and once again, I shake my head in shame...

Clerks 2

* *

I used to get this special feeling every time I watched Kevin Smith's first film, Clerks. It was like you were seeing something so original and so funny and well written and well acted for a cast of unknowns, that you couldn't believe you were seeing it. Smith moved from Clerks and went on to direct a slew of other movies, all of which I liked at varying levels.

Until Clerks 2 was released.

The plot to this one finds our heroes from the original film, Dante and Randall, still working away at their meaningless jobs ten years after the fact. When the QuickStop is burned to the ground, the two find themselves working at another Smith creation, Mooby's (a sarcastic McDonald's-like place). From there, we learn Dante is engaged to a woman and is on his last day at Mooby's. He's about to move to Florida, get married and run a car wash.

I found myself occasionally laughing at this one, but there was something about it that seemed forced to me. In the original, the conversations between Randall and Dante seemed like real people conversations, things fan boys would talk about. In this one, everything seemed wooden and stale.

There were some funny moments. I remember Randall getting into an argument with a customer and a co-worker about Lord of the Rings versus Star Wars. That was funny. There were some other things too, but they were minor. I also found the cameos by Kevin Smith regulars to be humorous as well. Kudos to Ben Affleck and Jason Lee (in full My Name is Earl moustache and sideburns) for dropping by the set for a quick one-off.

This bothers me too, because I love the original so much. I wanted this sequel to be good, but it just wasn't. I've read some Kevin Smith fan boy reviews on the web, and they're all talking about how this movie is "poignant" in the portrayal of these characters "growing up". Well, they don't really. And it isn't poignant. The only time I saw anything close to being poignant, was the scene where Dante and Randall (and other characters) are sitting and thinking about their lives and the song 1979 by Smashing Pumpkins is playing. A song that I've often thought was poignant in my own portrayal of my life at certain times (missing people, growing up, moving on). [MovieGuy shout out to my Smashing Pumpkins friend!].

Two stars for this one because no matter how much I didn't like this movie, I still like these characters. And I still like Kevin Smith. I just feel really disappointed after watching this movie. This was a sequel (like most) that was completely unnecessary and uncalled for.

Especially since Dante "died" in the original Clerks. Watch the deleted scenes on the DVD. Its there.