Clerks 2

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Clerks 2 is set approximately ten years after the first installment, and when we meet our slacker heroes this time 'round, they're working at Mooby Burger after the Quick Stop they more or less called home burned to the ground. Riffing on everything from the Lord of the Rings trilogy to bestiality, we find the boys in a reflective mood as they stew in their thirties. With Dante (O'Hallaron) finally meeting a woman he wants to settle down with (much to the consternation of Randall (Anderson), and who also wants to move him to Florida to work in her father's used car business. Something of a return to form for Smith after the somewhat ill-received Jersey Girl, Clerks 2 is quite probably his finest film to date. While the pop culture references are still evident in abundance, this time there's also an understated sweetness, which mostly stems from these delightfully crude characters - who are as much at ease discussing sex with a donkey as they are movies, or their love lives. This is arguably Smith's most grown up film (with the possible exception of Chasing Amy), and one in which he matures as a film maker, finally showing the promise we have seen in sporadic bursts before. Clerks 2 does what every great sequel should and offers us a perfect extension to its characters, and Smith injects enough originality into proceedings to make it feel both fresh, and comfortably familiar. One of the main reasons for this is the delectable Rosario Dawson, who fits into Smith's world with an effortlessly engaging performance and adds equal amounts of class and heart to the mix. Ultimately, though, this film is about Randall and Dante, and what direction their lives have taken since we last saw them. It turns out they were both afraid to leave their comfort zone - obviously something that resonates with Smith, who has given us a sequel worthy of the substantial praise that has already been bestowed upon it. Funny and touching, both newbies to Smith's world and hardcore fans alike will lap it up.