Acoustic cover of "Party in the USA"

Check out this sweet music video of my group, The Little Brown Brothers, doing an acoustic cover of "Party in the U.S.A." by Miley Cyrus.

Movie Review: Clerks (1994)

CLERKS. (1994)

Director / Writer: Kevin Smith
Producers: Kevin Smith, Scott Mosier
Director of Photography: David Klein
Dante... Brian O’Halloran
Randal...Jeff Anderson
Veronica...Marilyn Ghigliotti
Caitlin...Lisa Spoonhauer
Jay...Jason Mewes
Silent Bob...Kevin Smith
MPAA Rating: R
Running Time: 92 minutes

Rating: 4 out of 4 stars

Despite being made for only about $27,000 and being funded by family donations, paychecks from a local convenience store, and money made from selling a comic book collection, writer/director Kevin Smith's debut film, Clerks proves that you don’t need a big budget or high-profile actors to produce a great film. Thanks to Smith's knack for writing clever, off-color dialogue and his remarkable ability of mixing profane, yet intelligent humor with raw and authentic human drama, Clerks helped transform Kevin Smith from a film school dropout to a well-established indie auteur.

The film centers on a 22-year-old Quick Stop clerk named Dante (Brian O'Halloran) who is called into work on his day off. To make matters worse, he deals with angry, agitated, and sometimes bizarre customers, gets into a heated argument about his girlfriend, Veronica’s (Marilyn Ghigliotti) sexual history and then finds out that his ex-girlfriend Caitlin (Lisa Spoonhauer) is engaged. To help pass the time, Dante is constantly visited by his openly sarcastic best friend Randal (Jeff Anderson), who works at the video store next door. Much of the film follows Dante and Randal as they interact with customers, debate about Star Wars, play a game of hockey on the roof, get kicked out of a funeral, and discuss the dilemma in Dante's love life.

Due to Smith's extremely modest budget, Clerks was shot in black and white with a 16mm camera over the course of 21 days. Because of these limitations, the film certainly has a few flaws including the film's rough editing and some noticeably amateur acting performances. However, these minor flaws are easy to overlook thanks to Kevin Smith's inventive and wildly hilarious screenplay. Smith's use of shockingly explicit dialogue and politically incorrect humor feel authentic and natural when delivered by the characters in the film, and the use of pop culture references help make the film hip and relevant without ever over-doing it.

With its hilarious one-liners and bawdy sex jokes, it is easy to misinterpret Clerks as a one-dimensional "raunch-comedy." However, Smith brilliantly manages to incorporate serious underlying messages about love, friendship, and self-determination into the film without altering its overall tone. Much like the film itself, there's more than meets the eye with the film's two protagonists. Despite the rough-edge exterior of Dante and Randal, there is actually much heart underneath the surface. Though Dante may initially come across as an overly dramatic down-on-his-luck slacker, he's really just a frustrated romantic attached to his past relationship. And while Randal may seem like an uncaring wise-ass, he proves to be a protective companion genuinely devoted to helping out his best friend. Despite being rather unseasoned actors, Brian O'Halloran and Jeff Anderson display great on-screen chemistry and perfectly capture the boredom and frustration of life as a store clerk.

Overall, Clerks is a raw and intelligent indie comedy that proves to be an impressive debut from an inexperienced filmmaker. Over the years, Clerks has reached cult-classic status and is now considered a staple in independent film-making.

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