Clerks II (2006)

Directed by Kevin Smith. Starring Brian O’Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Rosario Dawson, Trevor Fehrman, Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith, Jennifer Schwalbach, Zak Knutson. [R]

About a decade has passed since the last “day in the life” of two Jersey boy clerks, and since their old haunt, Quick Stop, burned down a year back, they’re stuck working at a fast food restaurant. Dante is about to move to Florida to get married, and Randal isn’t happy about it…but then, maybe Dante’s not all that happy about it either, especially considering the flirtatious “friendship” he has with his manager (Dawson). Kevin Smith has softened the edges of his outrageous film debut for this sequel, which often feels like Clerks filtered through the more cartoonish and commercial energy of Mallrats or Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back; there’s still some envelope-pushing material here (Kinky Kelly, anyone?), but even those episodes feel like inauthentically manufactured bits instead of random episodes breaking up the drudgery of paper-hat retail work. Some of the new characters, like Schwalbach’s overbearing fiancée or Fehrman’s oddball virginal nerd, are (intentionally?) off-putting, but even in “cuddly stoner mascot” form, Jay and Silent Bob still score a few laughs…just don’t play “Goodbye Horses” in their vicinity. Lacks the intelligence and provocative insights of the original, but it’s enough fun for an okay viewing…still, even hardcore fans of the first film will probably grow restless over how long it takes Randal to get to the point in the jail cell scene, or scratch their heads over how a brief choreographed dance sequence set to the Jackson 5 ended up in this all-too-slick second helping. Features the usual grab-bag of cameos from Smith semi-regulars (Jason Lee, Ben Affleck, Ethan Suplee) and random famous faces (Wanda Sykes, Kevin Weisman).

57/100