Clerks" manages not to get stale as it progresses because Kevin Smith is inventive in the way he shoots. The fact that this movie was done in a real life setting, where Kevin Smith actually worked at the time, lends it a lot of authenticity. The dialogue contributes for that and even the grainy amateurish black and white picture helps it.

According to Smith - who has this brilliant little role as an actor himself - this was meant to be the proverbial "movie about nothing", with a lot of F-word jokes. In theory, and then in practice, this kind of sounds like an R rated version of Seinfeld. Instead of Seinfeld's place and the coffee shop you have both stores, the relationship problems are also ever present even if in a much more earthly fashion. The real difference is that you get a lot of cursing. Other than that, it's just a day in the life of these two guys running two rusty little stores in Central Jersey.

Dante is the main character and his day shouldn't have gone down this way in the first place. He's just covering for a colleague at the store and all hell breaks loose throughout the day. Who really steals the movie for me is Randal, his partner at the video rental store right next door, with his acid view of life. The way he messes up with the head of all his costumers - including Dante's - is brilliant and funny. Nevermind if he should act like he does.

The dialogue ranges from fascinating to downright boring sometimes and it's definitely Tarantinoesque when at its best. It does suffer a bit on the acting department, which could have benefited from being a little more natural - seems rushed some of the time - but overall it's a great insight into the minds and state of affairs of Generation X America of mid 90s.

Which leads me to ask, where are we now? Maybe "Clerks II" will answer that, but I haven't seen it yet as I write this.

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