Everyone has at least one movie that they can relate to almost completely. For some, it might just be the overall message that the film conveys, for others it might be the characters, but every so often there is a film where it ends up being just about everything that can be understood. Clerks, Kevin Smiths debut film, is one such film. Almost everyone has been in a position of serving the public in some way or another. It could have been at the local convenience of grocery store, maybe it's on the other end of the phone for tech support or customer service, but more than anything, Clerks embodies those feeling of frustration that all of us in the industry have felt at one point or another, plus of course, the film is more than just that.

It's hard to believe, but it was 10 years ago that the film was first released. I know that there are many die-hard Smith fans out there that keep hoping for a box set of a certain collection of films (Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, and Jay and Silent Bob Strikes Back) but folks, this is never going to happen. Why, you might be wondering? It's simple: not all of the films were released by the same company, and short of the films becoming free domain and all getting picked up by one company, the promise of a complete collection is nothing more than a fantasy. However, there is one thing that might be the next best thing, and that's the 10th Anniversary Edition of Clerks, a new three disc set that's chock full of bonus material that any fan of the film is going to want to own.

Filmed with relatively no budget, something that is very promising for any director (just take a look at Peter Jackson's Bad Taste for example), Clerks, in case you didn't already know, puts your average clerk in the spotlight. The film begins by following Dante, a register jockey at the local Quick Stop Minute Mart who has been called in to cover a shift for a worker who won't be there, even though he's closed the night before, and he's not even supposed to be there. It might sound like a very basic, perhaps even boring, premise for a film, but what Smith does is looks at the genuine comedy that can happen in what may be the most mundane of environments.

Where the humor comes in however is in the overall conversations. Dante and his friend and "co-worker" Randal, who happens to work next door at a lowbrow video store, have dialogs that are nothing less of hilarious. This covers everything from the theory that in Return of the Jedi, it was contract workers who were hired on to build the new Death Star and were then killed because of an upstart group (thus meaning the Rebel Alliance took hundreds of innocent lives) down to the prospect of a man performing fellatio on himself. Again, it sounds mundane, but it works.

And then there are the customers. Working in the field of customer service (for pre-paid calling cards nonetheless) I can relate to this all too well. Let me just say for those of you who are still desperately clinging to the concept that "the customer is always right," those days are long gone. They only think they are right, and I can't tell you the amount of times on my end where I deal with customers that never misdial, never input wrong information, have had calling cards hidden by ghosts (true story), and just about every other excuse under the sun. At some point, society became perfect it seems, but I never got the memo on that one. Clerks looks at these customers, from those that ask completely stupid questions to those that have the answer right in front of them, and anyone who has been on any end of the industry can relate. The film brings up one of the most universal concepts as well: this job wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the customers.

Clerks is essentially a comedy that isn't too far-fetched and is just as real as anything else. It might lack the outlandish situations, save perhaps for a bit necrophilia, but overall, it's a film that you can look at and think that it could happen, and for some of us, maybe it has. Relationships are looked at as well, but in a humorous light, such as Dante's discovery that his current girlfriend, Veronica, might bring him lasagna for lunch, but has also performed oral sex on no less that 36 different guys, or 37 if you include him. It's one of those hilarious conversations in film history, and one that most have heard in at least one from, though it may not have always involved so many phalluses.

This 10th anniversary edition however goes far beyond just having the film itself. Again, there are a total of three discs here. The first is the film itself is the theatrical version of the film that includes extras such as promo clips that aired on MTV, featuring Jay and Silent Bob of course, to promote the film. The original auditions are included, a music video, the theatrical trailer, and even a deleted scene. There is also a commentary track recorded back in 1995 featuring just about every member of the cast.

The second disc is the first cut of the film, which features a new commentary track with Kevin Smith, Mos, Jeff, Brian, and Mewes. This version of the film is also the first cut, not the final one that was seen theatrically. Like most rough cuts or even directors cuts (this coming to mind having recently seen the directors cut of Donnie Darko) the film has some things that really should have been left out as well as things that might have been nice to include. Of course, this always comes down to the fans and opinions are always going to be different, so for this one, I'm taking the middle ground.

The third and final disc is all extra material, something that seems to be starting to become more and more the norm with special editions or anniversary editions of movies, and honestly, something that I wouldn't mind seeing more of. These extras included everything from a look at Kevin Smith's original journals when the film was being made to reviews of the film and even a Q&A about the film 10 years later. There are documentaries about the making of Clerks, and excerpt from "Learning from Low-Budget", something that I would urge those wanting to make a film but lack the funds to take a look at, a look at some of the things from the Sundance Film festival, and plenty more. No matter how many times you've seen the film, even if you can quote it backwards and forwards, the bonus material is reason enough to buy the DVD yet again.

This is probably the ultimate edition of the film for any fan of Clerks to purchase. Those of you still holding out for a set of all the film, I'd urge you to just give that up and run out and pick this version up. I don't say this too often, but just don't suck any dicks along the way.

-mike-
 

Directed By: Kevin Smith   Written By: Kevin Smith   Cast: Brain O'Halloran Jeff Anderson Marilyn Ghigliotti Lisa Spoonhauer Jason Mewes Kevin Smtih

DVD Features: Disc 1: Theatrical Version Feature Commentary Circa '95 Clerks: The Lost Scene The Flying Car MTV Spots with Jay and Silent Bob Music Video Clerks Restoration Intos Original Clerks Auditions Disc 2: Original Cut Feature Commentary Disc 3: Snowball Effect: The Making of Clerks 10th Anniversary Q&A Outtakes from "Snowball Effect" Still Photo Gallery Original Kevin Smith Journals Articles & Reviews and much more