A black and white picture that tells the slice of life story of a convenient store clerk and next-shop-over pal, a video store clerk.

These actors ramble about life, meaning, hockey, and babes. Writer/Director Kevin Smith takes his cast and dives headlong into a script so full of words that it probably rivals the telephone book in size. Fortunately, it's a heck of a lot more interesting ... so much so that the words pull more weight in this production than the finesse of the actors. In fact, it's more like a staged reading where apprentice performers are given a week to memorize all those lines and then only a take or two to get it right on film.

Ragged, crude, rude, but full of gut despite it's lack of color; "Clerks" is a strong student piece and a stepping stone for a talented filmmaker.

Excerpt from the film's website (http://www.viewaskew.com/clerks/index.html):
"Clerks was made for $27,575. It was mainly funded by 10 credit cards that Kevin had to his name, funds garnered from store credit after he sold his comic book collection, a family donation, and paychecks from working at the Quick Stop and RST Video. Clerks was filmed using a 16mm Arri SR-2 camera and utilized Kodak Plus-X film."