Why Kevin Smith's Clerks Is The Most New Jersey Movie Of All Time

I'm not even supposed to be here today. #shorts #movies #kevinsmith #clerks #youtubeshorts #comedy #funny #commentary

Transcript

00:00One movie that is so inextricably linked to New Jersey that it is simply undeniable.

00:05I'm talking, of course, about Kevin Smith's 1994 classic, Clerks.

00:10This movie is one of the ultimate independent film success stories,

00:14where a then-unknown Smith casts himself and his friends as a troop of slackers

00:18who get through their working class jobs by shooting the shit,

00:21getting stoned, and complaining about their lives.

00:24There isn't so much a plot in this film as there are loosely connected scenes

00:27where the cast wastes away the day,

00:29but it perfectly taps into the experience of being nowhere,

00:32with nothing to do and no place to go.

00:34Pretty much sums up what growing up in the burbs is actually like.

00:38It's a quintessential hangout movie where the vibe is everything.

00:41But if you want to talk about Jersey criteria, you have it all in this movie.

00:46Numerous Jersey towns are name-checked,

00:48like New Brunswick, Manilapin, Freehold, and Little Egg.

00:52You have the characters discussing Springsteen,

00:54and Dante, the main character, is visited by his girlfriend at works

00:57and she brings him a tray of lasagna.

01:00You also get your first appearance from Jay and Silent Bob,

01:03Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith's legendary alternative characters

01:06who appear frequently in Kevin Smith's Askew Universe, or the Askewniverse.

01:11Clerks combines the mundane with the fervor of commiseration and loudmouth shenanigans.

01:15You may not be Jay and Silent Bob, or Dante, or the promiscuous Caitlin,

01:19or the old guy that dies in the bathroom before doing it with Caitlin.

01:23What are you watching?

01:24Children's programming.

01:25These people might seem like archetypes by most measures, but also not really.

01:29Anyone who's spent any time in New Jersey has met these people,

01:32has been to these places, even if all the details are slightly askew.

01:37That's sort of the gist of this quintessential East Coast state.

01:40Everyone knows everyone, even if perhaps by some degree of separation.

01:45This sort of camaraderie transports you to a random pit stop in Jersey

01:50where you probably tried to do something illegal with your friends back in the day.

01:54Bonus points if you scored a basement punk party in New Brunswick.