Clerks!

The Summary of Clerks

This New Jersey-based comedy covers 24 hours in the lives of two woebegone convenience store clerks. Dante Hicks (Brian O'Halloran), reluctantly put in charge of the Quick Stop market where he works, tries to perform his minimum-wage activities as efficiently as possible while enduring a breakup with his girlfriend Veronica (Marilyn Ghigliotti). Taking an unscheduled break, Dante heads to the adjacent video store where Randall (Darryl Anderson), his friend and alter ego, works behind the counter--when he feels like it. Randall's insouciance (not that his bizarro customers deserve any better) is in sharp contrast to Dante's half-hearted efforts to please. Most of the film consists of Dante and Randall "dissing" their customers, their lives, and the world in general. Clerks was originally rated NC-17 on the basis of language alone. (It was since toned down--but not by much--to an "R"). Filmed in black-and-white on a budget of some ,000, the film grossed over one hundred times that amount and began the career of writer/director Kevin Smith, who went on to make such topical comedies as Mallrats (1995), Chasing Amy (1997), and Dogma (1999). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide