Well Kevin Smith fans, here it is: the final (?) portion of the Jay and Silent Bob series, and the sequel to the ultimate cult classic low budget indie film. And, this one didn’t suck nearly as bad as Jersey Girl (or so I’m told, anyway, I haven’t had a chance to watch that one just yet) and in many ways is actually better than the original. Kevin Smith really hit a career high here, although I have to admit it was ...]]>

Did you know Jesus was a Jew?

Well Kevin Smith fans, here it is: the final (?) portion of the Jay and Silent Bob series, and the sequel to the ultimate cult classic low budget indie film. And, this one didn’t suck nearly as bad as Jersey Girl (or so I’m told, anyway, I haven’t had a chance to watch that one just yet) and in many ways is actually better than the original. Kevin Smith really hit a career high here, although I have to admit it was quite obvious that he is working with a budget that exceeds what he spent on the original Clerks (27,000 bucks I believe the original came in at). And that increased budget really added to the “shiny” factor here, but in many ways it was really refreshing to see a Smith movie that wasn’t so “run of the mill” in its cinematography and backgrounds. Starring very common names for these movies, you can expect to see cameos from Ben Affleck and Jason Lee and the previously no-name actors and actresses that made Smith’s movies really shine. For those that have seen Clerks and laughed hysterically at that one chick having sex with the dead guy, get ready to laugh even harder at the sexually deviant scene in this movie. Oh…gotta finish…

Plot

It’s another day in the lives of our anti-heroes from the original Clerks, Dante and Randal. Only this time, the Quick Stop has been burnt to the ground, and Dante and Randal have taken to the job market and become employed at the local Mooby’s Fast Food joint. It is here that their day-to-day adventures take place. Yet again, Dante bitches about his place in life, and Randal seeks to correct him. The two battle it out once again and once yet again they become even stronger friends. During all this time, Dante struggles to straighten out his love life during a battle where he is stuck between two hot chicks. So really, more right from the same ideals and dialogue of the original Clerks. The only difference here is that Dante and Randal are a bit older, although less immature, and the movie is overall in higher quality. So props go once again to Kevin Smith, this movie is fantastic. The plot is well created and thoroughly thought out which makes the movie easy and enjoyable to watch, all the while making you laugh so hard you really have to see it again.

Visual

Like I mentioned before, it’s pretty darn obvious that Kevin Smith is dealing with a much bigger budget in this movie, and one of the places that it shows the most is in the cinematography. Instead of the typical and somewhat boring visual effects that Smith uses in earlier movies (especially Clerks the original), he actually employs cinema graphic effects that are creative and fairly unique if not a little dizzying in a few points. Plus, the jiggly-jiggly tits in the dance scene makes me excited for the DVD so I can use the slow motion feature on my player…but anyway, just another point where Smith really shines. The only bad thing I can say about the visual effects in this movie is the fire in the windows of the Quick Stop at the very beginning of the flick. The fire is obviously not real. But otherwise, every bit of visual effect in this movie is outstanding and far about the quality of typical Smith directed flicks.

Audio

Smith’s choice of music once again stands above any other movie that’s come out in years. I don’t know how he does it, but every movie he makes seems to have better music than the ones prior to it. Smith, you genius, keep up the great work. I think I might just go and “buy” this soundtrack…tee hee…anyway. As for sound effects, there isn’t a whole lot to mention because this is a comedy and not a high dollar action movie. But, the sound works right where it needed to. There was no struggling to understand what was being said, and the voice volume is appropriate and well planned. And the donkey was very believable…oh, gotta finish. Right. Moving on.

Acting

Yet another point where this movie really shines is the acting. Brian O’Halloran and Jeff Anderson (Dante and Randal, respectively), although considerably (and depressingly) older, are in rare form. There was actually a moment I though Jeff Anderson might break down in tears. And every bit of the acting was well performed and quite believable. Even Jason Mewes was in rare and believable form.

Summary

The more I look back on this movie and compare to the original, the more I love the sequel. The only thing missing in this movie that was present in the original was the general feeling of under-budget cult classic independent film portrayed by the black and white splendor. But, that is easily is forgivable by looking at the overall quality of this movie. Plus, the dialogue is far superior to the original, and considerably more comical. I was actually going to give this movie a 4, but after thinking back at the movie and comparing to the original Clerks, I simply cannot degrade this movie that far. It was just too good. So, in a final saying, I give Clerks II

5 Oh, gotta finish…

…out of 5