Kevin Smith Retrospective: Clerks Review

cinema geeks as we begin our Kevin Smith director

retrospective we are going to begin reviewing

every Kevin Smith film starting with today as

we talk about clerks we've done Hami Izaki we've

done Quentin Tarantino and now the man and myth

legend Kevin Smith. Joining me on this journey

as always is hard candy Mandy how's it going?

Hey Dan. Hey hey hey and of course Kevin optimist

Lola Wanted to come up with something as clever

as Amanda's heyo with the last retrospective

and I got nothing I'm just gonna say random words

that nobody knows the definition of Yeah, I can't

be like Kevin And last but of course not least

the person who actually Put in Kevin Smith as

the option that ended up winning out Matt Fridley

sent I win You're gonna say that every time aren't

you Yes, Cinema Geeks is the place where the

popular vote actually does win. But yes, if you've

not listened to our past retrospectives, go ahead

and do that. In our very last episode of the

Haya Miyazaki retrospective, we announced that

Kevin Smith was going to be our next selection.

We also gave kind of a brief overview of our...

introduction into the world of Kevin Smith, where

we're coming from, and I guess maybe we can just

touch upon it briefly for those who did not listen

to that. Letting people know if we've watched

his films previously, if this is his brand new

territory for us, and Amanda, starting with you,

what is your experience with Kevin Smith's films

prior to coming into this? Is this the first

time we've actually seen his any films, or have

you watched a number of them? I've seen... Quite

a few I would say some of the earlier stuff Clerks

chasing Amy I haven't seen but I do enjoy the

films that I have seen of his I would say maybe

in like the middle of the timeline here as far

as his work goes and not the most recent stuff

like yoga hosers or tusk or anything like that,

but I like Some of the films like dogma. I love

so I do enjoy stuff Kevin and I remember correctly

you said you've watched a little bit some of

his movies, but never fully through if that's

not if that's true Yeah, I don't think until

this spotlight that I have will have ever have

seen any of his films from beginning to end with

no interruptions I have seen a lot of parts of

Jay and Silent Bob on multiple occasions. I've

seen Snippets of dogma here and there like scenes

and whatnot, but I've never sat down to watch

like from beginning to end any Kevin Smith movie

I know the characters I know style a little bit,

but this will give me a lot better bearing on

kind of his filmography, obviously, and give

me a chance to actually watch from beginning

to end most of these films. Nice. And Matt, considering

that he was your selection, I'm guessing you're

coming into this pretty well -versed in the world

of the Smodcast world and everything of that

nature. View askew you remember Smodcast is this

podcast network. That's just massive. Yeah, I've

seen I've seen at least half this movies if he's

appeared as silent Bob I've seen that also I've

seen like cop out but I haven't seen any of his

horror movies because I don't like horror movies

and so it occurs to me that maybe this wasn't

the greatest choice because I mean like yeah

tusk you got yoga hosers was the other one moose

jaws which hasn't come out red state which is

a Thriller more than horror. I'm told I've been

told I need to see it and I guess I have to now

I I've seen I think 90 % of his films. I have

not seen cop -out. I've not seen Jersey girl

and I've seen only like I haven't really fully

watched tusk or you'll go hersers I've watched

like I've gotten through as much as I could and

then I had a tap out so oh Yeah, so I wouldn't

say they're bad. It was just more so I don't

need to watch this so I'm not going to Yeah,

now I do now I do so I would eventually have

gone back and watched them again just because

I'm complete us but Up to this point. I haven't

talking about this movie clerks. I saw a lot

as a kid growing up Probably much a lot earlier

than I should have manna You mentioned that this

was the first time you watched xd. You haven't

watched a lot of his earlier films and I'm actually

really kind of curious about this because This

is, it feels like a very, directed very much

towards the Gen X generation, if this would really

work with audiences today, and if people would

really enjoy it to the level that it was enjoyed

around the time it came out. So watching this,

you know, 20, over 20 years after it came out

for the first time, you know, what were your

overall impressions of Clerks? Ah, man. Well,

I think that I've seen Clerks too. So I think

that I noticed a lot of similarities in this,

but I feel like I saw a progression already between

the two, like in his work. And I avoided Clerks

for a long time because it's filmed in black

and white and it's really hard for me to watch

black and white movies. And I didn't really all

the way like the filming style here. It definitely

felt like... his first movie. Not to say that

it was bad, but I wouldn't count this among favorites.

And I think that it definitely had some stuff

that would translate over still today. But seeing

how dated some of the stuff was, it kind of takes

you back and makes it even more cheesy really

than I think it was meant to be. Seeing it now

in this generation. Interesting, interesting.

Kevin, watching it actually fully through this

time, what were your memories of it and are you

starting off on a good note when it comes to

retrospective or are you a little bit worried

about what's coming next? Actually, what I found

out from this one is this is one that I had seen

none of before. So I had seen some of the Jay

and Silent Bob stuff, like in the movies that

are coming up, but I had never seen a minute

of this. So this was definitely a first time

watch all the way through everything. So I do

agree that you can tell it's a debut film, so

to speak, like you can see the... I don't know

if it's from a production value standpoint or

if it's just like you can kind of... tell that

it's someone learning as they go somewhat. So

I think that's evident but I don't think that

necessarily says anything about the quality of

the film overall if you're critiquing it. I think

it's just an observation more. I'm kind of torn

because I really like some aspects of this film

and then some other aspects bring it down a little

bit for me but I think I'm going to be overly...

Fairly positive on this one. I Enjoyed enough

of it especially when it comes to like the the

dialogue and some of the The writing I think

there's some intelligence there. There's some

clever Aspects to how this is how this goes down.

I do like movies kind of of this style where

you kind of have you know, just a group of people

in a certain setting somewhat coming of age or

somewhat trying to find their way in the world

or that type of thing. So I've seen movies like

that from this exact time period and I'm a fan

of those. So I think overall I enjoyed it for

the most part. Matt, how about you? Was this

everything you remembered or opinion changed

at all compared to the last time you've watched

Clerks? I mean, I've seen Clerks a handful of

times, you know. It's it's getting to the point

where it's almost nostalgic even though I hadn't

seen it until I was an adult the first time so

it hasn't been that long since the first time

I viewed it but like Looking forward to certain

things and remembering certain things and that

you like I really enjoy this movie I think it's

one of the most relatable movies I bet like everyone's

had a bad day at work and that's what this essentially

is It's just like one really bad day at work.

We're uh, uh, you know a kind of a child in an

adult body Tries to become a man finally, although

you'll see through the rest of his his experiences

that he's not quite there yet But like yeah,

like I think this is like it definitely has rough

edges and things that like Kevin Smith's gone

on record saying the way he afforded this movie

was he took out as many credit cards as he possibly

could and Then he racked them all up and then

tried to sell it And that was how he did it.

So there wasn't a lot of money for like reshoots

and stuff that you'd have in a modern Hollywood

movie. And so there are like moments where people

flub a line and they just leave it in the movie

because they don't have that, that budget. And

so like, yeah, it's got, it's got some rough

edges for sure. It's interesting. I would highly

recommend there's actually like the making of

this is Actually on youtube I watched it and

honestly the story behind clerks is maybe more

fascinating the actual movie itself like everything

that went into it how As luck would have it there

was a flood and he lost a lot of his possessions

and able to cash in insurance checks and all

these other things and credit cards who's able

to put this all together to make this movie and

how Ultimately like clerks almost never happened

and how hard he had to sell it and like it's

I would really I don't want to obviously, you

know the outcome but I think what people didn't

realize is that like it wasn't well received

at first when I first debuted in on the festival

circuit and it like there was questions if this

would actually come to anything and it actually

did and it's I would highly recommend it because

I feel like like there is a potential to make

a movie about the making of this movie that would

actually be quite good because it's it's a really

fascinating story to hear like everything that

just lined up how they were doing shoots at night.

And this was actually done at a convenience store.

They were using a real life convenience store.

The reason why those doors, like they don't open

the doors and they say they're locked because

of gum, was because they were shooting at night

so they couldn't open those doors in order to

keep it better lit. So they just wrote that into

the script so it'd be easier to shoot and things

like that. And it wasn't black and white because

it's more expensive lighting -wise and film -wise.

And they did all the editing. I think... even

if you don't necessarily like the movie, what

it did for independent films is really notable

and it reminds you of how far independent films

have come, what we can do now with an iPhone

and everything that had to go into making a movie

like this then, with how much digital has changed

the game and even things out a little bit. I've

had a weird relationship with this movie. I remember

when I was a kid loving it, but because I feel

like a lot of the humor really worked for me.

And then when I watched it later as an adult,

I was kind of almost put back by it. But now

watching it again, I still really appreciate

it because I think, yeah, there are a lot of

like really jokes that may turn some heads, but

I think there's some intelligence to it too.

And as Matt mentioned, it's really good at just

encapsulating. This life and what it was like

and I think like listening to a lot of the reactions

at the time what was really notable about it

was how it showed how people really talked to

it or a certain group of people talked in real

life and it brought a new kind of vocabulary

to the world of film and uh, like just that like

the conversations that wouldn't necessarily happen

in your everyday movie and Especially like the

the meta conversations the nerd talk Today, it's

commonplace. We have a podcast. But at the time,

that was really, really brand new. And these

are a lot of unprofessional actors. Actors have

never really done much beforehand and some not

much after. But it's just impressive what Kevin

Smith did with a really limited resource. And

I still could rethink this, but watching this

now, I think it's his best film. It is at times

really funny it can some not all the jokes work

But it also I think has some interesting things

to say about relationships and the way we perceive

them Amanda you mentioned like you were not a

big fan a fan of black and white weren't able

to You know the very static shots the very you

know Clearly independent film making style of

the movie was did that provide any type of barrier

into getting into the movie? Like did it? Did

it seem like a little bit until you actually

could kind of buy this as a film? I think that

it did kind of I put up my walls with this film

at first I didn't I couldn't quite vested it

especially like coming from me being like a chick

like a lot of this is like kind of guy humor

too and So sometimes I kind of felt like I didn't

get the joke because it wasn't meant for me or

whatever like it didn't didn't work for me So

there was a couple things that kind of built

my walls up in this but um it's definitely watchable

and i think that um i'm glad i watched it so

the younger me that didn't want to watch this

um i'm glad that i watched it now as someone

who can like appreciate film a little bit more

yeah kevin as this was like you watched some

of the Kevin Smith's films beforehand was it

in you realize that you haven't seen this before

was there any backlash realizing just like how

Wow He has actually has someone grown as a filmmaker

compared to where we began with Clark's I don't

I think this is his bread and butter like this

is this highlights and we'll see I mean I haven't

seen all of his other films, but I feel like

this is where He made his mark on being able

to have intelligent writing, you know clever

dialogue witty lines throughout his films. So

I think that's I'm hoping that's a staple because

I that's what I think of when I think of Kevin

Smith like so I would hope that most of his films

are gonna highlight that in some way shape or

form so I don't know if it's necessarily like

I Don't know. I think what's gonna be more interesting

is seeing what he does it help him or does it

hurt him when all sudden he has the money to

do other things like it was is it more is it

sometimes better for a director to just kind

of be all Reliant on the art of what you're doing

and kind of what you're writing and what you're

putting out there and this and the Scenes that

you're deciding to shoot and do some directors

maybe suffer when they get more Rope or when

they have more means because they get carried

away with that. I don't know like I Guess it's

like George Lucas. You know what I mean? Like

he wrote something that was great, but once he

had like Unlimited resources. He just got so

wrapped up in that so I don't know if something

similar happens with Kevin Smith I guess we'll

have to wait and see but I'm Thinking that the

dialogue the clever writing is something that

we will see like kind of follow through this

whole line Because I think if you take that away

that this movie would fail utterly I do think

I agree with a lot of what you're saying like

it does Do a good job with the kind of representing

just everyday people and some of these relationships

and what would happen just in a regular thing

so you it's a lot more relatable probably a lot

of people at least people that lived in that

generation or at least can some I don't know

if a kid watching it today would get much out

of this film but I'm not a kid today so I can't

speak for them but they might find a little bit

more foreign ground for them but I do think it

does a good job for kind of capturing a moment

in time so to speak so I think that's good I

think my biggest gripe with the film and it's

not really a great but I guess my biggest problem

is just the acting in general and I know he has

a very limited budget and I know he's got not

access to a bunch of you know great big Hollywood

stars and whatnot but the acting is just literally

atrocious I think the only person that I felt

was like doing a decent job or or had potential

was Randall for me like I thought he actually

felt somewhat natural with what he was doing

and seemed like he was completely in the role,

but everybody else just seemed like they were

waiting for the next cue or they were waiting

for the next marker or line or whatever they

were looking for. So I think that was my biggest

hang up, but the only thing that was preventing

me from really just being head over heels with

this film was the acting because I think, like

I said, the writing, the dialogue, everything

else is fantastic. Interesting. Matt, how do

you feel about that when it comes to the acting?

Obviously you're some of the Very unprofessional

actors that were just some of her friends that

are actually now starring in their own reality

TV shows on AMC But when it comes to people like

Dante or Randall some of the bigger parts Did

the acting and alternate off or do you were you

okay with it? Like I think Kevin's right that

Randall is by the best on screen. I think Dante's

fine. I think the girlfriend is probably the

worst of the larger roles. And I think she flubs

more lines than anyone else. But yeah, it definitely

feels like a guy who did get his friends together

to shoot a movie, and he made it very personal

about the things he likes, like Star Wars and

comic books and stuff. Even like, hey, I like

to play hockey, and I like to hockey, so let's

just throw a hockey scene in there. Like it had

it has that like very personal feel and So yeah,

like the actors aren't maybe the best. I would

say it's about 50 -50 with the main cast I don't

know if you anybody anyone was aware But did

anyone ever see the alternate ending to what

Clark's was the original ending for Clark's?

No, I've heard about it, but I haven't seen it

So it actually ends on a more much more dour

to model it off of something like do the right

thing where you have kind of more innocuous type

of stories a lot more humor and then it ends

on something rather rather tragic and he was

trying to Use that as an inspiration. So in the

end of clerks originally when it first rained

Dante actually gets killed by a mugger and like

that's where the movie ends and And it's like

the scene still you can still see it I think

it's on some of the DVD and blu -ray releases

and I think the some of the clips are online

and It's not not not a great moment, but it was

actually removed out of suggestion when it was

released again an end where it ends because You

know people thought it was a really bad way of

ending it and it just it didn't really flow with

the rest of the film And it seemed kind of just

like one of those Big changes for changes sakes

if it did have its original ending with that

impact at all your viewing viewing Do you think

it would actually improve the movie in any way

if it did kind of go for that? Big shock moment

or do we think it's better off where it ended?

For me, I think that would detract from it because

I think what I appreciated most about the film

is that it did seem like just an everyday scenario

of kids who have been given some responsibility

but aren't being watched so they can kind of

they're left to their own devices, but it's also

still like believable like it's something that

you can see you can relate to it's something

that you there's not a lot that happened in the

scene that you're like there's no way that could

ever happen and not that people don't get mugged

and people don't kill the center but i i think

it's it just would feel fake to me it would feel

like artificial like you're putting that in for

a shock value and that's not what would happen

in these kids lives but maybe that's just my

take I think it would bum me out, like, super

hardcore if he died. I mean, not like the movie

was on, like, an upbeat or anything, but I think

it would... I don't know, the movie, although

some, like, kind of bad stuff was happening,

it was all very minor bad stuff. So if you're

gonna up the ante and then kill somebody, like,

it just doesn't seem like it fits with everything

else that was going on. Like, you're taking it

from, like, this guy had to come in on his day

off to now he's fucking dead. Like I'm gonna

take the other side of this and say that it might

have it might have even Improved the movie a

little bit like I like clerks how it is and you

know, you don't need to change it You don't need

to Lucas it whatever but I think it's one of

the most relatable like we've all had days we

weren't supposed to work like we were promised

to have it off or whatever been called in and

and we've had bad days, but like if if Dante

dies at the end and it's and it's a like a mugging

situation like a suicide or something then it

shows that oh this this bad day escalated into

the worst day and it almost like makes all of

your bad days, be like, well, at least at the

end, no one killed me. Like, I'm still alive,

and I'll have a good day tomorrow or whatever.

So, like, I'm not gonna say that the movie should

have had that, but, like, I can see how the movie

could benefit from that ending. I just think

it takes away from that final scene where they're

just literally, like, okay, the day's over. We're

gonna walk out of here and come back and do the

exact same thing tomorrow. Like, that is, to

me, one of the best parts of the film, and that

would be gone with that. alternate ending so

like i don't know i think it takes way too much

for me and also that that kind of shows like

his growth like where it's like well i mean it

was a bad day but it's only been one and and

what tomorrow we'll do another thing and if you

kill him then he doesn't get that growth really

like right what do you think i'm conflicted i

feel like Knowing the reasoning behind it, knowing

what he was going for and the reference that

he was trying to make, I think in a way that

makes me lean towards thinking it's a bad idea

because I think that's not to knock on Kevin

Smith's interpretation of do the right thing,

but I think there's more to what's happening

and do the right thing than be the reasoning

for what he did in Clerks. Actually, I have watched

the scene and just knowing the scene itself isn't

it's not particularly well done. It seems it

So I haven't seen it in the context of the movie.

I saw it isolated So maybe it worked better,

but I thought the scene itself was a little little

weak and it like was uh, just almost felt like

Almost going for somewhat comedic just because

the acting and it wasn't wasn't wasn't super

but I think it's a better idea where they left

it because it didn't really flow. I see Matt's

point in how it does make you think that, but

if this purpose of this film is to highlight

what life is like within with this group of people,

once you do that, I feel like that ends up becoming

the story, him getting killed, not what you were

highlighting everything beforehand. So in a way

you may end up like undercutting your message

a little bit. Does this make anyone else nostalgic

for video stories? Because it kind of made me

nostalgic for video. Yeah, because they're so,

and this was like the go -to thing like when

in the 90s if you wanted to make like a coming

-of -age or like a just a slice of a day in the

life of like a teenager whatever like this is

where you went like it was either a pizza place

or a video store like I don't know how many movies

there's got to be at least a half dozen if not

more films that are exactly in those settings

like so I think yeah I was ready to go right

back into it I mean we go to a video store but

it's it's not quite the same as like when you're

a kid I think so it definitely made me a little

bit nostalgic Amanda what how much does it remind

you of just going to the video store like we

do every week anyway Well, I've been going to

that same video store since I was little, that

same chain. I don't know, it's really not much

different than it is now, except I can joke with

the people that work there more because they

see me every week, but I don't know, it didn't

really make me nostalgic at all because the age

that they are is kind of the age that I'm almost

at right now. If they made a movie of a day in

the life of the people that work at the video

store that we go to, would it be like this? No,

because they're way cooler. They're way cooler?

Yeah. Dang. They feel like they have their shit

together. You didn't think Randall was cool?

No, I didn't think he was cute. No, I thought

Randall was a jackass. Like he's brilliant because

he knows that he doesn't really have to fucking

do anything at his job But it made me pissed

off that like bro. I worked my ass off at my

job. What are you doing? You're like turning

away customers because you're such a dick and

you don't care and you're doing it on purpose.

I loved it and Come on, you don't you don't wish

you could be that you don't I don't want to be

a despicable looking human being to every person

I meet. I mean, his humor worked for him. And

you can tell that he really was like a good friend

at the end of the day, I guess. Like, he was

a good guy. He was just he was a dick because

he could be a dick. And he doesn't change, like.

I don't think no one, no one. I mean, I guess

Dante has a little bit of growth mostly with

his relationship, but yeah. Sorry, I love Randall

Like everybody doesn't nobody does that but everybody

thinks that at least at some point you've all

had a job in which as you dealt with like the

public or with customers and you've had to have

thought that at one point like I wish I could

just be that character not that anybody's actually

going to be that character but I want to be a

functioning part of society you're much better

person than me so new like I'm talking about

like when you're a teenager like when you're

working at like whatever I worked at a nightclub

I had a great first job you had a different path

yeah a badass path I mean like the first time

I ever dealt with a customer while working I

was like 27, so I can't really talk Yeah, I mean,

maybe I just had a more I worked at Target for

10 years during high school and college and trust

me there was times where I wanted I've been screamed

at by people I don't get out of my face and get

out of here. I'm still gonna do my job awesome

Anyway, anybody else have a do you like Dante

better Amanda? I thought he was kind of a whiny

bitch Like he kept saying like I'm not supposed

to be here like okay we get it dude But you are

here like we've all had those days I'm not supposed

to be here in my day shit like we all get in

those little frumpy moves or whatever But I don't

know he just was like so Down about everything

like I don't think he was happy about a single

fucking thing in this What do you think about

the debate that he was having with his uh with

his woman friend. About how many people they

had been with? Uh, that was a little hypocritical

on his part. It was a little one -sided, I guess,

or, yeah, hypocritical. Like, he definitely went

off the deep end. I was like pissed off at him

for that. I was like, all right, bitch, like,

I'd be out of there, too. I can't believe she

came back and brought him food. I'd be like,

nope. I'll bring you some food back, pipe and

hot lasagna in your face. Make me feel like that.

Just because you're not of a big as a mac daddy

as I am doesn't mean you got to come in here

and try to Play it up like she's a slut so I

mean turn to the coin if he had been with like

47 chicks or whatever 37 then He probably like

I'm the man, but he didn't so that's why he was

salty so so Having seen a lot of Kevin Smith

movies. This is actually a common reoccurring

thing about guys not quite knowing how to like

handle their women being better at hooking up

than them But like I like how Kevin Smith uses

it and I want us I want to highlight that now

so that later in other movies you can see that

like Almost well not almost all but a bunch of

his movies are written from the point of view

of very almost naive men and very empowered women.

I'm hoping that in every film we go through that

we get at least one obscure reference that most

of the people watching won't understand. And

for me that one here was Dorothy Hamill. Like

how many people got the Dorothy Hamill reference?

Like that was gold for me. Does anybody know

who she was? I don't even remember what you're

talking about. She was like a figure skater from

like the 80s or 90s and the fact that they threw

that reference in there was gold for me. Anyway.

Did she win the gold? Yes. Of course. Very nice.

Well, any other points anybody want to bring

up regarding the clerks in our first entry into

the Kevin Smith retrospective? I mean, anytime

there's Star Wars debates, discussions, or references

in a film, I'm going to give it brownie points.

And this was the one that kind of started that

whole thing. All right, well, let's go around

and give our final thoughts and overall grades

for clerks. Amanda, let's start with you. Final

grades and overall thoughts. Oh man, I liked

it more than I thought that I would, but I'm

still, I don't know if I would ever rewatch this.

Like I feel like I got what I needed out of it

in this one walk, but I'll give it, I'll give

it a six. Sick starting office. I mean passing

grade. So starting off at least passing grade.

So that's good Hopefully goes up from here Kevin.

How about yourself? I mean, I think one thing

that you can't forget is that this is his first

film and most directors don't have like a home

run on their first film much less something that's

been as much of a cult classic as this has turned

into much less do most directors have a first

film that's fantastic on a $30 ,000 budget. So

I think you've got to give a lot of credit to

what he was able to do here with that budget

and for a first film, even if you can see that

it is clearly a first film, even though you can

clearly see that it's only made for $30 ,000.

Like those things are very evident, but I think

if you can get by that a little bit and kind

of take that as it is and really appreciate...

what he's doing in the writing and kind of the

sequences that he sets up. I think there's a

lot to love here, so I'm definitely positive.

I think it's a good start. I think if this is

where he's starting, it should be better things

on the horizon, but Dan, you said that this might

be the best film, so I don't know. That scares

me a little bit, so I'm going to go ahead and

give this one a 7 out of 10. Matt, how about

yourself? Oh, man. I really like this movie.

I think again, like I said, I think it's one

of the most relatable movies that I've ever seen,

but it is also still a first movie. Rough around

the edges on a cheap budget, black and white,

but not for any like creative reasons, just like

as a way to be cheaper. So like I should lose

some points for that, right? I got it's a seven.

It's a solid seven. It's like definitely. If

you average out all the movies, I would say I

would rather watch this than most movies But

it's it also like isn't it isn't the best kevin

smith movie And it's not even like near the best

movie we watch in these retrospectives interesting

Yeah, maybe best of his I think I think it's

clearly the one that's had the biggest impact

on his career. Maybe the better way of putting

that yeah and his byline is gonna be the movie

I think he's most known for, I think still to

this day. I think it's like, it is obviously,

like we said, it's a very raw film, but I think

that's kind of also what's impressive about it

and just the guerrilla tactics it took to make

this movie work the way it did and how there's

a lot of ways for this movie to go wrong and.

when mistakes happen they kind of had to go with

it. It was a lot of learn as you go and to me

I think that's what makes it well and I think

that there's a hunger there when it comes to

this. You can tell like this is a guy that has

something he really wants to say. Maybe he doesn't

have every tool. Maybe he hasn't find his craft

but his voice is really strong and it's really

notable and I think that's really what's still

makes clerks work. I'm hesitant to like, you

know, go to a college and show this to a bunch

of college -age kids because a, college -age

kids could scare me. And I don't know if they

would enjoy a movie. I think a lot of what makes

it work may not, it may be seen like as old hat

by people today just because it's what was groundbreaking

once is now commonplace. But still, I think you

still have to give credit where credit's due.

So for me, it's an eight out of 10. Again, filmmaking

issues aside, acting issues aside. What works

really works. So that's why it's eight out of

ten for me. I got a question for you guys and

there was the 18 title cards that were put up

at different points of the movie with one word

on the screen Does anybody remember a single

one of those? Anybody remember any of the words

that were put up? I mean, it's got juxtaposition.

That's one of them. That's a good memory. That

was like three weeks ago. I don't Nope. Matt,

you remember anyone? No. It was Dante, vilification,

Jay and Silent Bob, Randall, syntax, vagary,

purgation, malaise, harbinger, perspicacity,

paradigm, whimsy, quandary, lamentation, juxtaposition,

catharsis, denoment, and the end credits. I still

need to look up half of those to see what they

mean. Just half? Hey, why not? Yeah, so this

is the very beginning of the Kevin Smith retrospective

We'll be going through all this films next up

I believe will be mall rats, which if you go

back it was basically, you know, just the critic

response to it was hugely negative it was really

looked down upon as like the beginning of a sophomore

slup, which is Kind of become commonplace. I

think for a lot of directors So I'm be interested

in seeing I feel like there's been a lot like

mall rats is one of those movies that has gained

and Respect from a lot of fans as years has gone

on. I That's one. I've only seen once as Matt.

Have you I'm assuming you've seen mall rats.

Yeah, no Yeah, and I'm guessing Kevin and you

don't know and Amanda you haven't no i haven't

i've seen parts okay okay so coming at that and

all different levels i've only seen it once so

i i want to go back and rewatch it again so but

we can also like to hear your thoughts on what

you thought of clerks and any anything we should

keep in mind as we continue in this retrospective

you can go to geekcastreater .com you can also

mention us on twitter we're the twitter for the

show it is at cinema geek cast everyone else

is also on twitter amanda what is your twitter

name At Hard Candy Man, the eyes know lies. Kevin?

Mine is At Optimus Solo. Matt? I'm At Fridley

Sunt. And I'm At Movie Revolt, but that'll be

it for this week. Join us next time as we continue

our Kevin Smith retrospective as we give our

thoughts on mall rats. Until then, thanks for

listening.