Clerks II: The Second Coming

Ten years after Kevin Smith's debut film made him darling of the independent film world, he has carved himself a nice little niche in New Jersey-based movies that feature a motley crew of reprobates including his alter ego Silent Bob and his (non-gay) partner Jay. It was so successful it even spawned an animated series and a comic book (comics being one of Smith's passions). After the original Clerks Smith produced a bunch moderately successful films, which peaked with Dogma, a film that showed his writing had reached a new maturity and depth. The created a lot of anger among the religious right, which is always a good sign.

Wanting to break away from dick and fart jokes he made Jersey Girl. which was a critical, and some say a total, failure. It was partly this that made the director reassess the type of films he really wanted to make.


Clerks 2: The Second Coming is a return to his roots, a movie with plenty of talking and potty-mouth humour, but tempered with his new writing maturity, with profundity among the profanity. In this latest outing for Dante and Randal, the two slackers have to take a new job at a Mooby's takeaway. Although many things haven't changed, Jay and Silent Bob are still hanging out in front of the store, Dante is engaged and planning to move to Florida with his new bride-to-be. Randal is upset with this, but still plans to give his best buddy an unforgettable send off. This new story introduces two other characters into the dynamic, if you can call what these slackers do dynamic. Apart from the Mrs Hicks-to-be (Jennifer Scwalbach), the first is Elias (Trevor Ferhman), a geeky Christian, who is also a fan of Transformers and Lord of the Rings. The other is Becky, the manager of the Mooby, played by Rosario Dawson, with whom Dante has developed a strong friendship.


It is these two new characters that act as the catalyst for the film's best moments of humour and emotion. Yes, there is emotional content in a Kevin Smith film! It was something he explored in Jersey Girl and Chasing Amy, but slipping it in between the dick jokes it doesn't get a chance to get mawkish. There are also some philosophical discussions, the likes of which made Dogma such a great film. And of course there are plenty of fanboy debates, which no View Askew project would be complete without.


In some parts of the film I laughed till I had tears in my eyes, which seemed to hang around for some of the other scenes (that's my story and I'm sticking with it). It's not a film to everyone's taste, with some of it guaranteed to offend people who take movies for real. Kevin Smith fans will definitely not be disappointed, for those unfamiliar with the Askew universe this is a good place to jump in. Smith's writing and direction assured and once you accept his brand of humour, it is a lot of fun. It is definitely not for those who are easily offended.

Showing at Cineworld, Edinburgh on August 20 at 18:00
On general release soon.