I always find that the movies that I often find myself falling in love with the quickest are ones that in some ways, connect to past events within my own life or mind set of how I view the world and offer a way of pointing out the flaws of it all to show me some idea of what to do to fix myself. Or in general, offer stuff I can personally connect to.

I've expressed in the past that I'm an isolated person, due to my own cowardliness to try and find my purpose within the world. Be it by trying to find a job, a girlfriend, attempting to make new friends, getting a higher form of education, fixing…

Shot on a shoestring budget yet lacking neither creativity nor quality, Kevin Smith's feature film debut is an expertly crafted, smartly scripted, brilliantly directed, cleverly humoured & finely performed indie that's filled with genuinely funny moments, idiosyncratic characters & many wonderful homages to succeed as one of the finest comedies of the 1990s.

The story of Clerks is set at a convenience store in Leonardo, New Jersey and covers a day in the lives of two store clerks. First is Dante; a retail clerk who is called into work despite his day off. Second is Randal; a video store clerk who hates his job just as much as Dante. The plot follows the two & their acquaintances as they discuss movies, play hockey…

Film #42 of Project 90

”I'm stuck in this pit, working for less than slave wages. Working on my day off, the goddamn steel shutters are closed, I deal with every backward ass fuck on the planet. I smell like shoe polish. My ex-girlfriend is catatonic after fucking a dead guy. And my present girlfriend has sucked 36 dicks.”

It’s entirely in black & white, it is made with a budget of less than 30,000$, there are no superstars or even professional actors in the film, it is the debut film of its director, it happens in a convenience store and it doesn't even have a typical story. It can’t get simpler than this. Clerks is the ultimate mixture of creativity…

It really is a shame that Kevin Smith has become such an insufferable git in the last few years or so because I think he has dragged Clerks down with him in the eyes of many.

Being as this was the first time I've watched Clerks for several years, I did wonder if I would have soured to it having tired of Smith in general in the last few years or so, but I really haven't. It's not as fresh or as funny as it was when I saw it for the first time back in 1996 or 1997 and I can't see that it is one of those films that necessarily rewards extensive rewatching. It has still remained very…

An unpolished ode to post-High School, early adulthood struggles, Kevin Smith's "Clerks" is a rough but impressive filmmaking debut. Even with its nonexistent budget, lack of directorial experience, and inorganic dialogue, Smith is able to make the film stick with its abundance of heart, laughs, and well-timed raunch.

Taking place somewhere in the suburban wilds of New Jersey, "Clerks" follows two semi-slackers going about their day, wrestling dead-end jobs and romantic entanglements. Smith's story peoples the film with a series of ex-girlfriends, friends, and acquaintances who interact with the two protagonists. Between shirking their professional duties and waxing about love, life, and "Return of the Jedi," Dante and Randall, the titular clerks, cut pleasantly recognizable characters with even-more recognizable twentysomething…

It's widespread influence on the independent film push is undeniable, and for a movie of this kind budget, it's a competent piece of filmmaking, but Clerks just doesn't have the same draw as similar "talkie" movies of this nature. It's nice to see middle America portrayed on film in this manner, in a way that's mostly authentic, but Kevin Smith simply isn't the same kind of wordsmith as, say, Richard Linklater, who also delves into similar kinds of slice of life stories. Perhaps due to how crude they are, the elongated conversations Smith gives to his characters (albeit ones impressively captured in mostly long, unbroken takes) never pack the same thoughtful punch as Linklater's: yes, Smith has created some very…

“My mom’s been fuckin’ a dead guy for 30 years, I call him dad”

While the events unfolding are more quirky than grounded, the basic situation in Clerks is a relatable one for the everyday worker and even if the black’n’white cinematography is due to budget reasons – it really fits the gloomy mode. The lack of a fleshed-out plot also works well, as Kevin Smith has his lense on the interactions and the personal style of the jokes carry them forward. What’s really the heart of Clerks is the focus on characters, not necessarily because they’re very deep, but because they feel genuine.

As the film is mostly just made up of individual scenes – albeit with some kind…