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Clerks
1994 92 min United States of America R 18+
★7.8
Comedy
Director: Kevin Smith
Trailers
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Description
Convenience and video store clerks Dante and Randal are sharp-witted, potty-mouthed and bored out of their minds. So in between needling customers, the counter jockeys play hockey on the roof, visit a funeral home and deal with their love lives.
Budget:
$27,575
US Gross:
$3.15M
Worldwide:
$3.16M
Starring
Brian O'Halloran
Actor
Jeff Anderson
Actor
Marilyn Ghigliotti
Actor
Awards
Cannes Film Festival 1994
— Youth Jury Prize (Foreign Film)
Cannes Film Festival 1994
— Mercedes-Benz Prize
Sundance Film Festival 1994
— Filmmakers' Prize (Drama)
Sundance Film Festival 1994
— Filmmakers' Prize (Drama)
Key opinion
Clerks is widely celebrated as a quintessential 90s independent film that successfully trades big-budget spectacle for sharp, character-driven dialogue. While some viewers find its low-budget aesthetic and crude humor off-putting, most consider it a seminal, relatable comedy that elevated Kevin Smith to a cult filmmaker.
| Screenplay | The razor-sharp, pop-culture-infused dialogue serves as the film's primary strength, balancing vulgarity with unexpected philosophical insight. | |
| Acting | Brian O'Halloran and Jeff Anderson deliver highly convincing performances that bring depth and distinct personalities to the everyday experience of retail work. | |
| Cinematography | The decision to shoot in black-and-white effectively transcends the film’s budgetary constraints, giving the project a timeless, stylized identity. | |
| Production | The low-budget, gritty production design accurately captures the authentic, mundane atmosphere of 1990s convenience store culture. | |
| Humor | Opinions on the humor are divided; proponents praise its authentic and irreverent wit, while detractors view it as thin, cheap, or overly vulgar. | |
| Pacing | The film’s observational, dialogue-heavy pacing is considered engrossing by fans who enjoy its character studies, but it feels sluggish and uneventful to those expecting a traditional narrative arc. |