Clerks 2 represents a sad moment. In some ways I was interested to see the return of Dante and Randal but in other ways it shows the true talent of Kevin Smith. Unfortunately his true talent is dialogue and his weakness is directing. While making Jersey Girl, Smith apparently promised never to return to his View Askew universe that his previous films existed in. When his attempt to move beyond his one trick pony failed utterly, he quickly ran back to the warm embrace of the familiar.
The film returns us ten years after Clerks (1994) but gives us two characters who haven't changed. In fact they are still working in the same dead end jobs. What seemed like witty playful philosophizing in their twenties has been reduced to sad, exhausted dribble. I sat and watched some of Randal's rants and became bored with them and didn't even feel like he was saying them with conviction anymore. Now this could have been intentional but the actor doesn't play it that way, it just comes off that way.
Even Smith's typically clever analogies with Star Wars fall flat. He can't even muster a convincing argument for why the Star Wars trilogy is better than the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Its reduced to focusing on one flaw and hitting it on the head again and again. Dante's dilemma is centered around a bizarre love triangle that doesn't work on any level. And when the high note of your film is a very disturbing donkey show, then you definately have lost perspective.
The more I think about Clerks 2 the more I dislike it.
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