Story line: The slackers are back, but working at a fast-food chain now. One is about to get marr... Laughs sprout as 'Cler
Credits: Directed by Kevin Smith, who also stars. Also starring Brian O'Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Rosario Dawson and Jason Mewes. MGM/The Weinstein Co., 98 minutes.
You'll be shocked to learn that Dante and Randal are still doing the exact same thing: standing around all day at their menial jobs, finding ways to avoid work, and talking. And talking and talking. They're just doing it in color instead of black and white.
But in revisiting the characters who made him an indie darling and a cult favorite, writer-director Smith finds himself back at the top of his game, especially after his most recent offerings, the self-indulgent "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" (2001) and the soft-hearted "Jersey Girl" (2004).
The sequel begins where the 1994 original left off: in grainy black-and-white at the suburban New Jersey Quick Stop where Dante (Brian O'Halloran) and Randal (Jeff Anderson) have toiled mindlessly all these years. Only the place is on fire -- causing "Clerks II" to shift cleverly into color and forcing the duo to find jobs they hate somewhere else.
They end up at Mooby's, a sort of evil, Disneyfied fast-food chain where Rosario Dawson plays the impossibly cool, sexy manager, Becky, with whom Dante shares an unlikely chemistry. Dawson is effortlessly lovely, as always, and yet fits comfortably into Smith's twisted universe.
Also joining the crew is virginal Elias (the endearingly jumpy Trevor Fehrman), a co-worker who's freakish even among Smith's usual misfits and comic-book geeks. Elias finds himself drawn into some of the most protracted, heated discussions with Randal the instigator -- such as, which is better? "Star Wars" or "Lord of the Rings"? -- the kinds of debates that members of Smith's loyal fan base surely have had themselves in their parents' basements.
Meanwhile, drug dealers Jay and Silent Bob (Jason Mewes and Smith himself) stand outside the restaurant all day, just as they stood outside the convenience store. They serve as Greek chorus and inane distraction -- Jay frantically dancing and enjoying the sound of his own voice, Silent Bob chain smoking and letting his eyebrows do the talking -- and provide some of the most staggeringly raunchy moments.
There's a plot, too, such as it is. "Clerks II" unfolds during Dante's final day on the job before heading to Florida with his fiancée, the perky, blonde, controlling Emma (Jennifer Schwalbach, Smith's real-life wife). Randal, who loves Dante in a totally hetero way, doubts that his best friend is truly happy with this woman; at the same time, Becky also hopes he'll stay for her own secret reasons.
As Dante's confusion mounts, "Clerks II" builds toward its thunderous climax. Unfortunately, we mean that literally. Smith leaps brazenly into the abyss when he has Randal throw a going-away party for Dante at the restaurant, with ... um ... how to phrase this? There's a donkey, a stage, disco lights and a smoke machine. It goes too far for too long, and Smith just does not know when to rein it in (if you'll pardon the pun). Or maybe he just doesn't care.
Smith won't win new converts with "Clerks II," but he'll satisfy the devoted core audience. For passing fans who longed for his low-budget roots, he'll remind you of what you stopped in for in the first place.
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