Line #76 Film/Clerks


1	[[quoteright:305:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/clerks_original_movie_poster_kevin_smith1.jpg]]
2
3	->''"Creator/QuentinTarantino has become famous as a video store clerk who watched all the movies in his store, and then went out and directed ''Film/ReservoirDogs'' and ''Film/PulpFiction''. Creator/KevinSmith has done him one better, by working behind the counter and then making a movie about the store itself."''
4	-->-- '''Creator/RogerEbert'''
5
6	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.
7
8	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 its [[{{Grunge}} grunge]]- and [[PunkRock punk]]-oriented soundtrack were added in, making it one of the few films in history where the rights to the soundtrack actually cost more than the film.
9
10	''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 Flanagan]], Creator/JasonMewes and Scott Mosier) and family (in various small roles), Smith himself, and a few local actors (such as Creator/BrianOHalloran, who plays the lead role of Dante Hicks). When released, the film made its budget back several times over, and its success enabled Smith to make [[Film/{{TheViewAskewniverse}} several more films with some of the same characters and settings]].
11
12	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 ''Film/StrangerThanParadise'' and ''Film/ShesGottaHaveIt'' 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.
13
14	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 (as he will constantly remind you) isn't even supposed to be there that day - it's his day off, but he was forced to cover a coworker's morning shift.
15
16	Sometime 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.
17
18	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.
19
20	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 ''Film/ClerksII''. A third film, ''Film/ClerksIII'', was eventually picked up by Creator/{{Lionsgate}} and released in 2022.
21	----
22
23	!!I'm not even supposed to TROPE here today!:
24
25	* AccidentalAdultery:
26	** {{Inverted\|Trope}} in the backstory. Dante's girlfriend Caitlin once ''intended'' to cheat on him at a costume party and arranged to meet another guy in a darkened bedroom. She got the wrong bedroom and instead unknowingly had sex with Dante, who was there passed out.
27	** Played straight later in the film. Shortly after [[spoiler: getting back together with Dante, Caitlin enters a darkened bathroom and has sex with what she thinks is an uncharacteristically silent and stoic Dante. It turns out to be [[ILoveTheDead the corpse of a man who had earlier suffered a fatal heart attack]]. Upon learning the truth, she goes into shock]].
28	* 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 quit 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.
29	* AnAesop: As Randal puts it, "shit or get off the pot." In other words, the moral is "take responsibility for your life": self improvement isn't easy, but it's not impossible either, so if you're unhappy with your life and have the means to improve it, you need to accept that it'll take hard work and dedication. Otherwise, just accept what you have for what it is. Wallowing in self-pity will only make you more miserable and drive other people away.
30	* AlterKocker: The old man who comes into Quick Stop to use the bathroom, [[spoiler:dies while masturbating and whose body Caitlin has sex within the dark under the assumption that it's Dante]]. He speaks with a broad Yiddish accent and calls Dante "boychik" at one point.
31	* AndNinetyNineCents: Dante remarks that all prices end in 0.99. And yet in the background, all the prices end with the number five.
32	* AntiHero: Dante and Randal are examples — not especially moral and not especially successful. Jay and Silent Bob also count, being crude, rude drug dealers who nevertheless dispense wisdom and help out the main characters — when they aren't the main characters themselves.
33	* ApatheticClerk: Dante and Randal both don't seem to care about their jobs working in a convenience store and video store; while Dante hates working there, Randal enjoys its undemanding nature and notes that his job would be perfect if it wasn't for the customers.
34	* ApatheticPet: Lenin's Tomb (the cat living at the store) looks on disinterestedly as Dante and Randall have an epic fight through the store.
35	* ArcNumber: 37 gets bandied around rather a lot. [[spoiler:It's the number of dicks that Dante's girlfriend Veronica has sucked (though not in a row), including Dante]].
36	* ArmorPiercingQuestion: "''Well, if we're so fucking advanced'', '''''what are we doing working here?'''''"
37	* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: A mother and small child come into the video store to order ''Happy Scrappy Hero Pup''. Randal phones the distributors and orders a long list of increasingly disturbing porn titles, ending by turning to the mother and saying "Uh, what was that called again?"
38	* TheArtifact: Ends with a SequelHook for ''Film/{{Dogma}}'', which ended up being the third sequel.
39	* ArtisticLicenseFilmProduction: Randal comes into the convenience store telling Dante that he just had a revelation watching ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', however none of the sound effects are from it.
40	* AsHimself: ZigZagged with Jay. Kevin Smith wrote the part for Jason Mewes because he wanted the rest of the world to see how naturally funny Mewes is. Everything that Jay does is based on things that Mewes would do to amuse himself, which is why Smith had to more or less teach Mewes how to do it in a way that'd be entertaining for other people.
41	* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: The stupid customers...
42	-->'''Video store customer:''' Do you have that one with that guy who was in the movie that was out last year? ...Oooo! ''Film/{{Navy Seals\|1990}}''!
43	* AuthorAvatar: Kevin Smith specifically wrote the part of Randal for himself ([[WordOfGod "Which is why he has all the best lines!"]]) but found himself unable to handle such a big part in addition to directorial duties-- which is why Jeff Anderson was brought in.
44	* AuthorFilibuster: In the last ten minutes, Kevin Smith's voice hops from one character to another every time someone opens their mouth. In fact, this tends to be the method by which he concludes all his films.
45	* 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.
46	* BedTrick: Dante pulls an unintentional one on Caitlin Bree in the backstory. He passes out in a darkened bedroom at a party and wakes up to find Caitlin in bed with him. The two have sex, and he only later learns that she had arranged to meet another man there and believed herself to be sleeping with him. He counts this as the "half" of her eight and a half acts of infidelity. The incident is later inverted when she enters a darkened bathroom and has sex with what she believes is an uncharacteristically silent, stoic Dante, but is in fact the corpse of a man who had suffered a fatal heart attack hours earlier.
47	* BettyAndVeronica: Dante is dating Veronica (Betty) when an old flame from high school comes back into his life, Caitlin Bree (Veronica). Veronica brings him lasagna at work and is trying to get Dante back in school. Caitlin is engaged (but calls off the wedding), and cheated on Dante in high school. He winds up trying to go for Caitlin, and losing them both. Veronica dumps him, and Caitlin goes catatonic after screwing [[spoiler:a random dead guy]] in the Quick Stop's restroom, thinking it was Dante.
48	* 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 two stoners out the front, and one comes to terms with his girlfriend's promiscuous past. Made on a budget of barely above $25,000 with the director's friends and family, in the very shop in which he actually worked; it grossed millions, pioneered Film/TheViewAskewniverse, and kick-started the independent film industry.
49	* BlackComedy: The whole film qualifies, but especially the ending, which features [[spoiler:Caitlin accidentally having sex with a dead guy and having a mental breakdown over it]].
50	* 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.
51	* BlatantLies: When Dante claims he was working "all day." Of course, this backfires ''horribly'' because when Randal 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."
52	** Jay's denial about dealing drugs in front of the store:
53	--->'''Dante:''' How many times have I told you not to be dealing in front of the store?\
54	'''Jay:''' I'm not dealin', man. What you talkin' about?\
55	'''Burner:''' Hey, you got anything, man?\
56	'''Jay:''' Yeah, what you want?
57	* BreadEggsMilkSquick: Dante rationalizes Caitlin's history of cheating on him to Randal, saying that aside from the cheating they were a great couple. After all, "that's what high school was about: algebra, bad lunch, and infidelity."
58	* BottleEpisode: The film is set almost entirely within a convenience store to keep costs down. Even the DeliberatelyMonochrome feel of the movie was to keep costs down.
59	* BrickJoke:
60	** Randal mentions that he once had a cousin who died attempting auto-fellatio. [[spoiler:Which is later confirmed by the coroner attending Caitlin's situation.]]
61	** Dante tells Randal a story about how Caitlin had sex with him in a darkened room thinking he was someone else. Caitlin would later [[spoiler:have sex in the darkened bathroom with a dead man thinking it is Dante; the man in question was ''also'' a brick joke, having gone back there in the first half of the movie]].
62	* BrilliantButLazy: Randal. Cunning, manipulative, acid-tongued, and very obviously whip-smart, yet content (in a discontented way) with his lot in life as a store clerk (and he doesn't even take ''that'' seriously.)
63	** Dante too, according to Veronica; she thinks he's got a lot of potential that's going to waste in the Quick Stop and makes an attempt to push Dante into considering re-enrolling in higher education.
64	* ButtMonkey: Dante, although it's largely his own fault.
65	* CantYouReadTheSign: Many of the two stores' customers.
66	* CatchPhrase:
67	** "I'm not even supposed to be here today!"
68	** "I'll fuck anything that '''moooooves!'''"
69	** "Noise, noise, noise, smokin' weed, smokin' weed..."
70	** "Bunch of savages in this town."
71	** "37?"
72	* ChekhovsGunman: [[spoiler:The elderly, bathroom-using customer (see below.)]]
73	* ClusterFBomb: If the heading quote wasn't a warning, ''this'' is.
74	** So much so that the MPAA was originally going to rate the movie NC-17 ''solely'' for the language and sex and drug references.
75	* ClutchingHandTrap: The idiot customer with the Pringles can. Dante subtly points this out by pouring the remaining Pringles into his hand while telling the customer that "sometimes you just need to let those hard-to-reach chips go."
76	* ConceptVideo: The video for Music/SoulAsylum's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP78Wc3-EGg "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-syncs the song by singing into a hockey stick.
77	** It's notable that, while the movie is in black and white, the video is in color.
78	* ConversationalTroping: The main characters discuss a lot of pop culture. For example:
79	-->'''Randal:''' Which did you like better? ''[[Film/ReturnOfTheJedi Jedi]]'' or ''[[Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack Empire Strikes Back]]''\
80	'''Dante:''' ''Empire''.\
81	'''Randal:''' Blasphemy.\
82	'''Dante:''' ''Empire'' had the better ending. I mean, Luke gets his hand cut off, finds out Vader's his father, Han gets frozen and taken away by Boba Fett. It ends on such a down note. I mean, that's what life is, a series of [[DownerEnding down endings]]. All ''Jedi'' had was a bunch of {{Muppet}}s.
83	* CountryMatters: One of the porno movies that Randal orders is ''Girls Who Crave Cunt''.
84	* CoversAlwaysLie: By the look of the poster, you would think that Veronica, Caitlin, and Silent Bob are also clerks.
85	* CriticalPsychoanalysisFailure: The man trying to find the perfect egg is revealed by a customer to be a guidance counselor, and his search for the perfect egg is him coping with his own ineptitude at counseling.
86	* CruelTwistEnding: The original ending: After Dante goes through hell on Earth during what was supposed to be his day off, [[DiabolusExMachina a robber comes in and murders him]]. The end. An earlier scene where Dante chose ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' as his favorite ''Franchise/StarWars'' movie specifically because [[DownerEnding 'it ended on such a down note']] can be considered a twisted form of {{Foreshadowing}} to this.
87	* 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; music: c. $200,000).
88	* CutawayGag: Happens a couple times, mainly when Dante and Randall are talking about customers that annoy them.
89	* DeadpanSnarker: Randal Graves is this mixed with a generous helping of {{Jerkass}}.
90	* DeliberatelyMonochrome: Not for any artistic reasons, though. It was shot in mono simply because the cameras and film stock were cheaper.
91	* {{Denouement}}: The film took out all the guesswork for its audience — "Dénouement" was the final title card.
92	* {{Deuteragonist}}: Randal is this to Dante's protagonist, with Jay and Silent Bob sharing the tritagonist slot.
93	* DiabolusExMachina: The film originally ended with a robber killing Dante, but after the distributor complained that this was pointlessly violent and tragic, the scene was removed.
94	* DidNotGetTheGirl: Dante has trouble choosing between his current girlfriend Veronica or his ex-girlfriend Caitlin. Ultimately he realizes that Veronica is the one he loves, but thanks to Randal'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 that they never got back together (or if they did, then it didn't last).
95	* DidntWantAnAdventure: Dante's day is spent in the purgatory of serving a succession of customers while bemoaning how he is "not even supposed to be here today."
96	* DirtyOldMan: The customer who asks to borrow porno mags while using the bathroom [[spoiler:and dies in there]].
97	* {{Dismotivation}}: Dante.
98	* DownerEnding: In the original cut, an armed robber enters the store right after closing, shoots Dante dead, and empties the cash register (and since Randal disconnected the security camera earlier in the day, the robber will probably never be caught). 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.
99	** BittersweetEnding: The cut ending is obviously less downbeat as no main characters die. However, Dante has pretty much completely fucked up his love life, he's [[IgnoredEpiphany learned pretty much nothing from the day's events]], and both he and Randal look like they'll be stuck doing their respective jobs until the day they die, but at least they've patched up their friendship.
100	* DumbassHasAPoint: Silent Bob makes a good point about Veronica being a good girlfriend.
101	-->'''Silent Bob:''' You know, there's a million fine-looking women in the world, dude. But they don't all bring you lasagna at work. Most of 'em just cheat on you.
102	* EarlyBirdCameo: In the music video "Can't Even Tell," there's a little boy with a ball (just like the View Askew bumper) wearing a helmet.
103	* ElderlyAilmentRambling: An elderly man convinces Dante to let him use the "Employees Only" restroom by stating that at his age, he didn't always make it in time. He convinced him to let him take a roll of high-end toilet paper by stating that the cheap stuff would really "knock his hemorrhoids around". And the porno mag was just because the drawings "made him laugh" (at which point Dante was pretty much just trying to get rid of the guy).
104	* EstablishingCharacterMoment: The very first image of the movie is Dante's dog sitting up on his bed, shortly before Dante sleepily tumbles out of his closet, having apparently slept the previous night on a pile of dirty clothes. It establishes right away not only that he's a slacker, but also that he's such a [[ExtremeDoormat pushover]] that he won't even shoo his ''dog'' off his bed to sleep comfortably.
105	** Jay and Silent Bob's introduction has the two posting up outside of the store, Jay doing a goofy dance, and then going on a profane tangent about sex, by turns offering to suck Silent Bob's dick and then [[ArmoredClosetGay immediately switching to a homophobic screed]] [[HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday about how much he loves women]]. Meanwhile, [[TheStoic Silent Bob just smokes his cigarette and takes his friend's fooling in stride.]]
106	* 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 that 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.
107	* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: Three guesses as to what this movie's about.
108	* ExtremelyShortTimespan: The movie opens with Dante getting woken up by a phone call from his boss telling him to come in on his day off, then follows him all the way to closing time at 9 PM, approximately 12 hours later.
109	* FailedASpotCheck: In the Quick Stop, a customer asks the camera how much something is. The camera then pulls back to show a display for what she's got, covered in signage advertising that everything on that shelf was 99 cents. A similar joke was used moments before in RST, with the same customer asking where the new movies are.
110	* {{Fauxshadow}}: The film originally ended with [[spoiler:Dante getting shot by a robber and bleeding to death behind the counter]], and there are several {{orphaned reference}}s throughout the movie as a result:
111	** Dante bemoaning how he's "not even supposed to be here today."
112	** The discussion of how life is just a series of downer endings.
113	** Dante's claim that ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' is the superior ''Franchise/StarWars'' film because "it ends on such a down note".
114	** The observation that all the prices end in nines. Guess what time Dante's shift ends?
115	** Even Randal's line referring to people putting gum in the locks, "Bunch of savages in this town", has an ironic ring in light of the original ending.
116	* {{Filth}}: The scene where Randal orders new movies for the video store is a phenomenal example of how colorful fictional porn titles can get.
117	* 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."
118	* {{Foil}}: Two-person example. The Jay/Silent Bob duo is a {{Foil}} for the Dante/Randal one. Both of them are pairs of VitriolicBestBuds, with a cocky, fair-haired {{Red Oni\|BlueOni}} and a more cool-headed, dark-haired Blue Oni with a goatee. The difference is that (as Randal points out at the end) Jay and Silent Bob actually ''choose'' their bottom-rung jobs and freely embrace their status as hopeless lowlives, while Dante and Randal are still riddled with angst about theirs.
119	* {{Foreshadowing}}
120	** 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 afterward 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]].
121	** Dante also jokes that he's willing to fuck a vegetable because "they [[BlackComedyRape put up the least amount of struggle]]." What does Caitlin say when she [[spoiler:thinks she and Dante had sex in the bathroom? "He let me do all the work."]]
122	* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Dante is melancholic, Randal is sanguine, Jay is choleric, and Silent Bob is phlegmatic.
123	* 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 that he's reading. Viewers who look closely can easily see the full-page of a woman's privates being spread.
124	--->"I think you can see her kidneys!"
125	* FrothyMugsOfWater: Averted. That weed wasn't a prop.
126	* FunnyForeigner: Olaf, Silent Bob's Russian cousin.
127	* GayBravado: In their introductory scene, staunchly heterosexual (later confirmed to be [[ArmoredClosetGay deeply-closeted bi]]) Jay randomly tells his HeterosexualLifePartner Silent Bob that he's "cute as hell" and he wouldn't mind going down on him. He then [[GayMoment mimes this]], then realizes what he's doing, calls Bob a faggot, and announces to no one in particular [[HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday "I LOVE WOMEN!!"]]
128	* GodwinsLaw: The gum marketer compares shop-clerks who sell cigarettes to Nazis.
129	* GilliganCut: "Nobody's there, 4 o'clock on a Saturday. How many people ever come to the store at 4 on a Saturday?" Cut to an angry mob trying to get in the store.
130	** And immediately before, when Dante stated that he would not close the store again.
131	* GonnaNeedMoreX: The misquote ("We're...") of the ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' example is used during the "salsa shark" bit.
132	* HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday:
133	** 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!"
134	** Completely averted with Randal, who has no problem watching transgender porn.
135	--->"Beautiful chicks with dicks that put mine to shame."
136	* HeterosexualLifePartners: Jay and Silent Bob. Also Dante and Randal. Which leads to a fair amount of Ho Yay. (See YMMV tab.)
137	* HigherEducationIsForWomen: Dante dropped out of college to work in an awful job; his girlfriend Veronica stays in college and tries to persuade him to return.
138	* HitlerAteSugar: Used in a scene where a 'Chewley's' gum representative is trying to stir up anti-cigarette sentiment in order to sell gum as a substitute. He tells the protagonist that shopkeepers who sell cigarettes are equal to Nazis because clerks like him are only following orders, and so did the Nazis. This is ironic as the Nazis hated smoking. Granted it's a flawed argument considering he obviously has no choice in what he sells and nobody is forced to buy it, but his customers are stirred into pelting him with cigarettes anyway.
139	* HypocriteHasAPoint: Dante may not have nearly as much integrity as he likes to think he does, and is every bit as irresponsible at his workplace as Randal, but he is correct that Randal should conduct himself better and take his obligations more seriously. Randal isn't just irresponsible at his workplace; he's downright ''malicious''. He's openly rude to customers for no reason, he lists off a bunch of porn titles in front of a mother and child just to be a jerk, he spits in a customer's face because he doesn't want to listen to his small talk to Dante, curses and talks about inappropriate things in front of customers, flashes porn in one's face when he expresses his outrage, and has the gall to [[NeverMyFault believe that it's everyone else]] [[EntitledBastard who's the problem]]. Dante, for all his issues, at least tries to conduct himself in a professional manner. It doesn't help that Randal's antics risk reflecting poorly on Dante and he often ends up being the one paying for them.
140	* HypocriticalHumor:
141	** 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 afterward. Dante is less than impressed.
142	** Lampshaded when they point out that Randal hates people but loves social gatherings. Also he plans to rent a movie at a video store despite working at RST Video, justified when Randal claims "I work in a shitty video store!"
143	** Jay is asked if Silent Bob's Russian cousin Olaf only speaks Russian-- he responds "Naw, he speaks some English, but he cannot speak it good like we do."
144	* ILoveTheDead: [[spoiler:Caitlin unwittingly has sex with a dead man in the bathroom, assuming that it's Dante]].
145	* 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 that 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 TheReasonYouSuck Speech. Dante lets go of it a bit too late, however, and Veronica dumps him anyway.
146	* IfYouEverDoAnythingToHurtHer: The otherwise childish and adolescent Randal Graves seriously warns "Oh, hey, Caitlin. Break his heart again this time, and I'll kill ya. Nothing personal."
147	* IgnorantMinion: Dante and Randal have a spirited debate about whether the contractors building the Death Star were Ignorant Minions whom the Rebel Alliance murders, or knowing parts of the villainous Empire.
148	* IgnoredEpiphany: Despite Silent Bob's words of wisdom leading Dante to realize that he loves Veronica instead of Caitlin, and Randal's TheReasonYouSuckSpeech berating him for "pining for one and fuck[ing] the other," Dante ends the film planning to both attempt to patch things up with Veronica and visit Caitlin in the hospital. [[HereWeGoAgain The implication is that he hasn't really changed.]]
149	* InsaneTrollLogic: In the extended edition, Randal persuades a customer to rent ''Film/SmokeyAndTheBanditPart3''. When the man complains that Creator/BurtReynolds isn't in it, Randal replies, "Well, he wasn't in ''Film/{{ET}}'' either and that was a good movie".
150	* InsistentTerminology. "Asian design major".
151	** Also, unlike real life, no one buying cigarettes asks for a specific brand or type. They just say "cigarettes".
152	* IntercourseWithYou:
153	-->My love for you is like a truck, BER-SER-KER!\
154	Would you like some making fuck, BER-SER-KER!
155	* {{Jerkass}}:
156	** Randal, so much.
157	** Also, to some extent, Dante. At least when it comes to the women that he dates, and to blaming all his problems on other people.
158	** Rick Derris, who tells Dante to his face that he used to fuck Caitlin while she was still dating Dante.
159	** Most of the customers are incredible jerkasses.
160	--->'''Randal:''' This job would be great if it wasn't for the fucking customers.
161	** Wynarski, the disgruntled RST Video customer who says to Dante that the reason he's working in the Quick Stop and not doing an honest day's work is because he (Dante) is a wise-ass, is also one. Dante threw his keys away in retaliation.
162	--->'''Customer:''' Excuse me, have you seen a set of keys lying around somewhere?\
163	'''Randal:''' [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom No time for love, Dr. Jones.]]\
164	'''Customer:''' Fucking kids.
165	** Dante and Randal's boss (who was never named in the final cut, but a trimmed portion of the phone call has him named as Mr. Schneider). Turns out, he isn't coming in later, he instead ran off to ''Vermont'' for four days.
166	** The Chewlies representative incites the crowd of smokers to pelt Dante with cigarettes, so he can trick them into buying gum.
167	** The lawyer near the end; you can tell that he's hardly containing his glee when he issues out that summons.
168	*** {{Justified\|Trope}} in that he thinks that he's bringing in [[YouMonster an asshole who sold a pack of cigarettes to a little girl]].
169	** The robber in the alternate ending shoots and kills an unarmed Dante despite it not being necessary.
170	* 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.
171	-->'''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?'''''
172	** Sanford, one of Dante and Randal's friends.
173	--->'''Sanford:''' Responsibility? What responsibility? You're closing the fucking store to play hockey!\
174	'''Randal:''' He may be blunt, but he's got a point.
175	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Randal. He may show his heart of gold more in ''Film/ClerksII'' and ''Film/ClerksIII'', but even in this film, he shows that he does still care deeply about his best friend, Dante.
176	* JustFollowingOrders: Used along with a healthy dose of GodwinsLaw. A man berates Dante in front of customers for selling cigarettes, accusing him of being just like the Nazis since he's "only following orders," and tells customers that they should buy Chewlies Gum instead (because selling a dangerous product to a willing consumer is just like gassing innocent people). The man is later revealed as a Chewlies Gum salesman.
177	* KarmaHoudini:
178	** Randal sells cigarettes to a little girl and Dante ends up getting saddled with the fine. And unlike everything else in the film, he doesn't even get properly [[WhatTheHellHero called out on it]]. Mostly because Dante was distracted by Caitlin's arrival.
179	** The robber in the alternate ending that 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 that Dante had been murdered.
180	* KissingCousins: Jay mentions that he'd be willing to knock boots with a girl who just happens to be his cousin.
181	* LeaveTheCameraRunning: Many scenes, particularly the one [[InWhichATropeIsDescribed in which we are introduced to]] ChekhovsGunman. This was done primarily due to lack of physical space -- the Quick Stop is a tiny, tiny building -- and budget and lighting constraints.
182	** When Jason Mewes performed his dance to "Violent Mood Swings," he was so overcome with stage fright that he asked that the crew all leave while he and Kevin Smith did the scene. They all hid in the video store and watched to make sure nobody stole the camera.
183	* 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 increasingly obscene porn titles as the customers wait in impatient consternation.
184	* LoveMartyr: According to a throwaway line from Veronica's furious breakup speech to him, all of Dante's {{Wangst}} is just his refusal to get over Caitlin, a girl who was frequently unfaithful to him and dumped him in high school.
185	* LuckyCharmsTitle: The original title of the movie is 'Clerks.'' (with a period in the end.)
186	* MeaningfulName: The central character has the unusual first name of Dante. Work, and life in general by extension, [[Literature/TheDivineComedy is hell for him]].
187	** Made even more meaningful when [[spoiler:the Quick Stop [[StealthPun burns down]]]] in ''Film/ClerksII''.
188	* MoodSwinger: The jolly guy who reads the tabloids gets extremely pissed when Randal spits his drink at him to shut up, though this is an entirely justified response.
189	* MoodWhiplash: The original cut. The film is mostly a straight comedy [[spoiler:that ends with Dante suddenly getting gunned down in a robbery. Kevin Smith was promptly talked out of ending things on such a bleak note, and he cut out the robbery incident entirely from the final release.]]
190	* MyGirlIsNotASlut: "37!!"
191	** "In a row?"
192	* MythologyGag: The first use of "37," later a [[ArcNumber recurring number throughout Smith's movies]].
193	** In a row?
194	* NarrativeFiligree: The film is about 5% plot and 95% chat. A particularly famous digression has to do with the ethics of blowing up ''Death Star II''.
195	* 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 ends up being the first thing Randal [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech blasts him for]] when he can't take any more of Dante's self-pity.
196	* NoodleIncident: Played straight (initially). The original movie never revealed what caused Dante and Randal 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.
197	* NoPlotNoProblem: ''Clerks'' doesn't really have an actual plot, as it's basically just two guys at a convenience store.
198	* NoSuchThingAsHR: Dante and Randal do pretty much whatever they want at the Quick Stop and survive the day with no repercussions, mainly because the bosses are far away, giving their orders by phone.
199	** Even under normal conditions, such small retail jobs like convenience stores and gas stations are typically light on supervision. So there's a pretty good chance that even if the boss ''wasn't'' out of state they'd face little or no repercussions for what they pulled.
200	* NoSympathy:
201	** When Dante shouts that his girlfriend sucked 37 dicks, a customer then asks: "In a row?"
202	** The roofer that Randell and Dante talk with expresses no sympathy for any PunchClockVillain that got killed working on the second Death Star, stating that they knew the risks when they took the job.
203	* NotInFrontOfTheKid: Averted big time in the "Happy Scrappy" scene. A mother with a pre-school-age daughter asks Randal if they could special-order "Happy Scrappy, Hero Pup." Randal then gets on the phone to the supplier and proceeds to rattle off a huge list of increasingly [[IntentionallyAwkwardTitle vulgarity-laced porno movie titles]]. In the script, but not in the film, the little girl ends up blurting out [[CountryMatters one of the more caustic words]].
204	** 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.
205	* NothingPersonal: "Oh, hey, Caitlin, break his heart again this time and I'll kill ya. Nothing personal."
206	* TheOner: The scene where Dante confronts Caitlin about her marriage to an Asian design major in the video store is done in one shot, which lasts for over five minutes. It was shot on the first night of filming.
207	* OnscreenChapterTitles: There are frequent chapter titles that appear in white font on a plain black screen briefly. Most of the chapter titles are single obscure vocabulary words, like "Perspicacity" or "Dénouement."
208	* OutWithABang: Subverted. The old man Caitlin has sex with (thinking that he is Dante) is already dead. He had died while masturbating.
209	** Randal's story of his cousin who broke his neck trying to service himself.
210	* ParrotExposition: Randal will say something odd, Dante will repeat it, Randal will elaborate.
211	* 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 Randal stating she's banned comes off as him attempting to get the last word in.
212	* PhraseCatcher: Dante gets variants of "Why do you smell of shoe polish?" on a fairly regular basis during the film.
213	* ProductPlacement: It's subtle, but Randal wears an [=AT&T=] shirt under his flannel (Jeff Anderson was working for them at the time).
214	* PulledFromYourDayOff: The entire film is the story of a day in the life of Dante, a convenience store clerk. It opens with him being called into work on his day off, and the rest of the film is a chronicle of Dante's misadventures during the day.
215	* PunchClockVillain: Dante and Randal debate the ethics of the Rebels blowing up the Death Star in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', given that many of the workers building it were probably independent contractors with no particular allegiance to the Empire.
216	** 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 gangster 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.
217	** 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 it wasn't a problem]].
218	* QuitYourWhining: Randal does this to Dante after their fight in the Quick-Stop, following with a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech.
219	* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Creator/KevinSmith actually worked at the convenience store depicted, and had to film his movie at night when it was closed, necessitating the whole "Gum in the window shutter locks" subplot to explain why they were down the entire time.
220	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: The second-to-last scene has Dante and Randal exchanging these. Dante blasts Randal for his irresponsibility and (intentionally?) 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]].
221	-->'''Danté:''' You get me slapped with a fine [for selling a little girl cigarettes], you argue with the customers and I have to patch everything up, you get us thrown out of a funeral by violating the corpse, and then to top it all off, you ruin my relationship! I mean, what's your encore? [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Do you, like, anally rape my mother while pouring sugar in my gas tank?]] ([[{{Beat}} ...]]) You know the real tragedy about all of this is? ''I'M NOT EVEN SUPPOSED TO BE HERE TODAY!''
222	-->'''Randall:''' 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''. ''Well, if we're so fucking advanced,'' '''''[[ArmorPiercingQuestion what are we doing]] working [[SoulSuckingRetailJob here?]]'''''
223	* RescueEquipmentAttack: Veronica sprays the crowd pelting Dante with cigarettes with the foam from a fire extinguisher, and threatens to do so to the nicotine gum sales rep who incited the crowd.
224	* RevisedEnding: The original DownerEnding was changed to a BittersweetEnding by removing the very last scene, which would have been the shooting of Dante. This meant that a whole lot of {{Foreshadowing}} ended up orphaned. However, it's quite likely that the entirety of ''Film/TheViewAskewniverse'', including direct sequels such as ''Film/ClerksII'' and ''WesternAnimation/ClerksTheAnimatedSeries'', would have been nullified by this original ending.
225	* RunningGag:
226	** "What smells like shoe polish?"
227	** "I'm not even supposed to be here today."
228	** "Thirty-seven?!"
229	** "I heard she's getting married to an Asian design major."
230	* SeinfeldianConversation: Sums up 85-90% of the movie.
231	* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: "Okay, but you're living in denial and suppressing rage, motherfucker".
232	* SexyPackaging: The Australian "special edition" DVD (which they called the 'Snowball Edition') proudly displayed the logo atop the midsection of a bikini-clad model. Because, you know, that perfectly sums up a black-and-white movie about the drab life of a convenience store clerk.
233	* ShamingTheMob: "Bunch of easily-led automatons! Try thinking for yourselves before you pelt an innocent man with cigarettes!"
234	* ShootTheShaggyDog: In the original ending, Dante is shot and killed in a robbery.
235	* ShoutOut:
236	** Caitlin's name is a reference to Caitlin Ryan from ''Series/DegrassiHigh''.
237	** Jay's proclamation of [[Film/BlueVelvet "I'll fuck anything that moves!"]]
238	** [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom "No time for love, Dr. Jones."]]
239	* 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.
240	* TheSilentBob: {{Trope Namer\|s}}.
241	* SillyWalk: The wrangle, better known to fans as "The Randal Strut."
242	** 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 [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubbing_(filmmaking)#ADR/post-sync 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.
243	* SimpletonVoice: The customer who gets his hand stuck in a Pringles can.
244	* SirNotAppearingInThisTrailer: Actually, it's the poster. Jay doesn't appear because Miramax executives thought Jason Mewes was too "weird-looking."
245	** The explanation Smith gives in one of the ''Evening with Kevin Smith'' [=DVDs=] says that the cameraman was simply too impatient to wait for Mewes to show up, and didn't really care that Silent Bob wasn't really Silent Bob without the baseball cap.
246	* TheSlacker: Jay and Silent Bob and Randal. ''Especially'' Randal.
247	** Dante pretends to be different, but nobody's fooled -- he's at work of his own free will, even if he pretends otherwise.
248	* SliceOfLife: A day in the life of slackers who work at a convenience store and the video store next door.
249	* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Leaning towards the cynical and bleak side due to the characters' interactions on aspects of their screwed-up life as young twenty-somethings, with the original ending in particular turning the film into a depressing ShootTheShaggyDog story. The sequels however are more optimistic and heartfelt.
250	* SoulSuckingRetailJob: A convenience store-sized version, but nonetheless one of the best on-screen examples of miserable retail work.
251	* SpeechCentricWork: Setting the trend for many of Smith's later efforts, the film is light on plot, heavy on dialogue.
252	* StealthPun: Several of the customers' purchases. The woman who manually masturbates caged animals is buying jerky.
253	** The customer offended by Randal talking about jizz moppers is buying window cleaner and paper towels.
254	** Arguably the Chewley's gum rep too, as he is buying "coffee".
255	* TheStoner: Jay and Silent Bob. Snowball's easy-going attitude puts them ''both'' to shame, though.
256	* SuddenDownerEnding: Notoriously, the film would have ended with this. A lighthearted comedy about two lazy store clerks wasting a day shift? The original version ended with a robber entering the store and shooting the main character, killing him instantly.
257	* 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 Randal's defense, a lot of the customers are idiots or jerk-offs.
258	* TechnicalVirgin: Veronica chastises Dante for having slept with about twelve girls, while she had only been with three guys. However, soon afterward she reveals she performed oral sex on ''thirty-seven'' different guys. Apparently, she considered it just "fooling around".
259	* ThoseTwoGuys: Jay and Silent Bob.
260	* TitleDrop: If we're counting this...then:
261	-->'''Randal:''' If title dictated my behavior, as a clerk serving the public, I wouldn't be allowed to spit water at that guy. But I did. So, my point is that people dictate their own behavior. Even though I work in a video store, I choose to go rent movies at Big Choice. Agreed?
262	* {{Tsundere}}: Caitlin Bree towards Dante.
263	* TruthInTelevision: Ask anyone who's ever worked retail and they'll tell you that this film is a ''very'' accurate representation.
264	* UltimateJobSecurity: Probably the only reason Dante and Randal keep their jobs is due to the fact that their boss is far away and only communicates to them by phone.
265	* UnbuiltTrope: ''Clerks'' was one of the first films with a main character in a SoulSuckingRetailJob, making Dante suffer [[ButtMonkey all the indignities]] that come with being a convenience store clerk. But the film also shows that while retail does indeed suck, [[HisOwnWorstEnemy the person most responsible for Dante's misery is Dante himself]]. For all his pretensions of intellectualism, Dante is a snide, passive, lazy, self-pitying {{Jerkass}} who chooses to stay in a job that makes him unhappy. While Dante complains a lot, he never tries to improve his station, nor does he quit the job. It's even pointed out to Dante that although he was asked to come in to cover a shift, he could just as easily have said "no" to the request. Towards the end of the film, Randall chews out Dante with a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech for Dante [[NeverMyFault sneering at the world around him while blaming everyone but himself for his misery]], [[SmallNameBigEgo making it seem like a job at a convenience store is way more important than it really is]], and calling out all of Dante's complaints as [[{{Wangst}} pointlessly antagonistic self-pity]]. Randall even highlights Dante's refusal to get over [[TheLostLenore Caitlin]], as Dante has no reason to care about Caitlin any more and really should have gotten over her by now. Randall's speech ends with an ArmorPiercingQuestion to Dante about what he's doing working at a convenience store if he's really as smart as he thinks he is. Dante doesn't answer, yet [[JerkassHasAPoint the film makes it clear that Dante doesn't want to admit that Randall has a point]]. And yet, most films after ''Clerks'' depict retail workers and/or those at the bottom of the corporate ladder as some kind of unsung heroes who are being kept down by the system, when the movie that did it first argues that while Dante's job might suck, a lot of his problems could be avoided if he made the most of what he had instead of constantly complaining.[[invoked]]
266	* UncomfortableElevatorMoment: Dante and Veronica halting their argument about [[ItMakesSenseInContext how many dicks she's sucked]] mid-scream as Dante attends to a customer.
267	* UndignifiedDeath: Randal's cousin Walter.
268	-->'''Dante:''' What an embarrassing way to die.\
269	'''Randal:''' That's nothing compared to how my cousin Walter died.\
270	'''Dante:''' How did he die?\
271	'''Randal:''' He broke his neck.\
272	'''Dante:''' That's embarrassing?\
273	'''Randal:''' He broke his neck trying to suck his own dick!
274	* TheUnfairSex: Veronica slaps Dante and calls him for a pig for having sex with 12 women, while she's only ever slept with 3 guys. Dante however is wrong to be angry to learn of the ''36'' other guys she performed ''[[LoopholeAbuse oral]]'' sex on and failed to mention. Granted, Dante's reaction is overblown and he quickly crosses the line, but given that she gave a rather vivid description of what "''snowballing''" is, you can see ''why'' he's so furious.
275	** [[OverlyLongGag In a row?]]
276	** Dante leaves the higher ground pretty swiftly when he explains that it's a different question how many sex partners Veronica has had compared to how many sex partners he has had because in Veronica's case this is ''important''.
277	* UnsatisfiableCustomer: "No ice? You mean I gotta drink this coffee ''hot''?"
278	* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: Dante is this to a T. He makes a lot of questionable decisions throughout the movie, and Randal's repeated [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech "The Reason You Suck" Speeches]] seem to indicate we're supposed to feel Dante is responsible in some way for basically all the bad things that happen to him.
279	** Also works if you consider [[{{Jerkass}} Randal]] a protagonist.
280	* VitriolicBestBuds: Dante and Randal. They both argue about things all the time and snark at each other (especially Randal, 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.
281	* WhatMeasureIsAMook: {{Discussed}} when Dante and Randal 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.]]
282	* WhatYouAreInTheDark: Dante leaves a relatively unsupervised pile of money on the counter in the store for change and payment of goods, with a sign next to it that encourages the customers to "...leave money on the counter. Take change when applicable. Be honest." Dante is actually on the floor behind the counter with his girlfriend, inattentive of his job. She asks how he knows that they taking the right amount of change or are even paying for what they are taking and he responds with something like "Theoretically, people see money on the counter and no one around, they think they're being watched."
283	* WhosWatchingTheStore: Dante and Randal 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.)
284	* WisdomFromTheGutter: Dante's standing on the brink of pissing away a good, firm relationship to chase after Caitlin. Jay and Silent Bob, after spending the whole film dealing drugs in front of the store, find out about this when they come in to buy condoms and talk him out of it by reminding him of all the wonderful things Veronica does for him that he's not even noticed.
285	* WorldOfJerkass: Basically, just about everyone is a {{Jerkass}} to one extent or another. Mostly towards Dante and Randal, whom they think don't seem to be taking their assumingly simple jobs seriously.
286	* WriterOnBoard: Kevin Smith wrote the scene of the Chewley's Gum representative turning everyone in the store against Dante when he, himself, was strongly against smoking. Ironically, smoking all those cigarettes while playing Silent Bob turned him into a chain smoker.
287	* WrongNameOutburst: Dante is explaining to Randal Caitlin's infidelity, leading to this exchange:
288	-->'''Randal:''' She cheated on you how many times?\
289	'''Dante:''' Eight and a half.\
290	'''Randal:''' Eight and a half?\
291	'''Dante:''' Party at John Kay's senior year. I get blitzed and pass out in this bedroom. Caitlin comes in and jumps all over me.\
292	'''Randal:''' So that's cheating?\
293	'''Dante:''' No, in the middle of it she called me Brad.\
294	'''Randal:''' She called you Brad?\
295	'''Dante:''' Called me Brad.\
296	'''Randal:''' Eh, that's not cheating. People say crazy shit during sex. One time I called this girl "mom."
297	----
298
299	''Clerks - The Lost Scene''
300
301	An AnimatedAdaptation of a scene cut from the script 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 O'Halloran and Anderson reprising their roles and Creator/JoeyLaurenAdams in a cameo as her character Alyssa Jones from ''Film/ChasingAmy''.
302
303	Included in the tenth anniversary boxed set of ''Clerks.''
304	----
305
306	!!This short provides examples of:
307
308	* ActingUnnatural: As he tries to [[ItMakesSenseInContext fish his car keys out of Julie's skirt]], Randal stands behind Dante, pretending to comfort his friend as he weeps. It goes as well as is to be expected.
309	* AlcoholInducedIdiocy: Implied by Randal, who says Julie probably decided to be laid out in a tube top "after a fifth of scotch."
310	* BillBillJunkBill: Randal flipping through "death cards" at Julie Dwyer's funeral. "Got it...got it...need it...got it..."
311	* CaughtWithYourPantsDown: Dante tells Randal that the last time he saw Julie's parents, they had walked in on him performing cunnilingus on her. As such, he's understandably reluctant to see them at her wake.
312	* CloudCuckooLander: Randal, a little more so than in the movie. Just listen to him talk about funeral death cards like they're baseball cards.
313	* ContinuityNod
314	** ''Film/ChasingAmy'' - Dante gripes about 'Caitlin and her secrets,' to which his friend Alyssa replies "Oh Dante, you just have no idea sometimes," alluding to the fact that she had a fling with Caitlin (and was presumably one of the people Caitlin cheated on Dante with).
315	** ''Film/{{Dogma}}'' - The death cards depict Jesus as the Buddy Christ, and the card with "some angels and Jesus" depicts Bartleby and Loki with Christ.
316	** ''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."
317	* DropDeadGorgeous: Invoked. When they get to her casket, Dante and Randal remark that Julie is laid out in a tube top (or a belly blouse, as Randal calls it), presumably at her request. HilarityEnsues when they drop their keys down her lap.
318	* DueToTheDead: Unless you're Randal.
319	* 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. {{Lampshade\|Hanging}}d by Randal, who says he couldn't do that again if he tried.
320	* TheFunInFuneral
321	* NotWhatItLooksLike: Dante reaching into Julie's pants to get the Quick Stop/car keys (after Randal accidentally dropped them down Julie's skirt), only for Mr. Dwyer to yank Randal (who was shielding the view of Julie's body) aside and catch him in the act.
322	* OhCrap: Dante when the Dwyers see him fishing around for the keys in Julie's lap.
323	* SayMyName: Mrs. Dwyer when Julie's body falls out of the coffin after she pushes Randal into it.
324	-->'''Mrs. Dwyer''': AAAAHHHH! JULIE!
325	* ThickLineAnimation: Animated in the style of ''Clerks: The Animated Series''.
326	* ToiletDrinkingDogGag: One opening shot is of Dante's dog drinking from the toilet.
327	* TookALevelInJerkass: If we're to take this scene in the context of the rest of the movie, Randal, who's otherwise difficult but not a complete asshole, seems particularly mean to Dante during this whole ordeal, especially when he introduces Dante to Julie's parents after Dante explicitly told him that they did not want to see each other.
328	----

Context Film / Clerks