Way back in 1994, a raunchy, low-budget movie called Clerks defined a generation of overgrown adolescents, said Gary Thompson in the Philadelphia Daily News. Kevin Smith's black-and-white masterwork was 'œa stunning piece of social anthropology—one of the first movies to record how people his age actually lived and talked.' Twelve years later, Smith's sequel finds original clerks Dante and Randal in the same place, different faceless franchise. They're now working at a burger joint called Mooby's, but they're still doing their jobs badly, using most of the day to mouth off crudely about subjects from anal pleasure to Star Wars sequels. Consider this a warning, said Bill Zwecker in the Chicago Sun-Times. 'œThis film's R rating is there for a reason.' Even the most jaded audiences will be shocked by talk of 'œinterspecies erotica' involving a lady and a donkey. Clerks II is hilarious, and nearly worthy of its precursor, but it's not for kids or ABC critic Joel Siegel, who furiously walked out of a screening after 30 minutes of dirty banter. 'œIt feels weirdly good to hang out with these losers again,' said Connie Ogle in The Miami Herald. Smith has a good heart, and between mountains of obscenity, manages a touching tribute to the platonic love between his main characters, whose charmingly terrible acting actually makes the movie more authentic.
Rating: R
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