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Is "Clerks" a Bad Movie?

L Trick

L Trick

Clerks, which was made in 1994 with a budget of roughly 28 thousand, has become a cult favorite. It was directed by Kevin Smith, a film-school dropout, with his friend Scott Mosier producing.

Now some people flame it, saying it's got surveillance camera quality shots, and looks like a high school production.

So my question is, what do you think of the film? And do you think it would be as popular in today's indie market, or just end up a minor you tube hit?
 
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I liked it a lot actually. I thought it was simple but hilarious. The characters and things they did were fairly original and I mean obviously the script didn't require a massive budget but that doesn't mean it's bad.
 
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It's actually my least favorite Kevin Smith film (yes, even including Jersey Girl). I know that the reason he used black and white film was because he got a deal on the stock, and that drove the decision to make it in the style of surveillance footage. My issue with that is that the camera angles moved in ways that CCTV cameras don't and that the outside footage should have still been in color because we wouldn't be seeing the in store video anymore. The thing that really drives that flick is the characters.
 
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The thing about Clerks is it was really a product of its time. If it was done today, it would be a completely different movie...take Clerks 2, for example, which is all about being stuck in the same ruts and the things that were cool as a teenager aren't quite as cool when you're older. Also very telling that Smith supposedly spent more of his budget on music licensing than anything else, which I think was an important factor of the popularity when it came out...I knew lots of people who bought the soundtrack before/without seeing the film.

Oh, and the Clerks cartoon is absolutely brilliant.
 
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L Trick said:
Now some people flame it, saying it's got surveillance camera quality shots, and looks like a high school production.
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Usually said by gear heads and tech freaks -- who are likely unattached to a film equally successful as "Clerks".

How can one badmouth "Clerks" when Smith pulled off exactly the kind of thing everybody here would like to accomplish -- mainstream success for their indie project that was made at a fraction of a typical mainstream film budget.

Clerks may not be the best film in the world, nor would it be as successful if made today, but it does prove that even with limited funds, anybody with the right set of smarts and a bit of luck has a shot at success.
 
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How can one badmouth "Clerks" when Smith pulled off exactly the kind of thing everybody here would like to accomplish -- mainstream success for their indie project that was made at a fraction of a typical mainstream film budget.

Clerks may not be the best film in the world, nor would it be as successful if made today, but it does prove that even with limited funds, anybody with the right set of smarts and a bit of luck has a shot at success.
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While everything you said is true, it doesn't change the fact that I personally still don't like it. It doesn't mean I cannot admire what Smith did with Clerks. I do. I only sat down and watched it due to that fact to see what all the fuss was about. The advantage of being such a low budget film, it doesn't have to appeal to the masses. It can appeal to a limited niche of viewers and still be successful in comparison to the budget.
 
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L Trick said:
Is "Clerks" a Bad Movie?
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Define "bad"... This is an entirely subjective idea. There is no definitive right or wrong answer. Some people will think it's good and others bad.

CLERKS had a specific time and place. The market was very interested in independent film and accepted even a great deal of flaws in 1994-1995 when this came out. A degree of success was allowed because of secondary markets that do not exist to day, like a Blockbuster on every single corner that had a ton of movie boxes you could look at or a Clerk (pun intended) that could not only berate you but recommend a movie.
 
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Personally, I think Clerks is still KS's best film. In fact, it's the only one of his films I'd be interested in seeing again.

Like The Blair Witch Project, it's proof that a truly unique concept, competently executed has the potential to overcome any technical and/or budgetary limitations.

Many people - particularly younger audiences seeing them now for the first time - view these films through the lens of hindsight, which is unfair. They fail to acknowledge that the films pioneered new genres ("slacker-geek comedy" and "found footage horror", respectively) that have since been redone a hundred (if not a thousand) times with much bigger budgets and more experienced crews.
 
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Kevin Smith is one of my favorite writer/directors. He has a low brow sense of humor that appeals to me. I saw clerks after having seen Mall Rats, and Dogma. And I wouldn't classify it as my least favorite KS movie, but its also not very high on the list. I happen to love the Jay and Silent Bob characters, and I was one of those hoping for them to get their own movie (still hoping for a sequel). I loved Clerks 2 much more then the first one. I think he's an incredible writer, and that's where the sucess of the first one came into play. The movie actually achieved much more commercial sucess, after Mall Rats and Chasing Amy were release (I think I read that some where).

It's a little like Robert Rodriguez. I had seen a good handful of his movies. Watch a bunch of extras on how he works. Then I read his book, about the making of El Mariachi, long before I had ever watched it. I find RR very inspirational, and when I watch El Mariachi, I took into account, and looked for things, that he mentioned in his book, about why, and how he did certain things. That made it much more watchable to me. Had I not know all these things in advance, I wouldn't have seen any appeal in it. Again, having read his book, and then watching the movie, it's really beyond me the uproar that swept through Hollywood, over it. And knowing the story now, I find it incredible as well as inspirational.
 
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Script. Script. Script. I could shoot a better movie on a phone nowadays, but it takes a lot of time and effort to write the way he wrote Clerks, and a lot MORE time and effort to find actors that can deliver those big monologues without seeming overly stiff (or hit the jokes without laughing or going too overboard).

Also...he had a convenience store, so he wrote for a convenience store. That's the one of the biggest thing I take away from Clerks actually--writing for what you have (or what you think you can get) is ESSENTIAL.
 
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sarah h said:
That's the one of the biggest thing I take away from Clerks actually--writing for what you have (or what you think you can get) is ESSENTIAL.
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Yep! We so many people come in here and ask how they can film this or that with little money when the trick is to changing their script to use what they have access to for next to nothing.
 
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