Clerks II

I have really liked Kevin Smith since his debut, and I eagerly awaited the continuation of the adventures of his slackers from Jersey. To be honest, I endured the first twenty, maybe even twenty-five minutes of the film, because the characters have aged and they reminded me of my own deterioration, and looking at Dante, I painfully realized the shortcomings of my nutrition. Above all, the attempts at jokes seemed to me to be lacking in humor, and there was an excess of vulgarities that seemed purposeless without the support of functioning comedy. Then came the scene with the "elf in the crotch" and the "spittoon in the mouth" as defenders of virginity - a clear allusion to the sexual education used by President Bush. All that was missing was mention of the stork delivering babies. The argument between The Lord of the Rings fans and a staunch Star Wars worshipper was also great, and the anchor points kept on increasing. This film simply lacks the inventiveness and quotability of the first installment, and overall represents a more calculated production that clearly relies on the sentiment of its fans. On the other hand, it is also more mature, and professional, and clearly had a higher budget, which allowed for the hiring of more expensive and well-known actors. However, what saves Smith the most is his uncompromising and, above all, politically incorrect humor, which allows him to make jokes about black monkeys or employ a donkey as a perverted Kelly. Very few people in American studio productions dare to play around with political correctness like this. Overall impression: 75%. Although I consider myself a fan of Smith, I get the impression that he is starting to repeat himself, and I would be quite afraid of a third installment of Clerks... It is time to look for innovation and, above all, to find entertainment from a different perspective. (08/08/2008)

The best of Kevin Smith. Uncompromisingly funny, properly Jayovský crazy, perfectly believable, and in its honesty, touching. This is how free life stories end, this is how purely heterosexual buddies befriend, and this is how love is confessed. It wasn't the complete end of one universe after all, which is good for some, tragedy for others. But that doesn't change anything about it being the best that the most popular geek ever created. (11/01/2008)

A pleasant surprise, which I hadn't even hoped for after the uninteresting prequel. Except perhaps for the first 20 minutes or so, with some wannabe-funny dialogue in the vein of its predecessor, for which Smith deserves to be raped by Gandalf's staff, but starting with the great verbal duel Randal vs LOTR fans, the film catches its second wind and I enjoyed all the movie quotes, allusions to current modern trends and the dialogues with funny life observations, including Randal's surprising emotional outburst at the end. So, unexpectedly for me, I'm happy to rank this sequel alongside the smart Dogma and Chasing Amy. (03/01/2007)

Much, much funnier than the first part. Some scenes are brilliant, while others fizzle out, but as whole Clerks II deserves a four star rating, a nice improvement from last time. The best comedy moment is hands down the Donkey Show, which is followed by what for my taste is an overly long and amicable ending. What’s certainly good is that Smith’s humour has matured since the first Clerks, and also got sharper, which made me laugh about things that otherwise I wouldn’t even smile at. 85% (15/09/2008)

For me, this overhyped comedy and Kevin Smith don't really click. There are a few decent lines (the discussion of Lord of the Rings vs Star Wars was cool), but otherwise it just flows without much surprise or interest. There's no downright burst of laughter and the story didn't seem very interesting to me either. Maybe ten years ago, it could've earned four stars, but definitely not today. 6/10. (24/01/2021)