History YMMV / Clerks

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny
** As Creator/RogerEbert described in his review, most of the jobs you saw people working in movies circa 1994 were {{escapist character}}s like cops or lawyers, not average guys working at a minimum wage job, and making [[MundaneMadeAwesome an interesting movie]] about average guys who worked those jobs and sat around all day [[ContemplateOurNavels navel gazing]] about [[SeinfeldianConversation pop culture and relationships]] was highly impressive. It ended up inspiring nearly every indie comedy for the next two decades until, by TheNewTens, it was seen as achingly pretentious.[[note]]Granted, many of these films were about well-off middle class kids who [[FirstWorldProblems simply had nothing better to do than be bored]], as opposed to this film, which Smith based on his own experiences growing up in near-poverty and working a minimum wage job just to scrape by.[[/note]]
** Production-wise, a presentable-looking feature made by a group of novices getting materials and using equipment on $30,000 was an impressive feat in 1993, and part of the acclaim it received was for the consensus that it was ''as'' good as it was in spite of this. In a day and age where any reasonably talented person could make it for half that amount using a smartphone and a home computer (as was the case with ''Film/{{Tangerine}}'', produced only 21 years later, and ''Film/{{Unsane}}'', released 24 years later), it seems like overkill.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Entirely {{grunge}} soundtrack? Check. Gatorade in glass bottles? Check. Video store stocked wall-to-wall with VHS? Check. It's the early '90s all right!

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Entirely {{grunge}} soundtrack? Check. Doc Martens and acid wash? Check. Video store stocked wall-to-wall with VHS? Check. It's the early '90s all right!

** Randal's appalled reaction to Dante's story about two of their male classmates getting married, calling it "frightening," "lurid," and referring to homosexuality as a "deviant lifestyle". In 1994 (well to be honest, most of the 20th century as well as the 2000's) heterosexual men being repulsed by and mocking omosexuality was generally accepted, while openly expressing this sentiment today is not.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: The Quick Stop is still open today. The RST Video next to it is shuttered, but all the tapes (and later DVDs) and other signage can be seen inside the abandoned shop, collecting dust. Fans of Creator/KevinSmith see it almost as a pilgrimage to visit it.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: The Quick Stop is still open today. The RST Video next to it is shuttered, but all the tapes and other signage can be seen inside the abandoned shop, collecting dust. Fans of Creator/KevinSmith see it almost as a pilgrimage to visit it.

* NarmCharm: You can forgive a lot of the film's flaws, maybe even find them endearing, when you remember that it was made on a $30,000 budget.

** Randal's appalled reaction to Dante's story about two of their male classmates getting married, calling it "frightening," "lurid," and referring to homosexuality as a "deviant lifestyle". In 1994 straight men being repulsed by homosexuality was generally accepted, while openly expressing this sentiment today is not.

* {{Wangst}}: {{Lampshaded}}. Dante does this all the time, to the point where Caitlin comes to visit him specifically because she knows he's probably spent the whole day agonizing over the wedding announcement. It's even implied that his self-pity is entirely the result of his refusal to get over Caitlin, a girl he dated in ''high school'' whom he has every reason not to care about any more. By the penultimate scene, Randal has finally had enough and tells Dante to get over himself.

* ItWasHisSled: Silent Bob speaks.

** Randall calling Jay a junkie is a dig at him being a stoner, but it becomes less funny when you know that Creator/JasonMewes struggled with heroin addiction for many years.

** Honestly, the entire film becomes this when you know [[spoiler: Dante and Randall will continue working shitty customer service jobs well into their 40s, that Randall will suffer a heart attack, and Dante will lose his wife and child before passing away in middle age.]]

** Randall's monologue on the destruction of the second Death Star in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' included the statement that storm troopers don't know jack about installing toilet mains. Then ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' gives us Finn, a storm trooper who worked on Starkiller Base (the SpiritualSuccessor to the Death Star) in sanitation. This means there might be at least one storm trooper who knows how to install a toilet main after all.
*** In the same scene, when Randall poses the possibility of independent contractors still being on the second Death Star when it was blown up and questions if they were innocent lives lost in a war they had no loyalty to either side of, a customer joins in on the conversation and expresses NoSympathy, firmly stating that they ultimately were helping the Empire and knew the risk involved, stating their deaths were their own fault. In ''Series/TheMandalorian'', a pilot tries to act like the lives lost on the Death Stars were innocent people murdered in cold blood while the galaxy cheered their deaths, and he also gets NoSympathy for his MoralMyopia.

** Randall's appalled reaction to Dante's story about two of their male classmates getting married, calling it "frightening," "lurid," and referring to homosexuality as a "deviant lifestyle". In 1994 straight men being repulsed by homosexuality was generally accepted, while openly expressing this sentiment today is not.

--> '''Randall''': '''OH, FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU, PAL!''' [...] "I'm not even supposed to be here today", you sound like an asshole!

*** Similarly, Rick Derris chiding Dante for his health and supposedly being out of shape when [[spoiler:Dante ends up dying to heart attack before he even reaches 50.]]