Hollywood Reviews and Movie Trivia

Written and directed by Kevin Smith, "Clerks II," the follow-up to his 1994 cult classic about two indolent, overeducated, underemployed cashiers, has a lot more maturity and earns a C...

"Clerks II" picks up on the two aging, underachievers 12 years later, working in Mooby's fast-food restaurant, having lost the Quick Stop to a fire. Dante Hicks (Brian O'Halloran) and Randal Graves (Jeff Anderson) flip burgers alongside a "Lord of the Rings" movie freak Elias (Trevor Fehrman). Dante's engaged to Emma (Jennifer Schwalbach, the real-life Mrs. Smith), who's a bit rigid and domineering, and her family is setting her and Dante with a job and a house in Florida. And Randal just can't believe his long time trusted friend would ever want to leave him, and New Jersey behind.

Becky (Rosario Dawson) the manager of Mooby's, has her own reasons for wondering if Dante's doing the right thing. She has feelings for Dante but is determined not to stand in the way if Dante wants to leave with Emma. As with the first "Clerks," uses the story within the story technique to set up each new on-the-job vignette. A vignette with Becky teaching Dante how to dance on the rooftop of Mooby's to The Jackson 5's "ABC" has a sentimental touch. In fact, "Clerks II" is more sentimental and with a bit more crude innuendo than the first, with Randal spouting a few racist comments while Dante tries to make his see the political incorrectness of his clueless attitude.

It's apparent that Kevin Smith's films since the first "Clerks", ("Chasing Amy" 1997 and "Dogma" 1999, "Jersey Girl" 2004) shows a growth in his screenwriting. The dialogue, especially Dante's, contain some pretty eye-opening social commentary, and tackles issues like conviction and moving on, and romance versus love.

The continued adventures of Dante and Randall moves along. The dialogue is more mature, references to today's events are explored, and yes, the off center humor on sex and drugs are there! "Clerks II" also reminds one of the times in one's life when you didn't have to be quite so responsible and at the same time, what the really important factors in life like friendships, being true to oneself, and discovering what love is really all about, is actually living life...