by Adam Riske
• Best Scene/Moment (tie): The scene towards the end with Dante (Brian O’Halloran), Randal (Jeff Anderson), and Jay and Silent Bob (Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith) in jail and any scene with Rosario Dawson.
• Best Song: “ABC” by The Jackson 5.
• Director Grade: Clerks II was directed by Kevin Smith.
Great Movies: Clerks
Good Movies: Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Clerks II, Tusk, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot
OK Movies: Dogma, Jersey Girl, Zack and Miri Make a Porno
Bad Movies: Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Yoga Hosers, Clerks III, The 4:30 Movie
Unseen By Me: Cop Out, Red State
Overall Grade: B-
• Double It with This 2006 Movie: Employee of the Month
• Year 2006 Movies to Trailer Before Them: Beerfest, Borat, Grandma’s Boy• Ella McCay or Clerks II? Tie. I’d give it to Clerks II if it weren’t for how cringe-inducing a lot of the humor is.
• Mall Movie? Absolutely. This movie has mall written all over it.
• Only in 2006: Kevin Smith pushing the irresistibility of his wife on audiences.
• Scene Stealer: Rosario Dawson. She elevates the whole movie.
• I Miss: The time after Clerks II (which has a perfect ending) and before Clerks III (where Kevin Smith lost his mind and undid everyone’s happy endings in Clerks II). This was like killing Newt and Hicks at the beginning of Alien 3-level stupid.
• 2006 Crush: Rosario Dawson.
• 2026 Crush: Rosario Dawson.
• What I Thought in 2006: I liked Clerks II overall. It was funny at times and had a lot of heart. I was also impressed by how the movie is such a glow-up from the grungy original but still feels like a Clerks movie.
• What I Think in 2026: I’m still a fan despite some significant reservations about the movie. Rosario Dawson is so good in this, and I really like Dante and Randal as characters so seeing them evolve as they get older is rewarding. Plus, the movie ends well and that often can save a film that’s a little shaky leading up to the finish.
I have a fondness for Kevin Smith, though Clerks II marks the last thing in his filmography that I've ever seen and also I had skipped Jersey Girl. He was an industrious multi-media content factory, but the Askewniverse I bought into doesn't forecast the career arc he ended up on. Not sure what happened. Rosario Dawson was great in Clerks II, when that clip of AOC dancing on the roof was going viral, it always reminded me of Dawson's charm in this movie. I think J&SBSB is better than you score it, a 2000 year movie that features characters going door to door to fight internet trolls should be revisited for how prescient the film is or how unchanged movie fandom really is. It probably is bad on rewatch, but at the time it was celebratory in the way that the 3rd Austin Powers movie was. I will never understand how he never got a shot at a comic book film as either a director or screenwriter, especially in light of struggles with making the DC Universe connect. Seems like a role he was born to fill.
ReplyDeleteAdam, I own one of those yellow caps! It came packaged with the Clerks II box set shaped like a happy meal, which also included a matching Mooby's plastic cup.
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