Clerks: 10th Anniversary Edition – DVD Review

Film, Reviews

Available at Amazon.com

Writer-Director:

Kevin Smith

Starring:

Brian O’Halloran……….Dante Hicks
Jeff Anderson……….Randal
Marilyn Ghigliotti……….Veronica
Lisa Spoonauer……….Caitlin Bree
Jason Mewes……….Jay
Kevin Smith……….Silent Bob

Miramax Film presents Clerks. Running Time: 92 Minutes. Rated R (for Extensive Use Of Extremely Explicit Sex-Related Dialogue).


The Movie

Has it really been 10 years?
Wow!

On November 4, 1994, Kevin Smith’s first feature Clerks made its way to the cineplex. With a $27,575.00 budget the film grossed a little over one-million dollars. Compared to the budget of Forrest Gump, the highest grossing film of 1994, Smith’s film had a better cost vs. total gross percentage. (But Gump had the last laugh winning all those Oscars.)

If the title wasn’t a good indicator of what this film is about, allow me to elaborate. The protagonists of this poignant tale are Dante (Brian O’Halloran) and Randal (Jeff Anderson), two guys who are disheveled and uncouth, bored and underpaid.

Dante is a 22-year-old college dropout who bides his time working the crummy clerking job at Quick Stop. He is a cynical type of guy who behaves as if the whole world rests on his shoulders. You’d expect with his cynicism that he would vent his frustrations at the occasional customer. Alas, he does not. Dante has a history of “buckling,” bowing down to others. This is a good thing. His laid-back detachment gives him the chance to observe milk-maids or shell-shocked guidance counselors.

Dante’s sounding board, Randal, is the type of guy who shows up to work thirty minutes late on a regular basis. Working in the RST Video store next to the Quick Stop, Randal constantly leaves his post to hang out with Dante. If you had to deal with questions like, “Do you have that one with that guy who was in that movie last year?” you would almost certainly unshackle yourself from video store monotony as well. How Randal got the job in the first place is beyond me. Here’s a guy who insults his customers, leaves his video store to rent movies at a better store, and sells a little girl cigarettes. Oh well, it’s all in a day’s work.

While juggling his daily schedule – monitoring the store, participating in a hockey game on the roof and attending a wake – Dante is alarmed to read in the local paper that his former girlfriend, Caitlin Bree, is engaged to an “Asian Design Major.” The problem is that Dante is dating Veronica (Marilyn Ghigliotti), a college student, and somehow brings up the topic of his old flame at inopportune times. In actuality, at twenty-two years of age he still carries a torch for his high school sweetheart, which is a little saddening. Dante pussyfoots around having phone conversations with Caitlin while dating the low-maintenance Veronica. Since Dante has the inability to take charge of his life and find direction, he listens to Randal and a silent philosopher before he makes a decision. Randal puts the relationship quandary in perspective when he tells Dante that he shouldn’t “pine for one and [screw] the other.”

Clerks is the perfect blend of “Generation X” and pop culture humility. References from the original Star Wars trilogy abound in this film. For instance, Randal discusses a deep cinematic question regarding the second Death Star in Empire. All those independent contractors casualties of war they had no control over. When will the madness stop?


The DVD

THE VIDEO

The double-dip of this DVD has brought with it a better video transfer on the theatrical version of the film. The black-and-white video is still grainy, but it has improved leaps and bounds over the last release. The film’s theatrical aspect ratio is 1.85:1. On the second disc is the original version of the film that Miramax bought at Sundance. The film was transferred from Super VHS so it looks like crap, but View Askew enthusiasts should enjoy.

THE AUDIO

You can crank your stereo and relive the grunge rock of the mid-90’s, but that’s the most you’ll get out of the audio track. No loud explosions (unless you count the casket tipping over). You can listen to the film in Dolby Digital Surround Sound. If you have the inclination you can watch Clerks dubbed in French, captioning in English for the hearing impaired, or with Spanish subtitles.

SPECIAL FEATURES

The 10th Anniversary Edition of Kevin Smith’s first feature is loaded to the brim with special features. There are three discs in this set that spread the wealth when it comes to extras. The supplements vary in length, the longest being on the third disc. More on that later.

The first extra is a classic commentary track, circa ’95. This commentary was transferred from the original DVD release. Participating on the track are Kevin Smith, his producing partner Scott Mosier, actors Jason Mewes and Brian O’Halloran, and others. Unfortunately, Smith strikes out with his first commentary. The number of participants makes it hard to distinguish among who’s speaking.

Not interested in a commentary while you watch the film, try the enhanced playback track instead. This is a bonus trivia track that pops up interesting facts while the movie plays.

Since producer Scott Mosier flagged the funeral scene in the film, Kevin Smith with the help of Powerhouse Animation Studios gives us an idea of how the scene would have turned out. This Lost Scene – Animated Short begins after a short intro by Smith. The scene runs about eight minutes. You have the option to view the scene separately or while the feature film plays.

Does anybody remember the short film that aired on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” entitled The Flying Car? It’s a six-minute short film featuring Dante and Randal. Makes you wonder what you would do to get a George Jetson-type flying apparatus.

If you don’t remember that short film how about the Jay and Silent Bob MTV spots? There are a total of eight spots (running 17:50 in all). In the spot “Cable Guy” an Academy Award winner makes an appearance.

Never thought I’d see this on a Kevin Smith DVD, but there is a little insight on the restoration of Clerks. In Restoring the Clerks sound with Scott Mosier (5:13) – Mosier recounts the audio engineering that went into creating a brand new soundtrack for the regular cut. Restoring the Clerks look with David Klein is a short bit where the cinematographer tells of the new high-def master of the film. For the seven-minute Intro to the Theatrical cut with Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier, Smith proves why double-dips don’t always suck. He gives a few jabs at George Lucas with references to Solo shooting first and how this release of Clerks is more “real” than Lucas’s special editions.

Rounding out the extras on the first disc are cast auditions, the theatrical trailer, Soul Asylum’s “Can’t Even Tell” music video, and sneak peeks for Miramax’s 25th Anniversary; Chasing Amy; Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back; Jersey Girl; and Clerks: Uncensored.

Moving on to Disc 2

When explaining the video quality of the film I mentioned that the second disc included the first cut of Kevin Smith’s film. That is the big extra for this disc. It runs 13 minutes longer than the theatrical version of a film that people have come to love (or loathe).

Before viewing the film, watch the introduction. In doing so you will be treated to a conversation between Smith and Mosier. The topic of discussion is the blind bandleader in the Patrick Swayze masterpiece Road House.

The remaining extras on this disc are two commentary tracks. The first track allows you to view the film with a 2004 Audio Commentary with Kevin, Brian, Jeff, Mosier, and Mewes. The other track is a 2004 Video Commentary with Kevin, Brian, Jeff, Mosier, and Mewes. This is the same track as the audio commentary, the only difference being that you can watch the guys interact with each other. Think Mallrats but with more video footage.

Moving on to Disc 3

Snowball Effect: The Story of Clerks is a 90-minute look at Kevin Smith and his convenience store epic. The documentary begins with Smith growing up in Highlands, NJ and concludes with Harvey Weinstein purchasing Clerks at Sundance ’94. This was a great documentary with sound bites from Smith, Mosier, and even Weinstein! For a “did you know” you can impress your friends by telling them the total cost for this DVD extra was more than the total budget of Clerks.

There’s always a “before” when it comes to filmmaking. Two years before Clerks, Kevin Smith was a student at Vancouver Film School. There he met Scott Mosier and the two made the documentary Mae Day: The Crumbling of a Documentary. In “Mae Day,” see what happens when the documentary subject vanishes and the participants vent their frustrations.

The next feature is the 10th Anniversary Q & A Session (42:06) – Jay, Dante, Randall, Veronica, producer Scott Mosier, and Silent Bob take questions from the young, college-oriented audience. It is reminiscent of “An Evening with Kevin Smith” only with more participants.

Didn’t get enough of the Snowball Effect, watch 13 outtakes from the documentary (41:25 in all).

The third disc also includes a still photo gallery, written passages from Kevin Smith’s Journal (Pre-Clerks and Sundance), as well as select articles and reviews (some of which inspired Smith to turn Clerks “the dream” into Clerks “the reality”).

THE INSIDE PULSE

It’s been ten years and this movie is still as funny as I remembered. Anytime a person mentions the number thirty-seven I can’t help but crack a smile. Kevin Smith’s writing is fresh with his musings on the lives of Dante, the quintessential “whiner,” his friend Randal, and their annoying customers. Randal’s pop culture references are spot on and make Clerks a “Gen X” classic.

The DVD Lounge’s Ratings for Clerks: 10th Anniversary
CATEGORY
RATING
(OUT OF 10)
THE MOVIE

7
THE VIDEO

6.5
THE AUDIO

7
THE EXTRAS

10
REPLAY VALUE

9
OVERALL
10
(NOT AN AVERAGE)

Travis Leamons is one of the Inside Pulse Originals and currently holds the position of Managing Editor at Inside Pulse Movies. He's told that the position is his until he's dead or if "The Boss" can find somebody better. I expect the best and I give the best. Here's the beer. Here's the entertainment. Now have fun. That's an order!