Clerks 2

This is the greatest movie Kevin Smith has made since…the next one. Every time I watch one of his films, it really brings home a point I love to extol: director’s who write their own material create “good” movies. Now when I say good, I don’t necessarily mean movies that everyone loves, but films that tell a particular story or that make a particular point or a particular commentary about life. Also, every single one of his movies has touched me in some way…except for Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back…that movie was basically Kevin Smith’s love letter to his dedicated fans. As much as Kevin Smith likes to talk trash and say that he’s just writing dick and fart joke movies, he really does reach out to us. That’s why I’m a bit upset with one thing in his list of tributes at the end of the movie, “Jersey Girl: for taking it up the ass.” The movie was really good, but everybody didn’t like it because it wasn’t the kind of movie he’s been giving us all his career. And yeah, he says he only had one PG-13 movie in him, but I’d bet you he could make another one if he wanted to. He writes comic books that aren’t R-rated, so he’s perfectly capable of writing clean dialogue. I am an optimist and like to think that individual artists have more artistic integrity than “Hollywood”, which is why I decry the theory everyone espouses regarding Jersey Girl, that because it didn’t do well financially so he went back to doing the dick and fart joke movies.

I liked the little nod to Jason Mewes’ past drug addiction in Jay’s character: Jay is still a drug dealer, but he just got out of rehab and doesn’t need drugs because he found Jesus and has a copy of the bible. “It’s the Holy Bible, you fuck!” Jason Mewes had this huge battle with drug addiction that you can read all about on Kevin Smith’s blog, My Boring Ass Life.

I LOVE Kevin Smith’s cultural diatribes…I mean nothing can beat the Clerks discussion about the private contractors on the 2nd Death Star, but they come pretty close with their discussion on Star Wars versus Lord of the Rings and how much Transformers suck.

Elias is a hilarious character because he’s so very real…a lot of Christians struggle with people who badger them about the little things.

Was it just me (I think it was), or did Jay look like the Venus di Milo when he did the nude pose? Yes he has arms, but in the composition of the shot, the arms are hidden by Silent Bob’s jacket.

Leave a Reply