History Film / Clerks

* BottleEpisode: The film is set almost entirely within a convenience store to keep costs down.

Would you like to make the fuck, BER-SER-KER!

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/clerks_original_movie_poster_kevin_smith1.jpg]]

Filmed in 1993, but not theatrically released until 1994, it cost $27,000 to make, roughly the same price as a new car at the time. The film's final cost was $230,000 after the rights to the film's grunge- and punk-oriented soundtrack are added in, making it one of the few films in history where the rights to the soundtrack actually cost more than the film.

Surprisingly for a film with a large amount of profanity and vulgar references, it manages to stay quite intelligent and upon release, it was well-received by critics such as Creator/RogerEbert and Creator/LeonardMaltin. The film's success helped jump-start the modern independent film industry (which actually began with Jim Jarmusch's ''Film/StrangerThanParadise'', 1984 and Spike Lee's ''She's Gotta Have It'', 1986, but was given a big kick by ''Film/SexLiesAndVideotape'' and ''Film/{{Slacker}}'', the latter of which Smith claimed was his direct inspiration for this film) and turned [[Creator/MiramaxFilms Miramax]] into a major distributor for said independent films, rivaled only by Polygram Filmed Entertainment and Fox Searchlight.

* ThemeTuneCameo: The beginning of the short is scored to a snatch of the theme from ''WesternAnimation/ClerksTheAnimatedSeries''.

-->"Oh, '''[[PrecisionFStrike fuck you! Fuck you,]]''' '''pal!''' Jesus, there you go [[NeverMyFault trying to pass the buck]]. ''I'm'' the source of all your misery. Who closed the store to play hockey? Who closed the store to go to a wake? [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Who tried to win back his ex-girlfriend without even]] '''''[[NiceJobBreakingItHero discussing]]''''' [[NiceJobBreakingItHero how he felt with his present one?!]] You wanna blame somebody? Blame '''''yourself!''''' "I'm not even supposed to be here today." ''You sound like an asshole!'' Jesus, nobody twisted your arm to be here. You're here of '''your own volition!''' You like to think the weight of the world rests on your shoulder like this place would fall apart if ''Dante'' wasn't here. Jesus, you overcompensate for having what's basically ''a monkey's job''; '''''you push fucking buttons!''''' ''Anybody'' could waltz in here and do our jobs! You--you're always so obsessed with making it seem so much more ''epic'', so much more important than it really is. Christ, ''you work in a convenience store, Dante!'' And ''badly'', I might add! I work in a shitty video store, badly as well. You know, [[DumbassHasAPoint that guy Jay's got it right]], man. He has no ''delusions'' about what he does. Us, we like to make ourselves seem so much more important than the [[SurroundedByIdiots people that come in here to buy a paper, or, god forbid, cigarettes]]. We look down on them as if we're so ''advanced''. ''[[ArmorPiercingQuestion Well, if we're so fucking advanced,]]'' '''''[[ArmorPiercingQuestion what are we doing working]]''''' '''''[[SoulSuckingRetailJob here?]]'''''"

* SilentCredits: This would have been the case if the original ending had been kept. In that ending, which can be seen on the 10th anniversary DVD, Dante is shot and presumably killed by a holdup man just as he is finishing up the day's paperwork. The credits then roll silently with the exception of the beeping sounds of a cash register ... which, with the added context, become surprisingly chilling.

** The walk and Dante's line accompanying it at the end of the film was taken from Wrangler Jeans commercials and -- even with all of the merchandise in the background of the store -- was the only part of the film that needed to be edited to avoid legal issues. (Dante's line, referring to the walk as the "Wrangle," had to be [[http://tinyurl.com/9yyu2l ADRed]] in post.) Miramax got the company's permission to leave the line uncut on the "First Cut" disc of the Clerks X DVD release.

* CultSoundtrack: After the film was bought by Miramax, the studio added a very contemporary grunge/punk soundtrack. It was the first time in history that a film's soundtrack cost more than the entire production of the film (film: $27,000.00 Music: $30,000.00.)

The first part of Film/TheViewAskewniverse (though ''Mallrats'', which came out later, [[{{Prequel}} depicts the events of the day before]] the events of ''Clerks''). With the obvious exception of Jay and Silent Bob, Dante and Randal are the most frequently recurring characters in the verse, having starred in an AnimatedAdaptation, ''WesternAnimation/ClerksTheAnimatedSeries'', several comics and in 2006, a true sequel in the film, ''Film/ClerksII''. A third film has recently been SavedFromDevelopmentHell.

* BMovie: The film charts a day in the life of two shop clerks as they are annoyed by customers, discuss movies with each other, play hockey on the roof, deal with [[Film/TheViewAskewniverse two stoners out the front]], and one comes to terms with his girlfriend's promiscuous past. Made on a budget of with the director's friends and family, in the very shop in which he actually worked; it grossed million, pioneered Film/TheViewAskewniverse, and kick-started the independent film industry.

An AnimatedAdaptation of a scene cut from the scrip before shooting began for budget reasons, explaining why Dante and Randal are chased out of the funeral parlor when they attend Julie Dwyer's wake. Animated in the style of ''WesternAnimation/ClerksTheAnimatedSeries'', it features Brian O'Halloran and Jeff Anderson reprising their roles and Creator/JoeyLaurenAdams in a cameo as her character Alyssa from ''Film/ChasingAmy''.

* EpicFail: Dante tosses Randal the keys when the latter gets bored and asks if he can wait in the car and listen to the radio. By ''sheer coincidence'', the keys ricochet off of Randal's bad catch and fall down Julie's skirt. {{Lampshaded}} by Randal, who says he couldn't do that again if he tried.

--> Mrs. Dwyer: AAAAHHHH! JULIE!

* ThickLineAnimation: Animated in the style of ''WesternAnimation/ClerksTheAnimatedSeries''.

''Clerks'' was shot in the [[SarcasmMode scenic]] [=QuickStop=] convenience store where Smith worked at the time and featured a cast made up of Smith's friends (such as Jeff Anderson, [[Series/ComicBookMen Walt Flannigan,]] Jason Mewes and Scott Mosier) and family (in various small roles), Smith himself, and a few local actors (such as Brian O'Halloran, who plays the lead role of Dante Hicks.) When released, the film made its budget back several times over. Its success enabled Smith to make [[Film/{{TheViewAskewniverse}} several more films with some of the same characters and settings]].

The film is about [[SliceOfLife a day in the life of a pair of friends]], Dante Hicks and Randal Graves, working at Quick Stop and RST Video, respectively. Another group of friends, Jay and Silent Bob, deal drugs and hang out around Quick Stop. Dante is forced to come to work, although he wasn't supposed to be there that day (as he will constantly remind you.)

The ultimate low-budget success story that turned Creator/KevinSmith from a working class kid from New Jersey to one of the most popular filmmaking personalities of all time.

Surprisingly for a film with a large amount of profanity and vulgar references, it manages to stay quite intelligent and upon release, it was well received by critics such as Creator/RogerEbert and Creator/LeonardMaltin. The film's success helped jump start the modern independent film industry (which actually began with Jim Jarmusch's ''Film/StrangerThanParadise'', 1984 and Spike Lee's ''She's Gotta Have It'', 1986, but was given a big kick by ''Film/SexLiesAndVideotape'' and ''Film/{{Slacker}}'', the latter of which Smith claimed was his direct inspiration for this film) and turned [[Creator/MiramaxFilms Miramax]] into a major distributor for said independent films, rivaled only by Polygram Filmed Entertainment and Fox Searchlight.

Some time later, Randal shows up for work. He spends most of his day at the Quick Stop rather than working, though. Dante's girlfriend, Veronica, comes over to talk to him. There he finds out that she has... had quite a lot of fun. It's yet another thing Dante obsesses over.

Later on, Dante closes up shop, because he had a hockey game to play that day. They play on the roof, but after an annoyed customer comes up, joins the game, and loses the puck, they have to stop and get back to work. They also go to a funeral, meet up with Dante's ex-girlfriend, who goes through some trauma, and get in a fight. In the end, they stop arguing and close up for the day.

* AddictionDisplacement: {{Subverted}}. Someone comes into the store to accuse the clerks of being "Death-Merchants" for serving people with cigarettes. He tries to convince every smoker to quitting smoking and start buying Chewlie's gum instead. He is then revealed to be a Chewlie's representative, merely out to sell more gum. Everyone gets kicked out of the store, and one smoker buys a pack of cigarettes before leaving.
* AlterKocker: The old man who comes into Quick Stop to use the bathroom, [[spoiler:dies while masturbating and whose body Caitlin has sex with in the dark under the assumption that it's Dante]]. He speaks with a broad Yiddish accent and calls Dante "boychik" at one point.

* ApatheticClerk: Dante and Randall both don't seem to care about their jobs working in a convenience store and video store; while Dante hates working there, Randall enjoys its undemanding nature and notes that his job would be perfect if it wasn't for the customers.

* BaguetteBeatdown: Dante and Randal have a knock-down drag-out in the Quick Stop, during which Randal whacks Dante across the face with a loaf of bread.

* BlandNameProduct: Zigzagged. Some brands have been covered up, like "Dave's Fruit Pies" instead of Hostess. And sometimes real brands are used, like Gatorade. During the conversation about the egg guy, the female customer briefly mentions "Food City", presumably the in-universe equivalent to real NYC-area grocery co-op chain Foodtown (which had a lot more stores then compared to now- an accounting scandal closed one franchise, and another franchise eventually became part of Stop and Shop). Perhaps coincidentally, there happens to be a real life chain named Food City that operates in the Southeast.
* BlatantLies: When Dante claims he was working "all day." Of course this backfires ''horribly'' because when Randall was minding the store, he sold cigarettes to a small child while not paying attention. The officer cites Dante with the fine, since he was working "all day."

* ConceptVideo: The video for Music/SoulAsylum's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esE-XvZicxE "Can't Even Tell"]] was directed by Kevin Smith, and includes all the characters from the film playing roof hockey with the band while Jay lip synchs the song by singing into a hockey stick.
** It's notable that the while the movie is in Black and White the Video is in color.

* {{Deuteragonist}}: Randall is this to Dante's protagonist, with Jay and Silent Bob sharing the tritagonist slot.

* DidNotGetTheGirl: Dante has trouble choosing between his current girlfriend Veronica or his ex Caitlin. Ultimately he realizes that Veronica is the one he loves, but thanks to Randall's interference she believes he loves Caitlin and breaks up with him. Although the ending implies he'll try to clear things up with her, related material and future films have made it clear they never got back together (or ''if'' they did, it didn't last).

* DownerEnding: In the original cut, an armed robber enters the store right after closing, shoots Dante dead and empties the cash register. The protests of the film's agent John Pierson, as well as those of damn near everyone else involved (most prominently supporter Bob Hawk and star Brian O'Halloran), led to Smith cutting the ending short, and he professes to liking the final version better.
** BittersweetEnding: The cut ending is obviously less downbeat as no main characters die. Dante has pretty much completely fucked up his love life, that he's [[IgnoredEpiphany learned pretty much nothing from the day's events]] and that both he and Randall look like they'll be stuck doing their respective jobs until the day they die, but at least they've patched up their friendship.

* EverybodyHasLotsOfSex: Dante is only in his early twenties and at least a bit of a loser being a pushover who works a dead end job. In a discussion with his girlfriend he revealed he has had ''twelve'' different sexual partners which is considerably more than the average man in a lifetime. Veronica reveals that she's performed certain...services for 37 men, though this is not treated as a normal amount.

** Even Randall's line referring to people putting gum in the locks, "Bunch of savages in this town" has an ironic ring in light of the ending.
* {{Filth}}: The scene where Randall orders new movies for the video store is a phenomenal example of how colorful fictional porn titles can get.
* FirstWorldProblems: Discussed and deconstructed. Dante acts as though his problems are out of his control, when really they're fairly normal obstacles that he could deal with if, as Randal puts it, he would just "shit or get off the pot."

** Early in the film, Dante mentions that while they were going out, Caitlin cheated on him "eight and a half" times: at a party, Dante had passed out on a bed in a bedroom with the lights off and Caitlin had sex with him shortly afterwards under the impression he was someone else. At the end of the film [[spoiler:Caitlin has sex with someone she believes to be Dante in a bathroom with the lights off]].

* FreezeFrameBonus: For the most part, despite its vulgarity, the movie is relatively clean from a visual standpoint - that is, until Randal shows the offended customer the magazine he's reading. Viewers who look closely can easily see full-page of a woman's privates being spread.

* HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday: Jay rambles about performing oral sex on Silent Bob (who remains completely deadpan throughout, suggesting he does this a lot), then leaps away, flexes menacingly and shouts, "I hate guys! I LOVE WOMEN!"

* HypocriticalHumor: After the gum representative stirring up the angry mob against Dante for selling cigarettes (so he can actually sell the gum) has gone and the mob dispersed, one of the members of the mob sheepishly buys a pack of cigarettes from Dante afterwards. Dante is less than impressed.

* IdiotBall: Dante holds it by wanting to get back together with Caitlin even though Veronica really cares about him and she SHOWS it. Jay, Silent Bob and Randal call him out on this dumb move. Jay says he's often seen Veronica do nice things for Dante like changing a flat for his car (earlier you see her bringing Dante lasagna to work just because and prevent him getting mauled by an angry mob) and says she's a keeper. Silent Bob tells Dante that "There's a million fine-looking women in the world. But they don't all bring you lasagna at work. Most of 'em just cheat on you.". Randal calls him out during an epic "The Reason You Suck" Speech. Dante lets go of it a bit too late however and Veronica dumps him anyway.

** The Gum Representative who incites the crowd of smokers to pelt Dante with cigarettes, so he can trick them to buy Gum.

** The robber in the alternate ending who shoots and kills an unarmed Dante despite it not being necessary.

*** Mostly towards Dante and Randall whom they think don't seem to be taking their assumingly simple jobs seriously.
* JerkassHasAPoint: At the peak of Dante's moaning over how badly his day's gone ("I'm not even supposed to ''be'' here today!") and how Randal's the one to blame for it, Randal snaps, noting that (a) he came to work that day of his own volition and (b) most of the bad things that happened were his own fault, such as closing the store multiple times to pursue his own interests, and trying to vainly re-ignite his relationship with an ex by cheating on his current girlfriend. He then criticizes Dante's attitude, noting that he [[KnowNothingKnowItAll constantly talks down to and belittles others]] [[SmallNameBigEgo while working a low-wage menial job at a convenience store]], and pointing out that although Jay and Silent Bob are stupid, at least they don't try to overcompensate for having what's essentially a monkey's job.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Randall. He may show his heart of gold more in ''Film/ClerksII'' but even in this film he shows he does still care deeply about his best friend, Dante.

** The robber in the alternate ending who shoots and kills Dante. Because Randal disabled the security cameras prior to the Hockey game on the roof, the cameras would never catch the robbery on film. Also after the credits of that ending Kevin Smith (as himself, not Silent Bob) steals some cigarettes and runs off after noticing Dante was murdered.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfRoles: Several actors perform multiple small roles, because Smith didn't have the money to hire more actors.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfRoles: Several actors play multiple small roles. Given the late hours and low pay, many of those cast simply failed to show up, so Smith would have anyone who happened to be around step in. David Klein (the cinematographer) and Walter Flanagan get hit the hardest with this, with five and four roles respectively.

* LuckyCharmsTitle: The original title of the movie is 'Clerks.'' (with a period at the end.)

* MoodWhiplash: {{Averted}}. The film is straight comedy that was originally going to end with Dante suddenly getting gunned down in a robbery. Kevin Smith was apparently brought to his senses.

* NeverMyFault: Dante is quick to blame all of his life's problems on everyone else without considering if or how he can improve them. He tells Randal that he's "not the kind of person who disrupts things so he can shit comfortably." This end up being the first thing Randal [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech blasts him for]] when he can't take any more of Dante's self-pity.
* NoodleIncident: Played straight (initially) . The original movie never revealed what caused Dante and Randall to knock over the casket at the funeral home, forcing them both to make a hasty exit. The tenth anniversary DVD finally reveals what happened.

** Jeff Anderson refused to read it in front of the little girl in real life. A crew member did it off set to get the reaction shots.

* OnscreenChapterTitles: There are frequent chapter titles which appear in white font on a plain black screen briefly. Most of the chapter titles are single obscure vocabulary words, like "Perspicacity" or "Dénouement."

** Randall's story of his cousin who broke his neck trying to service himself.

* PersonaNonGrata: Randal bans a woman from RST video. It's played with as she ends up angered at his {{Jerkass}} behavior and boycotts the place anyway, and Randall stating she's banned comes off as him attempting to get the last word in.

** The current customer overhears and just happens to be a contractor himself. He shares a story about how he turned down a job for a mafia boss despite the lucrative paycheck. His buddy took the job instead and ended up getting hit by a stray bullet and dying during a drive-by attack on the mobster's house. The moral being that even a ''punch-clock'' villain has to accept the risks and moral cost of the job, and anyone who took a job on the Death Star has themselves to blame.
** Creator/GeorgeLucas himself discussed this in the DVDCommentary for ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'', saying the termite-like [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Geonosian Geonosians]] were probably employed by the Empire for these means, and [[WeHaveReserves thus they were so many that that it wasn't a problem]].

-->"Oh, '''[[PrecisionFStrike fuck you! Fuck you,]]''' '''pal!''' Jesus, there you go [[NeverMyFault trying to pass the buck]]. ''I'm'' the source of all your misery. Who closed the store to play hockey? Who closed the store to go to a wake? [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Who tried to win back his ex-girlfriend without even]] '''''[[NiceJobBreakingItHero discussing]]''''' [[NiceJobBreakingItHero how he felt with his present one?!]] You wanna blame somebody? Blame '''''yourself!''''' "I'm not even supposed to be here today." ''You sound like an asshole!'' Jesus, nobody twisted your arm to be here. You're here of '''your own volition!''' You like to think the weight of the world rests on your shoulder, like this place would fall apart if ''Dante'' wasn't here. Jesus, you overcompensate for having what's basically ''a monkey's job''; '''''you push fucking buttons!''''' ''Anybody'' could waltz in here and do our jobs! You--you're always so obsessed with making it seem so much more ''epic'', so much more important than it really is. Christ, ''you work in a convenience store, Dante!'' And ''badly'', I might add! I work in a shitty video store, badly as well. You know, [[DumbassHasAPoint that guy Jay's got it right]], man. He has no ''delusions'' about what he does. Us, we like to make ourselves seem so much more important than the [[SurroundedByIdiots people that come in here to buy a paper, or, god forbid, cigarettes]]. We look down on them as if we're so ''advanced''. ''[[ArmorPiercingQuestion Well, if we're so fucking advanced,]]'' '''''[[ArmorPiercingQuestion what are we doing working]]''''' '''''[[SoulSuckingRetailJob here?]]'''''"

* SirNotAppearingInThisTrailer: Actually, it's the poster. Jay doesn't appear because Miramax executives thought Jason Mewes was too "weird looking."

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Leaning towards the cynical end due to the characters interactions on aspects of their life being young 20 something year olds.

* StupidStatementDanceMix: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K_nBEwZBg4 You'd be hard pressed to dance to it though.]]

* SurroundedByIdiots: Dante and Randal feel this way about the customers. Randal likes to rip in on the occasional customers. But not Dante, he doesn't want to get into any trouble. In Randall's defense, a lot of the customers are idiots or jerk-offs.
* TechnicalVirgin: Veronica chastises Dante for having slept with about twelve girls, while she had only been with three guys. However, soon afterwards she reveals she performed oral sex on ''thirty-seven'' different guys. Apparently, she considered it just "fooling around".

* UltimateJobSecurity: Probably the only reason Dante and Randall keep their jobs is because their boss is far away and only communicates to them by phone.

* VitriolicBestBuds: Dante and Randall. They both argue about things all the time and snark at each other (especially Randall, who seems to enjoy messing with Dante), but when it's all said and done, the two are almost inseparable buddies. Jay and Silent Bob have a similar dynamic, except Jay does most of the talking and Silent Bob ignores it with an air of sarcasm, despite not saying anything.
* WhatMeasureIsAMook: {{Discussed}} when Dante and Randall are talking about the thousands of innocent contractors that [[FridgeHorror must have been]] blown up when the Death Star was destroyed. They are then interrupted by a man who works putting up drywall who tells them about how he was offered a substantial amount of money to work on a gangster's house. He refused, but let one of his friends know, and he took the job. Later, a rival gang pulled up to the house and murdered his friend and everyone on his team trying to whack the gangster - ''who wasn't even home''. He [[FridgeHorror does not say]] whether he [[WhatTheHellHero warned his "friend"]] [[{{Hypocrite}} about the client's criminal connections.]]

* WhosWatchingTheStore: Dante and Randall close their respective stores to play hockey on the roof and go to a funeral, among other things. However, they're fully aware of this trope—in fact, the game happens on the roof in case someone turns up, and the fact that no one will be watching the store is Dante's main argument for why Randal shouldn't attend the wake (though naturally that doesn't stop him.)

* BillBillJunkBill: Randall flipping through "death cards" at Julie Dwyer's funeral. "Got it...got it...need it...got it..."

** ''Film/{{Dogma}}'' - The death cards depict Jesus as the Buddy Christ, and the card with "some angels and Jesus" depict Bartleby and Loki with Christ.
** ''Film/{{Mallrats}}'' - Willam, Steve-Dave and Walt are seen among the mourners. Alyssa also mentions that Julie's fatal aneurysm was the result of her trying to lose a few extra pounds the day before shooting ''Truth Or Date'', and that it was T.S. who indirectly caused it by mentioning that the camera "adds ten pounds."

->''Noise, noise, noise, smokin' weed, smokin' weed, doin' coke, drinkin' beers... Pack of wraps, my brotherman, time to kick back, drink some beers and SMOKE SOME WEED!''

An AnimatedAdaptation of a scene cut from the scrip before shooting began for budget reasons, explaining why Dante and Randal are chased out of the funeral parlor when they attend Julie Dwyer's wake. Animated in the style of ''WesternAnimation/ClerksTheAnimatedSeries'', it features Brian O'Halloran and Jeff Anderson reprising their roles and Joey Lauren Adams in a cameo as her character Alyssa from ''Film/ChasingAmy''.

* NoSympathy: When Dante shouts that his girlfriend sucked 37 dicks, a customer then asks: "In a row?"

* LongList: Randal confirms a list of ordered video titles as a mother approaches the counter with her young daughter. He reels off a very long list of porn titles as the customers wait in impatient consternation.

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: "If we're so fucking advanced, what are we doing working ''here?''"

-->'''Randal:''' ...we like to make ourselves seem so much more important than the people that come in here to buy a paper, or, God forbid... cigarettes. We look down on them as if we're so advanced. Well, if we're so fucking advanced, ''what are we doing working here?''

-->"Oh, [[PrecisionFStrike fuck you! Fuck you]], pal! Jesus, there you go [[NeverMyFault trying to pass the buck]]. ''I'm'' the source of all your misery. Who closed the store to play hockey? Who closed the store to go to a wake? [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Who tried to win back his ex girlfriend without even discussing how he felt with his present one?]] You wanna blame somebody? Blame yourself. "I'm not even supposed to be here today." You sound like an asshole! Jesus, nobody twisted your arm to be here. You're here of your own volition. You like to think the weight of the world rests on your shoulder. Like this place would fall apart if Dante wasn't here. Jesus, you overcompensate for having what's basically a monkey's job. You push fucking buttons. Anybody can waltz in here and do our jobs. You--You're so obsessed with making it seem so much more epic, so much more important than it really is. Christ, you work in a convenience store, Dante! And badly, I might add! I work in a shitty video store, badly as well. You know, [[DumbassHasAPoint that guy Jay's got it right]], man. He has no delusions about what he does. Us, we like to make ourselves seem so much more important than the [[SurroundedByIdiots people that come in here to buy a paper, or, god forbid, cigarettes]]. We look down on them as if we're so advanced. Well, [[ArmorPiercingQuestion if we're so fucking advanced, what are we doing working]] ''[[SoulSuckingRetailJob here]]''?"

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Perhaps leaning more towards the cynical end due to the characters interactions on aspects of their life being young 20 something year olds.

* YourCheatingHeart: Caitlin cheated on Dante 8 1/2 times in 5 years -- the "half" was because she thought he was someone else in a dark room. [[spoiler:She doesn't seem to have changed her tune by the end of the movie]].

Surprisingly for a film with profanity and vulgar references, it manages to stay quite intelligent and upon release, it was well received by critics such as Creator/RogerEbert and Creator/LeonardMaltin. The film's success helped jump start the modern independent film industry (which actually began with Jim Jarmusch's ''Film/StrangerThanParadise'', 1984 and Spike Lee's ''She's Gotta Have It'', 1986, but was given a big kick by ''Film/SexLiesAndVideotape'' and ''Film/{{Slacker}}'', the latter of which Smith claimed was his direct inspiration for this film) and turned [[Creator/MiramaxFilms Miramax]] into a major distributor for said independent films, rivaled only by Polygram Filmed Entertainment and Fox Searchlight.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: The second-to-last scene has Dante and Randal exchanging these. Dante blasts Randal for his irresponsibility and (supposedly) getting Dante into trouble with his antics which he has to fix. Then, when he can't take any more of Dante's {{Wangst}}ing, Randal fires back with a ''epic'' one about how much of an asshole he is for being even ''more'' irresponsible and [[NeverMyFault then blaming the consequences on everyone else]], eventually concluding that [[NotSoAboveItAll the two of them are idiots regardless]] because [[SmallNameBigEgo they look down on their customers from their high-and-mighty positions as store clerks]].
-->"Oh, [[PrecisionFStrike fuck you! Fuck you]], pal! Jesus, there you go [[NeverMyFault trying to pass the buck]]. I'm the source of all your misery. Who closed the store to play hockey? Who closed the store to go to a wake? [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Who tried to win back his ex girlfriend without even discussing how he felt with his present one?]] You wanna blame somebody? Blame yourself. "I'm not even supposed to be here today." You sound like an asshole! Jesus, nobody twisted your arm to be here. You're here of your own volition. You like to think the weight of the world rests on your shoulder. Like this place would fall apart if Dante wasn't here. Jesus, you overcompensate for having what's basically a monkey's job. You push fucking buttons. Anybody can waltz in here and do our jobs. You--You're so obsessed with making it seem so much more epic, so much more important than it really is. Christ, you work in a convenience store, Dante! And badly, I might add! I work in a shitty video store, badly as well. You know, [[DumbassHasAPoint that guy Jay's got it right]], man. He has no delusions about what he does. Us, we like to make ourselves seem so much more important than the [[SurroundedByIdiots people that come in here to buy a paper, or, god forbid, cigarettes]]. We look down on them as if we're so advanced. Well, [[ArmorPiercingQuestion if we're so fucking advanced, what are we doing working]] ''[[SoulSuckingRetailJob here]]''?"

* SurroundedByIdiots: Dante and Randal feel this way about the customers. Randal likes to rip in on the occasional customers. But not Dante, he doesn't want to get into any trouble.

** [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom "No time for live, Dr. Jones."]]

* DropDeadGorgeous: {{Invoked}}. When Dante and Randall get to Julie's coffin they see she's only wearing a black bikini top on her upper half, and assume she probably requested it. HilarityEnsues when they drop their keys in her lap.
* EpicFail: Dante tosses Randal the keys when the latter gets bored and asks if he can wait in the car and listen to the radio. By ''sheer coincidence'', the keys ricochet off of Randal's bad catch and fall down Julie's skirt. {{Lampshaded}} by Randal, who says he couldn't do that again if he tried.

The first part of Film/TheViewAskewniverse (though ''Mallrats'', which came out later, [[{{Prequel}} depicts the events of the day before]] the events of ''Clerks''). With the obvious exception of Jay and Silent Bob, Dante and Randal are the most frequently recurring characters in the verse, having starred in an AnimatedAdaptation, ''WesternAnimation/ClerksTheAnimatedSeries'', several comics and in 2006, a true sequel in the film, ''Film/ClerksII''.

* ToiletDrinkingDog: One opening shot is of Dante's dog drinking from the toilet.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: The second-to-last scene has Dante and Randal exchanging these. Dante blasts Randal for his irresponsibility and (supposedly) getting him into trouble with his antics. Then, when he can't take any more of Dante's {{Wangst}}ing, Randal fires back with a ''epic'' one about how much of an asshole he is for being even ''more'' irresponsible and [[NeverMyFault then blaming the consequences on everyone else]], eventually concluding that [[NotSoAboveItAll the two of them are idiots regardless]] because [[SmallNameBigEgo they look down on their customers from their high-and-mighty positions as store clerks]].

** ''Film/{{Mallrats}}'' - Willam is seen among the mourners. Alyssa also mentions that Julie's fatal aneurysm was the result of her trying to lose a few extra pounds the day before shooting ''Truth Or Date'', and that it was T.S. who indirectly caused it by mentioning that the camera "adds ten pounds."

The ultimate low-budget success story that created the behemoth that is Creator/KevinSmith (both figuratively and [[BigFun formerly literally]] speaking).