My love for "Clerks."

I first became aware of Kevin Smith during the sixth grade. His fifth film, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, came out on DVD, and I decided to rent it after hearing a friend talk about it. I would not recommend a Kevin Smith newbie J&SBSB, as it is reference-heavy. In fact, the whole story is predicated on events that happened in Chasing Amy. Regardless, I popped the movie in and began to watch. Right away, I was taken aback by the raw language. Being a pretty naive eleven-year old, I was unaware of the filthy things that came out of the characters' mouths. Once that shock value faded away, however, I was left with a belly full of laughs. After watching it, I got curious about the other films by Kevin Smith.

The first one I peeped after J&SBSB was Mallrats, Smith's sophomore film. Like J&SBSB, it mixed Smith's wonderful observational dialogue with wacky psychial gags. It quickly was endeared by me, and I even attempted to write a script that was heavily influenced by 'Rats.

The second one I saw was Clerks. Unlike 'Rats, it did not quickly endear to me. Which makes sense a little, seeing as 'Rats was a more accessible studio comedy. I wasn't sure why I didn't like as much; it certainly wasn't the jokes. I laughed at all the classic bits, like "37?!" or the "Star Wars" conversation. But something about it just didn't click for me at that point.

I would watch the rest of Smith's canon, and respond to it instantly. But Clerks was an oddball for a while. I would watch it repeatedly through junior high and then high school as well. I would understand more of the humor, but I wasn't dialed in that much.

Looking back, the thing that irked me was that I found the characters' situation implausible at the time. Dante seems aware of his lousy state of life, yet does nothing about it. Why doesn't he do something? Why can't he just go for the right girl, instead of going for the obvious wrong choice? What's wrong with him?

Then I grew up. I became closer to Dante's age. I became Dante to a certain extent. I was the guy who makes jokes about his lack of progress in life, and would do nothing about it. I would fall for the wrong women, and not learn from it.

It was then that the film endeared itself to me. Whilst very much a comedy, it's a haunting parable about the awkward stage of your life from when you have to make the best out of your situation and decide what your future'll be. It became a cautionary tale; A raw representation of a generation. Even more so after being complimented with the excellent sequel, Clerks II.

While it didn't start out as so, it became not only one of my favorite Kevin Smith films, but one of my favorite films to this day. If you haven't seen it, I would recommend doing so as soon as you can.