Politically incorrect, foul-mouthed, heartless, loving, pot-smoking, drug-peddling, hard working, not working, frustrated, argumentative, thought-provoking, humorous, angry, coming of age movie. That is Clerks II in a nutshell. But before all that, I think the biggest surprise a few years ago was, “They’re making another one??” I did enjoy the first film for its originality and delivery. For those who haven’t seen the original Clerks, give it a go. Though you won’t find it on any blockbuster income stats sheet, it is one of those small films with a tremendous following. Who can forget Randal’s argument over how realistic it was to build the Death Star and the loss of life incurred from the Rebel attack? But, here we are in 2009 as Clerks II makes its way to the Blu-ray format…this time in full color and with a bigger budget. The usual suspects return to reprise their roles as we once again visit the lives of Randal, Dante and of course, everyone’s favorites, Jay and Silent Bob. Did I mention the addition of Rosario Dawson to the cast?
Film 
Right off the bat, I had high expectations for this film. Like I mentioned earlier, I really did enjoy the original Clerks. So, to have an unexpected sequel surface, I was a tad apprehensive to check it out. Before I knew it, it was in and out of the theaters in 2006 and I had missed my opportunity to witness it on the big screen. Luckily, through the magic of Blu-ray, I now hold in my hands a copy of Clerks II.
Let me just disclose right away that this is not a film for the kiddies to be within ear shot of. If you will be so inclined as to refer to my opening sentence, you will notice the second item. This movie has more cuss words than China has rice. So much in fact that some of it is so gratuitous that it really crosses from the realm of adding personality to that of needless. Anyway, back to our story. Dante and Randal no longer work at the Quik Stop convenience store. They are now co-workers at a cow-themed fast food chain known as “Mooby’s.” Randal (Jeff Anderson) still hates the world and all its inhabitants while Dante (Brian O’Halloran) is now engaged to a former prom queen, still maintaining her girlish figure, who comes from wealthy parents. Wow. Who’s doing better out of those two guys? Joining the wonderfully diligent staff at Mooby’s is newcomer Elias (Trevor Fehrman). Elias loves three things in life; Transformers, Lord of the Rings and Jesus.
The dialogue that results from the first two is just flat out hilarious. As a big Star Wars fan myself, I can certainly relate to the ‘geekdom’ exhibited by others (What, me quote lines from the films out loud? Never!). But when a Lord of the Rings versus Star Wars debate ensues between employee and customer…look out. If you are one of the 7 remaining people on our planet who have not seen either range of films, you will not get the verbal barrage exchanged by the two actors as to which story is actually better.
As our story progresses, and while Jay dances like a fool outside and Silent Bob…well, Silent Bob just keeps quiet, we begin to see Dante’s mind at work. With a little help from best bud Randal, it becomes apparante that Dante is having second thoughts about moving to Florida with his fiancé. She’s fit, it’s Florida and daddy’s got money. What more could you ask for?? Well folks, money isn’t everything and as the old adage goes, “Until you walk a mile in their shoes…” Dante’s feelings for his boss, Becky (Rosario Dawson), begin to surface and we find a past ‘experience’ between the two may be a precursor for things yet to come. Dante does try to deny the fact that he has eyes for the supervisor, but if Rosario Dawson was your boss, wouldn’t that be a little difficult not to have your field of vision fall her way? Beauty aside, I must say Dawson was an awesome addition to the film and her acting is a breath of fresh air when placed in the midst of a lot of the whining that takes place around her.
The movie has its parts where you will laugh out loud, but it also has a significant amount of mediocrity to fill in the gaps. Had the movie progressed in the direction that most of the film went, I would have slapped a 2.5 rating on it. However, and this is a big ‘however,’ there is a very profound message that surfaces at the end of Clerks II; don’t do what society tells you, do what your heart tells you. So many people pass on their dreams just because they follow the well-intended but often misguided advice of their friends and family.
Whether you want to play pro baseball, open a hair salon or start an Irish dance production, this film reinforces the idea not to let anyone tell you ‘no’ and not to allow anything to stand in the way of what will make you happy. If you are not married by age 26 or you are not the best singer in the choir, life is not over! Clerks II does a fantastic job of inserting this message and becomes one of those cases where the ending single-handedly brought the film up a notch or two.
Video 
The film starts in a black and white theme with a fair amount of grain. Alright, I can deal with that. After all, it is rather monochromatic for the first few minutes so I’m not expecting any brilliant resolution yet. Then the film morphed into color maintaining its 1080p resolution, but the grain was still visible throughout the whole film. It was a visual obstacle in the movie, however; when the content gets funny or serious enough, you tend to get drawn in to the story and the grain becomes out of sight, out of mind. Although, when the tempo slows a bit and you’re waiting for the next round of laughs to develop, it’s easy to become a bit detached from the film and be hampered by the tinge of visual debris. With my mention of all that though, keep in mind this was a $5 million dollar production and not the gazillion dollar budget we are often accustomed to in other cinema releases. Pure and simple, the film is not going to have a lot of bells and whistles, but the video is tolerable.
Audio 
There is not a phenomenal use of the rear speakers in Clerks II, but, they are not unused appliances in the film. If there’s one thing I have discovered with surround sound and films, it’s that films big on dialogue do not typically have a need or opportunity to use a lot of rear channel audio. Case in point is Clerks II. There are no explosions, sword fights or gun battles to wage war on your system’s audio. It is difficult to penalize a film for something it was never intended to do. At the same rate, those rear speakers weren’t non-existent in this film and did deliver a small but entertaining audio experience. All in all, it got the job done…and God forbid if Saving Private Ryan ever makes its way to Blu-ray. I’ll have Normandy Beach under my roof and the neighbors will be calling the cops for shots fired.
Special Features 
For those of you out there in internet land that have been following my reviews, you know by now that I really don’t see the point in standard definition extras. I mean, seriously, you’ve got a wicked audio/video format so use it to the fullest! I want to say Clerks II took my advice on that. So did the film follow my words of wisdom? Yes and no. The extras are shown to display at 1080i, but I still argue that some of the special feature footage is in the lowly 480-resolution format. Watch it and you will see what I mean. Either way, Clerks II impressively encompasses two discs. Disc one contains the film and some special features while disc two is totally dedicated to the special feature mongers. There is an absolute wealth of material on these extras that faithful fans and the casual renter can both enjoy.
Disc 1
- Feature Commentary with Director Kevin Smith, Producer Scott Mosier and Director of Photography David Klein
- Feature Commentary with Director Kevin Smith, Producer Scott Mosier and Actors Jeff Anderson, Trevor Fehrman, Jason Mewes, Brian O’Halloran, and Jennifer Schwalbach
- Podcast Commentary with Director Kevin Smith, Producer Scott Mosier and Actor Jeff Anderson
- Deleted Scenes Prepared by Kevin Smith (with intro) – The intro runs at 4:38 while the compilation of deleted scenes has a run time of 38:24.
- A Closer Look At Interspecies Erotica - Oh I don’t even know where to begin with this one. Ever hear of a donkey show? This extra is mostly interviews with Zak Knutson, centerpiece of the donkey show scenes (8:58).
- BD Live - this feature was not ready at the time of viewing
Disc 2
- Back to the Well: Clerks II (with intro)- A great piece about Kevin Smith’s films immediately preceding Clerks II and the trials and tribulations of what it took to get Clerks II off the ground (approx. 90 minutes).
- Clerks II VH1 Movie Special - The complete episode from VH-1 covering and promoting the film (19:33).
- Blooper Reel - Yes! Finally someone puts one of these on their film. This is one of the best extras to include on a disc (within reason; who wants to see the cast of Schindler’s List enjoying a laugh on the set). There is nearly a half hour of solid screw-ups from behind the scenes that have been declassified for viewers everywhere (29:55).
- Train Wrecks: Video Production Diaries – Here you’ll find ten video segments covering anything from meeting the people responsible for the film to doing publicity shots to the origin of an inside joke.
- Revenge of the Mullett (6:46)
- Elements and Layers (6:10)
- Day One (3:28)
- Meet the Crew with Jason Mewes: Part 1
- The Tongue Song
- Lights…Camera…Tongue
- The Good, The Bad and The Man
- Love the Camera
- Call 911
- The 8-Minute Standing O
Final Thoughts 
As Kevin Smith mentions in one of the extras, he stated that this film was not intended to be better than Clerks, nor was it intended to be as good as Clerks. It was intended to be its own movie. I will say it does not have the ambiance that the first film did. Clerks II is also different from the first go-around. I laughed, I was bored, I laughed some more and then the ending eventually arrived. That came out of nowhere with a bit of bluntness that caught me off guard. Here I’d been watching this film that had me, then started to lose me, then had me again. Those portions of screen time where I was starting to drift were very much overshadowed by the actions that transpired near the end, as well as the ending itself. In the words of the Guinness gents, “Brilliant!” We’re not going to see Clerks II win any Academy Awards, but there’s a chance it may just win your heart over.
