They didn't have movie credits in 2006?

My "what should I watch tonight?" browsing landed on Clerks II last night. It's relatively rare that I opt for an aged sequel in one of these scenarios, especially when the series has gone on to have additional movies. If I had really cared about that series, I would have sought out the additional movies before now. 

The Clerks series is a bit of a different story. I had always liked the original, and I generally give Kevin Smith the benefit of the doubt, given my passionate enthusiasm for some of his films. (You may remember that I am about the world's biggest supporter of Red State.) In fact, Clerks II is the only feature length film Smith has directed that I haven't seen -- other than Clerks III. (Actually no, it looks like I didn't catch Jay and Silent Bob Reboot either -- though that's part of the same deficit of not yet having seen Clerks II.)

And Clerks III was actually the clincher. I've seen that new film, released only last year, pop up on streaming services lately and thought "I should really see that," and then immediately thought "Wait a minute ..."

So why hadn't I seen Clerks II before now? Simple: Someone told me it was awful. I don't remember who, and I don't remember whether I should trust that person or not. But the feeling stuck.

But I didn't go in last night expecting to see an awful movie, because I also remember subsequently learning that this was not the predominant impression of Clerks II. I just hadn't yet had the chance to finally give it a chance. 

Initially -- as in very initially -- I regretted it, and that finally gets us to the subject of this post.

I had twin negative first impressions of Clerks II, and they both related to what seemed like a microscopic budget.

At the very opening of the film, Dante (Bryan O'Halloran) arrives to his place of business, the convenience store from the original film, only to find it on fire. (His kuncklehead friend Randal, played by Jeff Anderson, left the coffee pot on again.) He opens the rolling metal gate to see the flames, and it is immediately obvious that the flames are not part of this actual environment, but rather, playing on a video screen.

Then the credits -- oh the credits!

Just look at the size of this typeface:

That's like something you would see on Hill Street Blues in 1982, not a major theatrical motion picture in 2006. (Or at least, a minor theatrical motion picture.)

I know we often don't notice the way things seem different in a particular era until we have moved on from that era, and maybe these credits wouldn't have struck me as incredibly cheap and uninspired 17 years ago. But I don't know. They're pretty shitty. 

As the movie went on, I chalked it up to Smith's working class lack of flash. He likely saw these credits as a practical way to acknowledge the cast and crew, nothing more, and let his funny dialogue and set pieces do the talking for him.

So yes, that's right -- I found Clerks II funny. And clever. And sentimental. And sort of touching.

The credits may not have aged well, but the comedy surprisingly did. Oh, make no mistake -- they could never get away with most of this today. But the jokes involving racism and homophobia, including the use of words you basically just don't hear on screen anymore, both seem to come from the spirit Smith always brings to his work: pushing the envelope for the purpose of promoting an overall liberal mindset, where it's the characters that have shortcomings rather than the filmmaker. I took these jokes in the spirit with which they were intended, and my awareness that they would be completely taboo in 2023 didn't diminish them. In fact, if anything, Smith in 2006 was speaking to us in 2023, asking why words themselves are so off limits -- suggesting that it was the thoughts behind the words that mattered most. (I suppose the problem is, not all viewers are equipped to make this distinction.)

It was also clear from the music choices that the lame opening credits were not budgetary in nature. I was surprised by the number of song clearances this movie paid for, from the Jackson Five to Alanis Morissette to Smashing Pumpkins to Soul Asylum to the Talking Heads to "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" -- and of course the song "Goodbye Horses" from The Silence of the Lambs, to which Jason Mewes' Jay dances on at least three occasions. (And I suppose even though there's a sort of homophobia built into that whole bit, as there was in The Silence of the Lambs, I laughed each time, and I think it came from a loving and tolerant place.)

There's one other thing I wanted to tell you about, and it also has to do with credits. 

I recently read a piece (can't remember where) about the importance of watching the end credits, because there's always something interesting to be learned. I learned two things from the end credits of Clerks II:

1) The little girl who looks out the restaurant window at Dante as he's having a drive around the city (to "1979" by the aforementioned Pumpkins), considering his future, is Smith's daughter Harley Quinn, future star of his misbegotten film Yoga Hosers.

2) There is a person named September Death who worked on this film. In fact, September Death has 35 credits on IMDB. In this one, he or she was the second second assistant director. (That job title alone is funny.)

Okay, now I'm definitely curious to see how the comedy of Clerks has moved on into our current woke age. I'll probably watch Clerks III before the month is out.