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Clerks. (1994)

 -  Comedy  -  19 October 1994 (USA)
7.8
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Ratings: 7.8/10 from 135,214 users   Metascore: 70/100
Reviews: 591 user | 122 critic | 17 from Metacritic.com

A day in the lives of two convenience clerks named Dante and Randal as they annoy customers, discuss movies, and play hockey on the store roof.

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Title: Clerks. (1994)

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Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
...
...
Lisa Spoonhauer ...
Caitlin Bree (as Lisa Spoonauer)
...
Jay
...
...
Willam the Idiot Manchild / Angry Hockey-Playing Customer / Angry Mourner
...
Al Berkowitz ...
Old Man
...
Woolen Cap Smoker / Egg Man / Offended Customer / Cat-Admiring Bitter Customer (as Walt Flanagan)
Ed Hapstak ...
Sanford / Angry Mourner
Lee Bendick ...
#812 Wynarski
David Klein ...
Hunting Cap Smoking Boy / Low I.Q. Video Customer / Hubcap Searching Customer / Angry Mourner / Angry Crowd at Door
Pattijean Csik ...
Ken Clark ...
Administer of Fine / Orderly
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Storyline

Dante Hicks is a clerk at a local convenience store in New Jersey. On one particular Saturday morning, he gets called in on his day off. Once there, he must deal with multiple problems. The shutters outside won't open. His ex-girlfriend, whom he is still in love with, is getting married. His girlfriend, who bugs him about starting college, has revealed certain, uh...stuff about her past. His boss hasn't come in to take his place. He has a hockey game at 2 o'clock. Another ex has died, and today's the last day he can go to her wake. He must deal with customers that aren't so intelligent. His friend, Randal, a clerk at the video store next door, is even less dedicated to his job than Dante, and is always bothering Dante's customers. And the biggest problem of them all: HE'S NOT EVEN SUPPOSED TO BE THERE TODAY!! Can Dante manage it all? Written by MTRodaba2468

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Plot Keywords:

day | clerk | hockey | video | friend | See more »

Taglines:

This Job Sucks See more »

Genres:

Comedy

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R on appeal for extensive use of extremely explicit sex-related dialogue | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
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Details

Official Sites:

| |  »

Country:

Language:

Release Date:

19 October 1994 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Clerks X: Tenth Anniversary Edition  »

Filming Locations:

 »

Box Office

Budget:

$230,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$3,151,130 (USA)
 »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

| (TV) | (extended)

Sound Mix:

| (original Sundance cut)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1
See  »
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Did You Know?

Trivia

The role of Dante was written for Ernest O'Donnell, but Kevin Smith felt he wasn't quite right and also the fact that he did not learn his lines for the audition and cast him as Rick Derris instead. See more »

Goofs

Veronica says she'll see Dante at closing after dropping off the lasagna. After she says this, Dante makes the call to find out that the boss is in Vermont and he will be stuck there until closing. When Veronica had spoken to him, he was still expecting to leave for his hockey game. See more »

Quotes

[first lines]
Dante Hicks: [phone rings and Dante falles out of a closet] Hello. What? No I don't work today, I'm playing hockey at two.
See more »

Crazy Credits

Boom ... Whoever grabbed the pole See more »

Connections

Referenced in Violet's Visit (1997) See more »

Soundtracks

"Can't Even Tell"
(Theme from "Clerks")
Written by David Pirner (as D. Pirner)
Performed by Soul Asylum
Courtesy of Columbia Records
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

See more (Spoiler Alert!) »

User Reviews

 
Clerks.: 8/10
2 July 2004 | by (Anywhere, USA) – See all my reviews

Everyone has to start somewhere. Kevin Smith started his popular Jay and Silent Bob series with Clerks., a $50,000 film whose soundtrack cost more than the actual movie cost to make. It's poorly done, it's monochromatic (which actually works to its advantage), it's cheap, but it's funny, and that's all that really counts. The story is more than I thought it would be, and it's continuously funny throughout the whole short runtime. Many of the crude adventures of Dante and Randal are now legendary.

Dante (Brian O'Halloran) works at the Quick Stop convenience store. He's called in on a day off. His friend Randal (Jeff Anderson) works next door at a video store, but sporadically closes it to hang out at the Quick Stop. Throughout the day, various things occur, such as a gum representative trying to get people to stop smoking and chew his gum, a rabbi using the employee's bathroom (with an unexpected twist at the end), disrupting a wake, and the now-classic scene at the video store with "Happy Scrappy Hero Pup".

This movie has non-stop humor going for it. Whether it's Dante's or Randal's confrontations with the unruly customers (who seem over-the-top yet regular), their conversations about nothing (especially Star Wars), or their departures from their respective stores to play hockey or whatnot. I can see that Clerks. is to minimum wage earners as Office Space is to office workers. Dante's always a little timid when it comes to dealing with the unruly customers, but when Randal takes the stage, it's a lot funnier.

Although the parts about Veronica (Marilyn Ghigliotti) and Cairlin (Lisa Spoonhauer) weren't that interesting (except for the 36...make that 37 people), they were necessary, and seemed to create a plot out of this, basically, sketch comedy. It succeeded, and turned it into a great all around film. Most of these people had never acted before, and although it does seem like they're just reciting their lines (there's almost no break in between the dialogue), they do a good job at it. Sometimes it seems a little too scripted (for voice and diction, etc.), but for a bunch of first-timers, it's not bad at all.

Considering the rest of the series (besides Mallrats, which I haven't seen), I'd say Clerks. is close with Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back for the funniest Kevin Smith movie. They're also the two crudest, and the first and last in the series, respectively. But Clerks. will always stay as it was when it was released 10 years ago-revolutionary. It showed that money and action aren't important to make a movie funny.

My rating: 8/10

Rated R for extensive use of extremely explicit sex-related dialogue.


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