Clerks II doesn’t begin with a written apology for his last picture, but it doesn’t take long for the sequel to Kevin Smith’s 1994 groundbreaker to establish itself as more of a Mallrats/Chasing Amy-type endeavor.  There are more than a few flashes of the overly sentimental claptrap (and a fleeting glimpse of Ben Affleck) that nearly derailed Smith’s career two years ago with Jersey Girl, but for the most part, the writer-director-producer-editor settles into the familiar groove of having characters fire off quick bursts of jokes about depraved sexual acts, other films, and (mostly) each other.

Set ten years after the incidents depicted in Clerks, the sequel begins with an event that destroys virtually everything the picture’s protagonists have grown to know over that decade: A fire consuming the convenience and video stores which employed Dante Hicks (Brian O’Halloran) and Randal Graves (Jeff Anderson).  Flash forward a bit, and the pair find themselves employed – in full color – at a Mooby’s fast food joint, along with a Transformers-loving fry cook (Trevor Fehrman) constantly tormented by Randal, and curvy manager Becky (Rosario Dawson) who constantly torments the betrothed Dante.  Yes, Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Smith) return to prop themselves against whatever edifice Dante and Randal decide to call an employer.

Clerks II is set during Dante’s last day at Mooby’s, and in New Jersey, as well.  He and his fiancée (Jennifer Schwalbach – Smith’s wife) are packed up and ready to move to Florida, where Dante will be hooked up with a house and a job.  It ends with a gooey, yet oddly moving finale which, like the original flick, features a Soul Asylum song and Smith’s mother carefully examining every container of milk in the joint.  In between those two points are a myriad of hit-and-miss gags that, were this still 1994, would have easily resulted in a NC-17 rating for its dialogue alone.  That’s what happened to Clerks 12 years ago, which is somewhat of a testament to the ground Smith’s comedy has broken.

What Clerks II doesn’t have is the non-stop parade of crazy customers and their various quirks, which is the main thing that made Clerks so endearing to anyone who had ever worked at that level of the service industry.  There are a couple of attempts here, but they mostly come off as efforts to shoehorn certain actors into the film.  Wanda Sykes and Earthquake?  Funny.  Jason Lee?  Not so much, since he’s neither Banky nor Brodie.  And speaking of shoehorning, there’s nothing like Smith cramming his daughter into an integral scene that transitions from the second act to the third.

Aside from Jersey Girl, I’m an enormous fan of Smith’s work, and you would have had to physically restrain me from seeing Clerks II.  While I don’t think it’s as funny or well-paced as his first handful of pictures, I certainly wasn’t disappointed.  And if you’re looking for the funny Smith more than you are the sappy Smith, you shouldn’t be disappointed, either.

1:37 – for pervasive sexual and crude content including aberrant sexuality, strong language and some drug material