The Independent Critic - "Clerks II" Review

STARRING

Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes, Rosario Dawson, Jeff Anderson, Brian O'Halloran

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY

Kevin Smith

MPAA RATING

Rated R

RUNNING TIME

97 Mins.

DISTRIBUTED BY

MGM

"Clerks II" Review

I admit it.

I had my doubts.

I had this creepy, crawly feeling that "Clerks II," the sequel to Kevin Smith's cinematic debut and low-budget wunderfilm, was going to suck...or even worse be boring.

God, Kevin Smith boring? The mere thought makes me shudder.

Why would Smith, who had sworn off a sequel for so long and stated very publicly that he was done with these characters, suddenly find it in himself to journey back to them?

Was it the "Jersey Girl" fiasco? (C'mon, be honest. It WAS a fiasco...I don't care how much you love Smith. The film was, by far, Smith's least cohesive and coherent effort).

Was it simply that Smith was out of ideas?

In recent interviews, Smith has declared that none of these things are true. In fact, he has stated simply that, finally, a storyline came to him that made sense.

Heck, Smith's producer didn't want to make the film...Jeff Anderson was resistant to revisiting a character he'd long since put away.

Smith, of course, ultimately prevailed and Harvey Weinstein coughed up a $5 million budget (just SLIGHTLY higher than the original film's $27,000 budget

On a lighter note, staying through the credits will offer two fun items of note...one, the credits may very well be the funniest credits I've ever read, and two, as director Smith had promised he thanks all of the "View Askew" MySpace "Friends" by name in the credits.

It's a beautiful reminder that Smith remembers where he came from, and he treats it with both reverence AND irreverence.

So, quit slacking...Quit reading this review...Get out and see "Clerks II." Remember, if you're going to sneak into the theatre just tell them at the box-office.