Clerks II - Spoilers

[Alex]

Hope I didn't miss a separate thread, but in honor of those who don't like having everything in generic threads, a separate one.

Clerks was never a cult film for me. I enjoyed it well enough but after I watched I was more than happy to move on.

But Clerks II was the best of limited options so I saw it tonight. I liked it better, I think. It is more solidly funny in my opinion and has a bit more of an emotional core.

The Good:

Rosario Dawson is cuter in this movie than any other, I think. She's been sexier, but never cuter.

Rosario Dawson's dance scene. Very pleasant bounce.

***** troll. The way this bit was delivered and the reaction was fantastic.

Porch monkey. Also fantastic.

The Silence of the Lambs homage was pretty funny and the final payoff would have been great if it hadn't already been spoiled for me. I do wonder how many of the kids in the audience (average age of audience must have been about 17) got it.

The Bad:

Brian O'Halloran. There is a reason his character names over the last twelve years have been Dante Hicks, Gill Hicks, Jim Hicks, Grant Hicks and various repeated incarnations of Dante Hicks. As an actor, the man is simply horrible. Nobody in their right mind would hire the guy. Only Kevin Smith and people wanting to make a movie where people go "hey! that's the guy in all the Kevin Smith movies!"

The Donkey show was too obvious. I wasn't Joel Siegel offended or anything, it was just a punchline that was telegraphed about an hour before it actually happened.

The final montage was a little to sappy but made worse by Brian O'Halloran being a horrible actor.

The Jason Lee appearance was kind of lame. In his Earl mode of dress and hygeine it also didn't fit the type of asshole he was supposed to be.

The fear that in another 12 years we're going to get Clerks III. We don't need a fictional Up series.

[alphabassettgrrl]

I liked it. A lot. I laughed very hard.

[Ghoulish Delight]

My feelings are pretty much exactly the same as Alex (though I didn't see the donkey thing coming).

The whole movie could have been ABC in a loop, I would have paid to see it again. Bounciness indeed.

I thought it started out weak, but from the porch monkey scene on, I did a lot of laughing.

I'll admit to not fully getting the Silence of the Lambs thing. I figured it was a movie reference, and had a vague notion that it was something I'd seen. But I didn't figure out what. The punchline had not been spoiled for me...and wow, I've seen Jason Mewes' pubes. Ummm, k.

Brain O'halloran is so bad, I almost think he has to be faking it, just to not disappoint the fans. I mean, can someone REALLY be that bad? Really?

In the end, I wasn't blown away by it, but at least Smith didn't make another embarassment like J&SBSB.

[Freaky Tiki]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

I'll admit to not fully getting the Silence of the Lambs thing. I figured it was a movie reference, and had a vague notion that it was something I'd seen. But I didn't figure out what. The punchline had not been spoiled for me...and wow, I've seen Jason Mewe's pubes. Ummm, k..

At the show I went to, it took the Audience like 5 seconds to realize what they were seeing. It just made it more hilarious.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

I also agree mostly with Alex.

I was very happy with the ending. As Dante said, it actually makes a lot of sense.

Good balance of references and new stuff. It wasn't amazing, but I enjoyed it!

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Oh, the LotR vs Star Wars scene was awesome! Kept the same wonderful flavor of the first movie's Jedi vs Empire discussion and brought it up to date. This is where Smith really shines as a writer of geekery.