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Rating: 
Summary: This should've been titled "TERDS!"
Review: After seeing the rest of Kevin Smith's masterpieces, I was highly disappointed in this film.Although I found it funny, a number of things turned me off. Number 1 was the fact that the entire film is shot in black and white. I realize the K. Smith was probably trying for an artistic deviation from todays movies but it made the film harder to watch. The lack of color gave me a headache and I was ready to turn it off midway through the flick. It'd be different if the film was shot on the true, old, black and white cameras. These had definition, shades, and hues that can't be replicated.
The cameras used in Clerks remind me of watching a cheap, fuzzy, security surveillance camera. Number 2, except for the opening scenes, the director never takes the viewer outside of the mini-mart. I felt trapped in a convenient store, devoid of colors, for a long 90 minutes! I would've liked to see what was going on outside of the Quickiemart. Number 3, there was no real plot, just a series of events. A day in the life of a clerk at a convenient store. Except for the man who passed away in the bathroom, this leads to a very boring motion picture. This has to be my least favorite of Kevin Smith's films. Even Jay and Silent Bob, and their antics, couldn't save this flick. In my opinion, the director tried way too hard to make his film stand out amongst others. If you're considering buying this movie, and you haven't seen it, I recommend that you rent it first!! It's hard to believe that this ...came from the mind of the director who wrote Dogma, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, and Jay and SB Strike Back!
Rating:
Summary: Pretty Good
Review: Clerks is a black and white, 27,000 dollar indie film by Kevin Smith. It is foul-mouthed, crude, but quite charming. Granted, it's not for everyone, but it's a quite good film anyway, with some problems that detract its quality. The film is about a convienience store clerk named Dante Hicks (Brian O'Hollaron). He's 22, and hates his life. He dispises his job working for slave wages for long hours at a boring store dealing with stupid customers, and is having some major girl problems. He is seeing a girl named Veronica (Marilyn Ghigliotti), but can't decide whether he loves her or his old high-school girl Caitlin Bree (Lisa Spoonhauer), who incidentally cheathed on him 8 1/2 times (you'll understand if you see the movie). He doesn't get much respect from his best friends (and sometimes worst enemy) Randal Graves (Jeff Anderson), who hangs out with Dante at the store chattering on about life, 'Nudie Booths", "Star Wars" movies, psychotic customers, and women. Randal also terrorizes customers, both at the store (called Quickstop Groceries), or at his job area, RST video Store. While Dante wanders about his life, Randal reads [Girlie magazines]. Dante's day starts out bad. he gets sent to work on his day off, and is then accosted by an angry mob against cigarette smoking. ... His day, however, gets worse. Customers get mad at him, and he has to deal with two drug dealers who hang out in front of the store named Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith, director). He is also torn between the two women he loves, and he can't have his hockey game as planned! This movie sparkles with wit and lots of attitude, and features a very intelligent and thoughful script, but it doesn't make the movie perfect. One of the problems with the movie is that, while there are several funny things in this movie, some stuff is obviously trying to be funny, but just sort of sits there. An example of this is Jay and Silent Bob. They are just not funny at all. This is strange, since they would end up being the funniest parts of the next films. jay makes [rude] comments and Silent Bob speaks once, but mostly there just there so the movie can be 90 minutes instead of something like 80. It's also quite hard to understand what Jay is saying most of the time. Another problem is the dialogue. The dialogue is TOO intelligent, so much that the line deliverings seem awkward. This isn't too often, but sometimes Dante and Randal will be having a conversation that seems very scripted and read through. This is however, not an insult to the acting, which is usually quite good aside from the above mentioned. Brian O' Hollaron and Jeff Anderson play quite well off eachother, and the two love interests give good acting jobs. The only other actors that appear in the film are customers and a few of Dante's hockey buddies, and all are pretty adequate, if not outstanding. The film is not for everyone, as said above, and goes on a bit to long, even if it's only 90 minutes (actually 93), with some unneeded scenes, but as a whole, this was a fairly satisfying movie, with lots of good scenes as well as bad ones. A recommendation, just not a perfect movie. The DVD is a Collector's Edition, the third in the Miramax Series. it is quite good, but like the movie, not great. The film is presented in ugly black and white 1:85:1 matted widescreen, but this is not the fault of the DVD. The movie looks quite bad, but only because of the shockingly [inexpensive] cost to make the movie. Unfortunately, it's non-anamorphic, and doesn't fit widescreen TVs, stretching the picture unnaturally. The soundtrack is dolby digital 2.0, which gets the job done, but isn't very exciting. The extra features are good, though. There's an excellent and informative commentary by director Smith and lots of other people, as well as several good deleted an extended scenes, and the shocking original ending. there's an excellent full color music video for Soul Asylum's "Can't Even Tell" and the orignal theatrical trailer. A nice batch of extras for a pretty good DVD. **1/2 out of ****
Rating: 
Summary: A very original, entertaining flick
Review: Kevin Smith maxed out a batch of credit cards (... worth) to make this hilarious and very clever film. There's no real plot--basically, it's a day in the life of a couple of clerks and the assorted oddballs who populate their lives--but "Clerks" has ten times the energy and originality of nearly every big-budget, small-minded Hollywood production in recent memory. This is due in large part to Smith's profane, irreverent dialogue, surefooted direction, and some convincing performances. Many memorable, laugh-out-loud moments; my favorites have to be the "Star Wars" discussion, and the "sexual revelations" bit. (It's a riot hearing people discuss "Star Wars" as seriously as some would debate Plato's "Republic"). The low budget means this looks more like "The Blair Witch Project" than "The Matrix," but big production values do not a great film make (see "Pearl Harbor" for a prime example). This is what filmmaking should be--not about noisy, splashy effects, demographics, or the bottom line, but about the art of filmmaking. Kudos to Kevin Smith and company for a funny and creative film.
Rating: 
Summary: The best film ever made....and an excellent DVD......
Review: Okay, down to business. Clerks was made with 28,000 dollars, written and directed by Kevin Smith, a genius in his own time. This film stars Kevin's friends working between a convenience store and a video store. There are 2 main characters Dante-Always complaining but reluctant to protest he gets sucked into one of the worst work days of his entire life. He finds out that his ex-girlfriend from high school was about to get married but decides to come back to town to see him, he has to make a decision between the girl he used to love and the girl he thinks he loves now. Randall-The wise cracking video store register jockey who spends most of his time sleeping and watching dirty movies or making funny walks around the store. I don't even want to spoil the plot to those of you who haven't seen it. This is the best film ever made. Period. The dialogue is brilliant, the acting is great, the script is superb, i can watch this a billion times over. The commentary track is good and all the DVD extras are awesome. 5 billion stars/5.
Rating:
Summary: My favorite comedy
Review: This has to be my all time favorite comedy and one of my all time favorites overall. About three years ago a friend of mine came to school one day raving about the funniest movie he had seen on late night. He talked about this black and white low budget movie about two blue collar losers who talked endlessly about sex. From that description I wasn't anticipating a masterpiece but I decided to rent it anyway. It was probably the best surprise I have ever had. I was laughing the entire time, so much so that I nearly woke up everyone in my house. For months afterwards my friend and I would endlessly talk about and quote this incredible film. Everyone I have recommended it to has loved it and I can easily see why. I know that some people attack the movie as being vulgar and excessive. The way I see it it is being true to life (I'm sure that when you have 10 hours to kill you'll talk about the average pay of a gizz mopper). In short I absolutely love this film and it gets better and better with every viewing. Rent this film as soon as possible if you haven't already.
Rating:
Summary: Original, crude and funny
Review: This is an indie film (VideoHound gives a $27,575 budget) filmed in not so glorious black and white that is strikingly original, and I mean strikingly, and funny. Depicting the early twenties slacker set in suburban New Jersey a decade ago, it focuses on convenience store clerk Dante Hicks (Brian O'Halloran), who is adrift in that never-never land between high school and Making Something of Himself. He still pines for his high school hottie Caitlin Bree (Lisa Spoonhauer), especially when he learns that his current girl friend Veronica (Marilyn Ghigliotti) has, shall we say, had intimate rocket knowledge of thirty-seven different guys, although she had sex with only three of them, including him. Ah, well, what's a snowball or two between friends? Next door to the convenience store is a video rental store clerked by Dante's best bud, Randal Graves (Jeff Anderson). Randal scares off the customers, rents his videos elsewhere and just generally slacks off and offends at all times, except when giving career and sexual advice to Dante. Hanging out outside and dealing are Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith). Kevin Smith also directed and wrote the script and probably did the catering and clean up as well. He is one very clever and talented dude who told it like it almost was while mildly satirizing the New Jersey denizens and the slacker mentality, but with affection and a kind of light-hearted aplomb. There's some absurdity, Caitlin making love to a dead man and not realizing he's dead, the guys playing stick ball hockey on the roof of the convenience store, Randal selling cigs to a four-year-old who lights up, etc., mixed with the pathos of making minimum wage and going nowhere, and some sight gags and a whole lot of spiffy, crude, and dead-panned one-liners. Nothing is taken too seriously, including Kevin Smith and his film, so that when they run the final credits we are pleased with this slice of indeterminate life in the Garden State. I was reminded of some other low budget films made about the same time including Bang (1995), Floundering (1994) and The Unbelievable Truth (1990), especially the latter, but none are as outrageously funny as Clerks. Incidentally, this is currently ranked in IMDb's Top 250.
Rating:
Summary: Customer Service Rocks
Review: Title: Clerks Director: Kevin Smith Cast: Brian O'Halloran ... Dante Hicks
Jeff Anderson ... Randal Graves
Marilyn Ghigliotti ... Veronica Loughran
Lisa Spoonhauer ... Caitlin Bree
Jason Mewes ... Jay
Kevin Smith ... Silent Bob Tagline: "Just because they serve you...doesn't mean they like you." Plot Summary: Two guys spend a day at work in adjacent stores, and a lot of weird things happen. Review and Comments: Like that summary? Very concise. The problem with writing a review of this movie is that what happens is an overview of a day at work for these two characters, and anything I say can and will ruin the jokes that make this film worth seeing. I'll attempt to apply my vast amounts of reviewing skill to this review in order to convince you why this movie is worth seeing WITHOUT giving away every single thing that happens. So. Has anyone here ever worked a crappy, low-paying service job that required immense amounts of patience and customer service skills not to wring the necks of everyone that came into the place asking stupid questions? This movie is for you. Here lies a collection of anecdotes about all the things that can happen throughout the years working at a convenience store (and a video rental place) all set in the timeframe of one incredible day at work. The customers that ask stupid questions, the things that break and must be fixed, everything that can and will go wrong at once, it's all here. To give away the little things that happen would be to rob the viewer of the enjoyment of watching it happen, so I'll say no more. There are several exaggerated things that happen, comedic moments that we hope are fictional, but at its core what works about the comedy is that there are recognizable hilarious moments that we recognize if we've worked these kinds of jobs before. Holding this film together, there is a relationship between the main character, Dante, (played by Brian O'Halloran) and his girlfriend Marilyn, (played by Veronica Loughran). Their relationship has lasted awhile, and they're hitting some rough spots in trying to see whether it should continue or end immediately. Most relationships hit such a spot, and the revelations they make to each other and the reactions that occur should be recognizable to anyone who's ever had a relationship that hit some rough spots ("I can't believe you never told me that..." "You're overreacting..."). Again, I'm not going to give anything away, but suffice it to say that much of the dialogue here is funny because it's true. So throughout the day, strange things happen, the main characters react, and the relationship problems are discussed. The problems get worse, the tension mounts, and at the end, everything is resolved in such a way that the characters may or may not have learned something. The plot follows the standard film school outline, but the twist is that the whole story occurs in the midst of vignettes that follow the quirky things that can happen throughout a day at a customer service job (with a few fantastical, exaggerated situations) and the little stories are interwoven with the main character's dilemma in a way that I found highly entertaining. The grainy, black and white style of this movie (slightly above surveillance camera quality...no joke) belies the small budget, but I found it effective. It may annoy a lot of people, though, so be forewarned. This movie doesn't look slick and polished. This movie is full of "inappropriate" language. Don't let your four-year-old watch this movie unless you want him to get kicked out or preschool for repeating the dialogue. Lots of people don't like this movie (or any of Smith's movies, come to think of it) because they complain that it has no plot and it's not funny-it's annoying. Keep that in mind. If you don't like the comedy, you won't like the movie. The Bottom Line: I loved it.
Rating:
Summary: CLERKS WORTH CHECKING OUT
Review: Word of mouth & personal expierience made me want to see this movie.And when I did,it left an indelible mark.Grant,Clerks will have you rolling from beginning to end(such phrases as Chewlies Gum,37,____mopper,Berzerker,shoe polish,& salsa shark bring to mind this film),but it's a look at Gen X 20-somethings in the 90's.The bad job,the stagnation,& the indecisiveness of life at that age.Brian O'Halloran plays Dante Hicks,the convienience store jocky with all the whiny"I HATE MY LIFE BUT DON"T WANT TO CHANGE IT"attitude I hear among Gen-Xer's.But Jeff Anderson plays Randell Graves ,the video store clerk and the ultimate slacker.He hates his job,not his life.Disregard his responsibility to his job 'cos he knows it's a dead end and there is something better.After a day when Dante is conned and complaining about working on his day off(as well as other bizarre circumstances)Randell sets Dante straight telling him that he overdramatise things to make his life seem more interesting than what it is.Kevin Smith is a genius.Even though his movies fall on the wayside sometimes(Mallrats,Dogma),his skewed vision has brought him a following.Legend has it that he sold his comic book collection to finance Clerks.It shows he sacrificed something he loved for something his fans will embrace & love for many moons to come
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