Clerks 2

It makes me feel a little dirty picking on Kevin Smith even the tiniest bit.

I mean, we've been through so much together. I stuck with him through "Mallrats," which, unlike almost everyone else in the world, I just loved. Heck, I even thought there were some good things about "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back."

So, before I even begin to quibble with "Clerks 2," I feed dutybound to say that it got many, many things right. First and foremost, like its predecessor, it's at its funniest when it's at its foulest. I can't mention all the great lines because many of them are too blue for this blog which is linked from a family newspaper, but believe me, you'll be laughing and squirming at the same time as newcomer clerk Elias tells Randal about his lady friend's "pussy troll." It's classic Kevin Smith, and it's very, very funny.

And the banter between our lead clerks, Brian O'Halloran's Dante and Jeff Anderson's Randal, is still fairly fresh, even if "Transformers" (which, by the way, is just going to suck!) and "Lord of the Rings" have joined "Star Wars" as the focal points of their world. Randal's defense of the term "porch monkey," as Wanda Sykes and the comedian Earthquake are trying to order, is the funniest thing I've seen on screen this year, and Randal's "Porch Monkey 4 Life" movement had me laughing so hard the person behind me must have been tempted to kick me in the back of the head.

Rosario Dawson, who until now I've always just thought of as an extremely pretty face, deserves special mention also. This is the first time I've seen her actually both having fun and really acting on screen. Her Mooby's manager is funny and frustrated, and she really shines in this one.

So, what's wrong with "Clerks II"? Well, for me at least, the third act was almost a disaster. I'm not talking about the "interspecies eroticism," about which you can draw your own conclusion, but what came afterward.

For the fifteen minutes or so that our heroes are locked in prison, they confront each other with the kind of dialogue I would expect to hear on an afternoon soap. It's sappy and silly, and it almost ruins the vibe. Dante and Randal work because, along with being very funny, they are very real people who talk like real people. But this scene just shattered that for me.

But after that it all wraps up neatly (though you won't hear how from me.)

There hasn't been a movie I've looked forward to more this summer than this one, and overall it lived right up those very lofty expectations.

I don't care what Joel Siegel (who walked out of Clerks II in a fit to draw attention to his own fledgling career) or any other highminded critics have to say about Kevin Smith. He makes me laugh out loud, and that will always be good enough for me.