Hey everyone! I am going to take a break from Sundance 2022 to talk about one of the classics of the festival, 1994’s Clerks. This film was directed by Kevin Smith and really captures the raw quality of early indie films from the 1990s. It doesn’t work well as a modern comedy simply because it doesn’t have many laughs but I can see why it was fresh and appealing in 1994.

In the movie Brian O’Halloran plays Dante Hicks a man who manages a convenience store that’s next to a video rental place where friend Randal Graves (Jeff Anderson) works. One morning Dante gets called in when he isn’t even supposed to be working and interacts with a variety of wild characters.

Of all the people who come in and out of the store my favorite were the 2 women, Caitlin (Lisa Spoonauer) and Veronica (Marilyn Ghigliotti. While I didn’t think Dante was worthy of either of them they had some good lines.

Given they inspired an entire franchise Jay and Silent Bob (Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith) aren’t in the movie that much. They were ok I suppose but didn’t make much of an impact on me.

I did enjoy the black and white of Clerks and its authentic lived-in feeling. We have all been in this type of store before and we’ve all had that kind of boring repetitive jobs before. They are the worst!

I just wish I had laughed more at Clerks. I chuckled off and on but nothing major. Maybe I missed something or maybe the jokes have fallen out of favor over time but it wasn’t a very funny movie.

Have you seen Clerks? Do you think I am underselling it as a comedy or maybe you like it for other reasons? Let me know in the comments!

6 out of 10