by Rhian Hibner
Daily Lobo
Kevin Smith has come full circle with his movies.
No one expected the circle to include a donkey show, but that doesn't diminish his latest film in any way.
With "Clerks II," Smith has managed to piss off all the same disgruntled conservatives that he has been pissing off since he shot the original "Clerks" in black and white on a $27,000 dollar budget.
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The scatological humor is the same in this film. What has changed with the intervening years is Smith's ability to actually connect his viewers to the emotions of his characters. In 1994, this skill was fairly undeveloped. By 2006, Smith has turned his combination of dick-and-fart jokes with strong emotions into an art form. All opinions aside, one does not get standing ovations at the Cannes Film Festival unless one has done something right.
In a movie in which the leads reprise the only major roles they have ever had, it is somewhat surprising to see developed, skillful acting taking place. Jeff Anderson plays Randal, the single most caustic and rude character that Hollywood has or ever will see. Randal's insults are brilliant and completely at odds with his lack of education. At one point, he mistakes Helen Keller for Anne Frank and continues to do so after being corrected.
Brian O'Halloran seems slightly less focused on his role as Dante than Anderson is on his. While O'Halloran is definitely the same actor, it seems his experience in theater has withdrawn him from the role. The strange thing is, rather than take away from his performance, his theater experience actually adds to it. O'Halloran's Dante is meant to be an unfocused meandering goof, and in this film, he pulls it off quite well.
Rosario Dawson really shines in this film, too. As Becky, she serves as a perfect counterpoint to O'Halloran's whining and Anderson's caustic wit. The pure contrast between Dawson's character in "Clerks II," who is cute and endearing, and her portrayal of Gail in "Sin City," who is more than a little scary, only serves to underline the range that Dawson commands.
The cinematography in this film has a purposefully unrealistic feel. Flames scour a building at one point in the film, but these flames have more in common with orange strips of translucent plastic than they do with a masterpiece of digital perfection that manages to look more like fire than the real thing.
Smith's films have always been a satire of real life. He has never pretended his work is an accurate portrayal of reality; indeed, he often goes to the opposite extreme and creates scenes that are absolutely impossible - or at least very unlikely.
This is the film that fans of Smith's increasingly inaccurately named Jersey Trilogy have been waiting for. It puts a perfect capstone on the first stage of Smith's career in a way that 2001's "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" could not. Beyond that, this film sums up what it is like to have a friend that you would take a bullet for and who would do the same for you. Sometimes it's hard, but it's always worth it.
