SummaryIt's one wild day in the life of a pair of overworked counter jockeys, whose razor-sharp wit and on-the-job antics give a whole new meaning to customer service. Even while braving a nonstop parade of unpredictable shoppers, the clerks manage to play hockey on the roof, visit a funeral home and straighten out their offbeat love lives. The boss is ... Read More
Directed By:Kevin Smith
Written By:Kevin Smith
Clerks
Metascore
Generally Favorable
70
User score
Generally Favorable
7.9
My Score
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Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
70
76% Positive
13 Reviews
13 Reviews
24% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
90
Though the politically incorrect language is tough enough to have earned Clerks an initial NC-17 rating (re-rated R on appeal), its exuberance gives it an alive and kicking feeling that is welcome and rare. [19 Oct 1994]
80
Rough around the edges, it's humor decidedly sophomoric in parts. But that's part of its charm. [19 Jan 1995, p.A16(E)]
User score
Generally Favorable
7.9
88% Positive
163 Ratings
163 Ratings
9% Mixed
17 Ratings
17 Ratings
3% Negative
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
Sep 14, 2023
10
Aside from the **** jokes and drug references and pop-culture nods, Clerks was a testament. Sitcom setups aside, Clerks displayed what being in your mid-twenties and not having a clue about what laid ahead in the big, wide future, especially when the comfortable dysfunction of high school was not too far back in the old rearview, was all about. This was an absolute reflection of a time when all that mattered was having enough money to gas up the car, go to the movies, and hit a diner afterwards. About those moments of levity that punctuated the otherwise long stretches of despair and navel gazing and self-loathing. Clerks hit that Gen X zeitgeist at the right ever-lovin’ time. Immensely quotable, Clerks was all about the long exposition. A diatribe about the strength of Star Wars movies and the weakness of teenaged infidelity. Of friendship, of death, and the relevance of an outdoors hockey game. The fluidness of it all.
80
A randy, irreverent, slice-of-life no-budgeter that's played for laughs and gets them.
75
Within the limitations of his bare-bones production, Smith shows great invention, a natural feel for human comedy, and a knack for writing weird, sometimes brilliant, dialogue.
63
A few crude verbal exchanges nearly got Clerks an NC-17 rating; some (not all) of these provide some of the funniest moments in a film that's funny about 30% of the time. [24 Oct 1994]
60
The humor of two clerks arguing about ethics and sex deflates before the halfway mark, but the writer-director, Kevin Smith, dishes up some funny profanity in his low-budget black-and-white debut.
50
Amateurishly acted, clumsily edited and slapped together out of what looks like surveillance camera footage, the thing bumps along not so much on talent as on audacity.
Oct 24, 2022
10
Kevin Smith's first film and what a film to call your first. Clerks is a great comedy and still holds up today. If you haven't seen it yet, see it now... be prepared for raunchiness.
Oct 3, 2018
6
A funny little movie, not bad but not much stands out. However I'd definitely watch it again. 59/100
Sep 18, 2012
5
Clerks is overrated. It's mildly funny at times but has a very unnatural flow in it's script. People just don't talk the way they do in clerks. The movie feels like a group of comedy soliloquies thrown together by the town-hall drama club. Disappointing.
Aug 23, 2010
5
Convenience store worker, deals with odd customers, Video store friend helps out, plays hockey, splits up with girlfriend, gets back with old ex.
"Stoner" comedy which is basically a film of short sketches based around the store, some work, some don't & then it all more or less comes together at the end. Not as funny as I'd heard it was.
Dec 15, 2023
2
I really don't get the attraction. I suspect though that you North Americans like it because It's something you probably experience everyday. I don't know. I just find it very laborious. I'm going to watch the sequels just to see how it changes and I'm going to keep the films because maybe I'll get it sometime. Unlikely, though.
Production Company:
- View Askew Productions
Release Date:Oct 19, 1994
Duration:1 h 32 m
Rating:NC-17
Tagline:[Christmas theme] Jingle bells, the bathroom smells, the coffee's cold and stale. We're overworked and underpaid but it keeps us out of jail.
Awards
Cannes Film Festival
• 2 Wins & 3 Nominations
Film Independent Spirit Awards
• 3 Nominations
Sundance Film Festival
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
