Clerks-10th Anniversary Edition Review

If you have never seen Kevin Smith's directorial debut Clerks, it's safe to say you are either out of the targeted age range (Gen X and younger or so), or have been deprived to this point in your life.  I'll let you decide.

For those unfamiliar with this classic film, a quick rundown.  The film focuses on Dante (Brian O'Halloran) and Randall (Jeff Anderson), a pair of early twenties slackers who run the Quick Stop convenience store (Dante) and RST Video Store (Randall).  Essentially "a day in the life of a clerk," the film concentrates on Dante and Randall's relationship, their interactions with various customers and old acquaintances, as well as Dante's relationship with his girlfriend Veronica, as well as his ex, Caitlyn Bree.

Dante and Randall debate Star Wars, relationships, women, and a host of other subjects.  This focus on dialogue would become Smith's main forte.

Filmed entirely in black and white, the film was made on a miniscule budge of $28,000 or so. 

The 3 disc tenth anniversary edition of Clerks features two cuts of the film.  Disc one features the original theatrical version of the film, complete with an option to play "The Lost Scene" as part of the original film.  The original film was to have a scene at a funeral, but this was scrapped for budget reasons.  It's been put in here as an animated scene, done in the same style as the short lived Clerks animated TV series.  The first disc features a myriad of other bonus features.

The second disc features the original first cut of the film.  This is the cut with the original ending, no music soundtrack, and was the cut that was used to sell the film to Miramax at Sundance.

The third disc features a 90 minute documentary on the making of Clerks, titled "Snowball Effect: The Story of 'Clerks.'"  This documentary is a great addition for die hard fans of the film, and the third disc features many more bonus features that help the viewer to expand on their knowledge of the Clerks universe. 

It's not easy to say whether this package will appeal to every fan of the film.  If you have the original DVD release, only you will know if you are a big enough fan of the film to warrant the purchase of this version (this goes for every film that gets the "anniversary" treatment, but this one is especially overloaded on stuff).  If you have never owned Clerks on DVD, but always loved it, it can't hurt to own this version for an extra few bucks.  Even if you only watch the bonus stuff once, it's a bit more for your buck.

For me, this is easily a five star release, and a no-brainer purchase, since I did not own Clerks on DVD.