Remembering Clerks

That Kevin Smith View Askew Review

Clerks is a 1994 American independent black and white buddy comedy film written, directed, and co-produced by Kevin Smith. Starring Brian O'Halloran and Jeff Anderson, it presents a day in the lives of titular store clerks Dante Hicks (O'Halloran) and Randal Graves (Anderson), along with their acquaintances. Clerks is the first of Smith's View Askewniverse films, and introduces several recurring characters, notably Jay and Silent Bob (Jason Mewes and Smith).

Clerks was shot for $27,575 in the convenience and video stores where director Smith worked in real life. Upon its theatrical release, the film received generally positive reviews and grossed over $3 million in theaters, launching Smith's career. The film is considered a landmark in independent filmmaking and, in 2019, was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, who deemed it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".