Clerks

UPC: 031398137306

Summary: When Dante Hicks (Brian O'Halloran) is reluctantly put in charge of the Quick Stop market on his day off, he tries, though half-heartedly, to perform his minimum-wage duties as efficiently as possible. This gets tough amidst the on-going fight with his girlfriend, Veronica (Marilyn Ghigliotti), and his attempt to get back together with his ex-girlfriend, Caitlyn Bree (Lisa Spoonhauer). Meanwhile, his friend and alter ego Randall (Jeff Anderson) is working behind the counter of the adjacent video store -- at least when he feels like it. Randall's unabashed disdain of his place of employment, a long with his self-admitted hatred towards its customers is a sharp contrast to Dante's feeble attempts at the niceties of customer service. Much of the film consists of Randall and Dante's criticism of their customers, their lives, and the world in general. Clerks, filmed in black-and-white on a budget of only $27,000, began the career of writer director Kevin Smith, who would go on to make Mallrats (1995), Chasing Amy (1997), Dogma (1999), and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Category: Comedy

Awards: Jury Prize – Cannes Film Festival Best Debut Performance – Independent Spirit Awards Best First Feature – Independent Spirit Awards Best First Screenplay – Independent Spirit Awards Filmmaker's Trophy: Dramatic – Sundance Film Festival

Clerks

Format: DVD

Release Date: 04/15/2011

Language(s) English

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Mark Deming

While Clerks doesn't have much going for it cinematically -- it looks even cheaper than its $27,000 budget would lead you to expect and the directorial style can be described as "nail down the camera and let the actors play the scene" -- it's still an effective and very funny movie, largely thanks to the screenplay by first-time writer/director Kevin Smith. Chock full of instantly quotable dialogue performed by an unknown cast with an appropriate tone of Jersey slacker cynicism, Clerks is a hilarious rant against (and from) the lowest rungs of minimum-wage slavery. If convenience store clerk Dante (Brian O'Halloran) and his best friend, video store counter guy Randall (Jeff Anderson), don't do anything terribly interesting (the action high point of the film is a brief hockey game played on a roof), that's part of the point; these guys' lives are going nowhere, and they know it. But rather than do anything about it, they talk about whatever keeps them from dying of boredom, including which Star Wars movie was the best, the sexual escapades of their girlfriends, the virtues of hermaphrodite porn, and the endless parade of stupid customers they have to deal with. Anyone who has ever worked retail will enjoy a long, loud laugh of bitter recognition while watching Clerks, while anyone else should thank their lucky stars if they don't understand the sheer hell of spending eight hours behind the counter that this film captures with such accuracy. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Cast and Crew: David Klein  Actor 
Leslie Hope  Actor 
Walter Flanagan  Actor 
Virginia Smith  Actor 
Ken Clark  Actor 
Grace Smith  Actor 
Kevin Smith  Director 
Kevin Smith  Producer 
Kevin Smith  Screenwriter 
Scott Mosier  Producer 
Brian O'Halloran  Actor 
Jeff Anderson  Actor 
Marilyn Ghigliotti  Actor 
Lisa Spoonhauer  Actor 
Jason Mewes  Actor 
Kevin Smith  Actor 
Scott Mosier  Actor 
Scott Mosier  Actor 

Country: USA