Clerks II | |
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Directed by | Kevin Smith |
Written by | Kevin Smith |
Based on | Characters by Kevin Smith |
Produced by | Scott Mosier |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Dave Klein |
Edited by | Kevin Smith |
Music by | James L. Venable |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | |
Release dates |
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Running time | 97 minutes [1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $5 million [1] |
Box office | $26.9 million [1] |
Clerks II is a 2006 American black comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith, the sequel to his 1994 film Clerks , and his sixth feature film to be set in the View Askewniverse. The film stars Brian O'Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Rosario Dawson, Trevor Fehrman, Jennifer Schwalbach Smith, Jason Mewes, and Smith, and picks up with the original characters from Clerks: Dante Hicks, Randal Graves and Jay and Silent Bob ten years after the events of the first film. Unlike the first film, which was shot in black and white, this film was shot mostly in color.
The film screened out of competition at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival [2] and won the Audience Award at the 2006 Edinburgh International Film Festival [3] before receiving a theatrical release on July 21, 2006 to critical and commercial success, grossing $27 million worldwide from a $5 million budget. A third film was released in 2022.
Ten years after the events of the first film, Dante Hicks arrives at the Quick Stop convenience store for another day of work, only to find, upon opening the security shutters, that the store is on fire. Randal Graves, Dante's best friend, had left the coffee pot on after closing the night before. Because Quick Stop and the adjacent RST Video have been destroyed in the fire, Dante and Randal begin working at a Mooby's fast food restaurant along with devout Christian teenager Elias Grover and their manager Becky Scott.
A year later, Dante is planning to leave his minimum wage lifestyle and move to Florida with his wealthy but overbearing fiancée Emma Bunting, whose parents will provide them with a home and a car wash business to run as wedding gifts. Afraid of losing his best friend, Randal becomes resentful towards Dante and Emma's relationship. Jay and Silent Bob have followed Dante and Randal, and now loiter outside of Mooby's. Although they no longer use drugs (after being arrested for possession, sent to rehab, and supposedly becoming devout Born again Christians), the duo continue to sell them and perform their typical antics in the parking lot.
Dante tells Becky that he is worried about dancing at his wedding, so she takes him up to the restaurant's roof to teach him some moves. Dante soon releases his inhibitions and begins dancing to The Jackson 5's ABC. When the song ends, Dante, caught up in the moment, confesses his love for Becky, and she reveals that she's pregnant as a result of a one-night stand they had at work a few weeks prior. Becky tells Dante not to tell anyone about the baby. However, he tells Randal but threatens to beat Randal up should he tell anyone. Becky finds out and, furious at Dante for telling Randal, drives off.
Randal encourages Dante to leave Mooby's in search of Becky, so he can set up a surprise going away party for him. Randal hires "Kinky Kelly and the Sexy Stud," a donkey show act, complete with a fog machine, for the party. When Dante returns, he mistakes the fog for fire and calls the fire department, but upon discovering that it's not a fire, proceeds to watch with Randal, Jay, Silent Bob, and a very drunk/stoned Elias.
The group discovers that "Kinky Kelly" is, in fact, the donkey, while the man, whom Randal thought to be the pimp, is "The Sexy Stud". When Becky returns, she admits that she too loves Dante. As they kiss, Emma arrives with a cake she made for Dante. She throws her engagement ring at Becky, dumps the cake over Dante's head, knees him in the crotch, and storms off in tears.
The fire and police departments arrive and Dante, Randal, Elias, Jay, Silent Bob, and The Sexy Stud are arrested as a result of the show. In their jail cell, Dante gets into a heated argument with Randal, angry with him for ruining his life and expresses his eagerness to start a new life without him, while Randal becomes indignant and condemns Dante for his willingness to live his life under the standards of others and for abandoning their friendship, revealing how upset he is that Dante is moving away. The two then finally realize how much they care about their friendship.
Randal proposes that they buy the Quick Stop and re-open it themselves, although Dante says that neither have the money to do it. Jay and Silent Bob offer to lend them the money (from the royalty money they collected from the Bluntman and Chronic movie in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back ) provided that they can hang out outside of the store anytime they want without the police being called. Randal accepts their offer, but Dante is uncertain, prompting Randal to emotionally confess his fear of losing Dante. Moved by Randal's confession, Dante agrees to the proposition. Shortly after, the group is released off-screen without being charged since (as the Sexy Stud had assured them) you can't be imprisoned for watching an inter-species sex act.
Soon afterwards, Dante, having embraced fatherhood, proposes to Becky at Mooby's, who happily accepts. After both the Quick Stop and RST Video are rebuilt, Dante and Randal hire Elias to work at RST Video.
In the very last scene, with the stores open, Dante tells Randal, both having finally taken control of their lives, "Can you feel it? Today is the first day of the rest of our lives." The color then evaporates from the film and the camera pulls back to reveal the milk maid from the first movie still going through all the gallons.
In 1999, the original title was slated to be Clerks 2: Hardly Clerkin' (cf. Jerry Lewis's Hardly Working ), as seen in the credits of Dogma . Smith later modified the title to The Passion of the Clerks, lampooning the title of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ . According to the DVD documentary, the title was changed to simply Clerks II, due to negative reaction to the "Passion" title. The film was shot from September to November 2005. It was originally scheduled for a 2005 release, and then a January 2006 release, but the production was pushed back due to other projects and Kevin Smith's involvement in the romantic comedy Catch and Release .
Smith released production diaries on the Clerks II website (see links below). They chronicle the entire making of the film from the first rehearsals all the way through to the final release. Some of these web diaries are also available on the two-disc DVD of the film. Smith released a Web-only teaser trailer on the Clerks II website on January 9, 2006, [4] and a web-only trailer on April 2, 2006. [4] Smith also released several shorts featuring action figures from his previous films to promote the film.
Before the release of the film, Smith had mentioned releasing an MP3 file commentary to be downloaded and listened to in movie theaters via iPod. Ultimately, theater owners and exhibitors objected,[ citation needed ] and the plan was scrapped. The abandoned commentary, featuring Smith, Scott Mosier and Jeff Anderson, is included on the DVD.
The bookend Quick Stop scenes are in black and white (to simulate the original visual style of Clerks), while the rest of the film is in color. Smith has said that much of the film's color was desaturated almost to the point where the film had a similar texture to the first film.[ citation needed ] The contrast in color saturation used can be seen in the "ABC" sequence in which a more vibrant and saturated color temperature is used to give a warm and sunny look that adds to the playful nature of the piece.
On the film's MySpace account, a contest was held in which the first 10,000 MySpace users who added Clerks II as a friend would have their name in the theatrical and DVD end credits; the list follows the View Askew and Weinstein Company logos. The names are not present in the credits on the Region 2 DVD.[ citation needed ]
The Mooby's restaurant was a shut-down Burger King at 8572 Stanton Ave in Buena Park, California [5] (near Knott's Berry Farm), that has since been demolished. [6] The final days of principal photography were filmed at the Quick Stop and RST Video store in Leonardo, New Jersey, with some exceptions, the most notable being the go-kart scene, which was shot at Speedzone in Industry, California. [7] The opening sequence where Randal and Dante are driving to work is a montage of Route 35, mostly in Middletown, New Jersey.
Brian O'Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Jason Mewes, and Kevin Smith all reprised their roles from the first film.
According to the DVD commentary[ specify ], Kevin Smith originally wanted to cast his wife Jennifer Schwalbach Smith as Becky. Executive producer Harvey Weinstein objected, however, wanting a known actress to play the role for marketing reasons. Other actresses that Smith had met with were Sarah Silverman and Bryce Dallas Howard who both declined. Smith recalls having lunch with Howard who said she was interested in the film but ultimately passed in order to do Lady in the Water . Silverman said she didn't want to play the Becky character as she had been cast as girlfriends in numerous other productions and feared type-casting, but loved the script and would have been more than willing to play the part of Randal Graves. Rachel Weisz was another name the studio considered, but Smith figured she would turn the role down and never offered her the part. Ellen Pompeo expressed an interest but could not commit due to scheduling difficulties with Grey's Anatomy .[ citation needed ] Finally, the role was offered to Rosario Dawson who loved the script. She later said that reading the "donkey show" scene sealed the deal for her. Schwalbach Smith was given the secondary female role of Emma Bunting. Smith also cast his daughter Harley Quinn Smith as the little girl Dante waves to in the window of a restaurant and his mother Grace as the Milk Maid, reprising her role from the first film. Walt Flanagan makes a cameo appearance as a customer who asks for a "pack of cigarettes" (after the film changes from color to black and white), in a nod to the first film as well.
The character of Elias was played by Trevor Fehrman who had previously worked in Anderson's film Now You Know . Smith saw him in the film and was impressed enough to give him a part. In keeping with Smith's tradition of casting actors that he has previously worked with, both Jason Lee and Ben Affleck had parts in the film. Lee played Lance Dowds and Affleck played a random Mooby's customer. After finding no one else who could pull off being the Sexy Stud, Smith turned to crew member Zak Knutson to fill the role.
The film was originally planned to be released without an MPAA film rating, in order to avoid receiving an NC-17. Smith claimed "If we put it in front of the ratings board they'd be like, 'You're insane. We have to create a new rating for that.'" [8] However, he later submitted it, and it received an R rating without any edits.
The film opened in 2,150 theaters and grossed $10.1 million domestically in its first weekend. [1] The film's theatrical gross was $24.1 million domestically, plus an additional $2.8 million from other territories foreign, against its production budget of $5 million. [1]
Clerks II holds a 63% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 166 reviews with an average rating of 6.10/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Clerks II dishes up much of the graphic humor and some of the insight that made the 1994 original a cult hit." [9] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 65 out of 100, based on 29 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [10] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale. [11]
In a review for The New York Times , A. O. Scott wrote that:
What makes Clerks II both winning and (somewhat unexpectedly) moving is its fidelity to the original Clerks ethic of hanging out, talking trash and refusing all worldly ambition. If anything, the sequel is more defiant in its disdain for the rat race, elevating the white-guy-doing-nothing prerogative from a lifestyle choice to a moral principle. [12]
Justin Chang's review at Variety called it a "softer, flabbier and considerably higher-budgeted follow-up to Kevin Smith's 1994 indie sensation that nevertheless packs enough riotous exchanges and pungent sexual obscenities to make its 97 minutes pass by with ease." [13]
At an advance screening for critics, Joel Siegel walked out of the film approximately 40 minutes in, during a scene in which the characters attempt to procure a donkey for sexual purposes. Smith claimed on his website that Siegel "bellowed" the phrase "Time to go! This is the first movie I've walked out on in thirty fucking years!" [14] TV Guide film critic Maitland McDonagh, who said she was sitting next to Siegel, largely confirms Smith's account but insists that Siegel did not curse or "bellow." However, she reports that he left from the farthest possible exit, thereby making sure everyone noticed his departure. [15] On his blog, Smith criticized Siegel for unprofessional conduct. [16] Cinegeek wrote a profanity-laced tirade in which Stephen and Suzie Lackey referred to the critic performing sexual acts on director M. Night Shyamalan in regard to his praise for The Village before having seen it. [17] Smith later confronted Siegel in a live interview on Opie and Anthony ; Siegel apologized for cursing and causing a scene, and told Smith that he thinks he is a "fine filmmaker," while still defending his decision to walk out. [18]
British presenter and film critic Jonathan Ross has been largely critical of the film, saying he disliked it even more than the first film; he expressed distaste that the film was voted by viewers of his Film 2006 show into the top ten of the year, in which it ranked sixth. [19] It was voted the third-funniest film of 2006 by IMDb users [20] and the ninth-best reviewed comedy by Rotten Tomatoes. [21]
The film received an eight-minute standing ovation at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. [22] [23]
Music from the Motion Picture Clerks II | ||||
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Soundtrack album to the film Clerks II | ||||
Released | August 22, 2006 | |||
Recorded | Various | |||
Genre | Various | |||
Length | 56:41 | |||
Label | Bulletproof, Fontana North | |||
Producer | Kevin Smith (exec.) | |||
View Askewniverse soundtrack chronology | ||||
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Music from the Motion Picture Clerks II, the soundtrack to the film, was released on August 22, 2006 by Bulletproof Records. It includes songs from the film, which are of various artists and genres, as well as many soundclips of dialog from the film. One notable exception is that The Smashing Pumpkins' "1979", which was featured in the film, is not included. It has been replaced by All Too Much's "Think Fast", which was not featured in the film.
The Clerks II DVD was released on November 28, 2006. [24]
The Hollywood Reporter reported that the film opened to #4 in terms of rental and DVD sales, and made approximately $6 million in rentals, or a quarter of the total box office gross of $24.2 million. [25]
Clerks II was released on HD DVD on January 16, 2007. The release featured the film in 1080p high definition on one disc and the same extras as the DVD, also presented in 1080p, on a second disc. [26] After the conclusion of the high definition optical disc format war in February 2008, Clerks II was released on Blu-ray Disc on February 3, 2009 with two additional special features. [27]
On February 9, 2017, Smith revealed on Facebook that although a script had been completed, Clerks III had been cancelled as "one of the four leads opted out of the flick". [28] He later revealed that Jeff Anderson was the one who opted out. [29] On October 1, 2019, Smith announced on Instagram that Clerks III was happening and that Anderson agreed to reprise his role as Randal.
It'll be a movie that concludes a saga. It'll be a movie about how you're never too old to completely change your life. It'll be a movie about how a decades-spanning friendship finally confronts the future. It'll be a movie that brings us back to the beginning—a return to the cradle of civilization in the great state of #newjersey. It'll be a movie that stars Jeff and @briancohalloran, with me and Jay in supporting roles. And it'll be a movie called CLERKS III! [30]
Principal photography began on August 2, 2021 in Red Bank, New Jersey. [31] [32] Filming wrapped on August 31, 2021. [33] The film was released on September 13, 2022 in the United States by Lionsgate (whose film studio acquired the catalogue of The Weinstein Company from Spyglass.) and Fathom Events. [34] [35]
Kevin Patrick Smith is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. He came to prominence with the low-budget comedy buddy film Clerks (1994), which he wrote, directed, co-produced, and acted in as the character Silent Bob of stoner duo Jay and Silent Bob, characters who also appeared in Smith's later films Mallrats (1995), Chasing Amy (1997), Dogma (1999), Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001), Clerks II (2006), Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (2019), and Clerks III (2022) which are set primarily in his home state of New Jersey. While not strictly sequential, the films have crossover plot elements, character references, and a shared canon known as the "View Askewniverse", named after Smith's production company View Askew Productions, which he co-founded with Scott Mosier.
Jay and Silent Bob are fictional characters portrayed by American actors Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith, respectively. They appear in the View Askewniverse, a fictional universe used in most of the films, comics, and television programs written and produced by Smith.
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is a 2001 American satirical stoner buddy comedy film written, co-edited, and directed by Kevin Smith and produced and co-edited by Scott Mosier. The film is the fifth set in the View Askewniverse, a growing collection of characters and settings that developed out of Smith's cult-favorite Clerks. It stars Jason Mewes and Smith respectively as the two eponymous characters. The film also stars Shannon Elizabeth, Jason Lee, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Will Ferrell, Eliza Dushku, Ali Larter, and Chris Rock, among many others, most of which make cameo appearances. The title and logo for Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back are direct references to The Empire Strikes Back.
Clerks is a 1994 American black-and-white comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith in his feature directorial debut. Starring Smith along with Brian O'Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Marilyn Ghigliotti, Lisa Spoonauer, Jason Mewes, and Scott Mosier, it presents a day in the lives of store clerks Dante Hicks (O'Halloran) and Randal Graves (Anderson) as well as their acquaintances. It is the first of Smith's View Askewniverse films, and introduces several recurring characters, notably Jay and Silent Bob.
Jason Edward Mewes is an American actor, comedian, film producer, and podcaster. He is best known for playing Jay, the vocal half of the duo Jay and Silent Bob, in longtime friend Kevin Smith's View Askewniverse franchise.
View Askew Productions is an American film and television production company founded by Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier in 1994. Actors Ben Affleck, Jeff Anderson, Matt Damon, Chris Rock, Walter Flanagan, Bryan Johnson, Jason Lee, Jason Mewes, Brian O'Halloran and Ethan Suplee are people that frequently appear in projects under the View Askew banner.
The View Askewniverse is a fictional universe created by writer/director Kevin Smith, featured in several films, comics and a television series; it is named for Smith's production company, View Askew Productions. The characters Jay and Silent Bob appear in almost all the View Askewniverse media, and characters from one story often reappear or are referred to in others. Smith often casts the same actors for multiple characters in the universe, sometimes even in the same film; Smith himself portrays the character of Silent Bob.
Clerks is an American adult animated sitcom created by Kevin Smith for ABC. Based on Smith's 1994 comedy film of the same name, it was developed for television by Smith, Smith's producing partner Scott Mosier and former Seinfeld writer David Mandel with character designs by Stephen Silver, known for character designs in Disney Channel's Kim Possible and Nickelodeon's Danny Phantom. It is the first television show to be set in Smith's View Askewniverse. It is Disney’s second adult animated television series after The PJs.
The Flying Car is a 2002 short film written and directed by Kevin Smith. It stars Brian O'Halloran and Jeff Anderson as the View Askewniverse characters Dante Hicks and Randal Graves, who were introduced in Clerks.
Jennifer Schwalbach Smith, sometimes credited as Jennifer Schwalbach, is an American actress, podcaster and former reporter for USA Today.
Jeffrey Allan Anderson is an American film and television actor, director, and screenwriter best known for starring as Randal Graves in Clerks,Clerks II, and Clerks III. In between, he has appeared in other Kevin Smith-directed films and has written, directed, and starred in Now You Know.
Bluntman and Chronic are characters appearing in a fictional eponymous comic book series seen in the movies Chasing Amy,Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, and Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. Actual Bluntman and Chronic comic books based on the fictional movie comic book series were published after the release of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Both the movies and the comic books were created by writer and actor Kevin Smith. Comics creator Mike Allred designed the costumes for the characters.
Oh, What a Lovely Tea Party is a 2004 American documentary film about the making of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001), released and produced by Kevin Smith's View Askew Productions. Co-directed by Malcolm Ingram, it marks the directorial debut of Jennifer Schwalbach Smith, Kevin Smith's wife. Initially over three hours, the film was made available in an 87-minute cut.
Trooper Clerks is an American animated parody film produced by Studio Creations that depicts Dante Hicks and Randall Graves, the titular convenience store clerks from writer/director Kevin Smith's Clerks films, as Stormtroopers in the Star Wars media franchise, in a satire of both properties.
Harley Quinn Smith is an American actress and musician. Smith is most known for her role as a convenience store clerk in the film Tusk and starred in its spin-off Yoga Hosers, both written and directed by her father, filmmaker Kevin Smith. She is also the bass player and one of the singers in the punk rock band The Tenth. She also appeared in Jay and Silent Bob Reboot.
My Boring Ass Life: The Uncomfortably Candid Diary of Kevin Smith is the second book composed of writings by filmmaker Kevin Smith, the first being Silent Bob Speaks.
Jay & Silent Bob's Super Groovy Cartoon Movie! is a 2013 American adult animated superhero comedy film written by Kevin Smith, directed by Steve Stark, and produced by Jason Mewes and Jordan Monsanto. The film's script was adapted from the Bluntman And Chronic comic book story originally written by Smith as a companion piece to his 2001 film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and it is the seventh film in the View Askewniverse.
Jay and Silent Bob Reboot is a 2019 American satirical buddy stoner comedy film written, directed, edited by, and starring Kevin Smith. A sequel to Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, it is the eighth film in the View Askewniverse. The film also stars Jason Mewes, and features cameos from Brian O'Halloran, Jason Lee, Justin Long, Shannon Elizabeth, Rosario Dawson, Val Kilmer, Melissa Benoist, Craig Robinson, Tommy Chong, Chris Hemsworth, Matt Damon, and Ben Affleck.
Clerks III is a 2022 American black comedy-drama film written, directed, and edited by Kevin Smith and starring Brian O'Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Trevor Fehrman, Austin Zajur, Jason Mewes, Rosario Dawson and Smith. It serves as a sequel to the 1994 and 2006 Clerks films, and is the ninth overall feature film set in the View Askewniverse. In the film, Randal Graves, after surviving a massive heart attack, enlists his friends and fellow clerks Dante Hicks, Elias Grover, and Jay and Silent Bob to make a movie about their lives at the Quick Stop Convenience store that started it all.