Clerks II

On May 26, Clerks II will be making its premiere at The Cannes Film Festival, with its U.S. release following on July 21. The original Clerks was a masterful triumph of talent over budget, costing roughly $30,000 to produce and managing to be one of the funniest god damn things ever committed to celluloid. Thirty-seven? That's comedy gold, my friends.

Smith had announced that Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back would be his last film set in the View Askewniverse, a place whose most notable residents are the foul mouthed catch phrase spewing Jay (Snoogens!) played by Jason Mewes, and his little spoken Coffin Nail puffing compatriot Silent Bob, played by Smith himself. Sadly, Smith's next film Jersey Girl died faster than that first stormtrooper through the bulkhead at the beginning of Star Wars.

Since Smith has written and directed four great films plus the flawed but still fun Mallrats, I think View Askewnians everywhere should choose to ignore Jersey Girl and pretend it was made in some evil parallel universe in which Ben Affleck wears a black goatee like Spock did in...

Wait, Affleck had a black goatee in Chasing Amy, a film which definitely did not suck.

OK, screw the metaphor. Jersey Girl: let it go.

You're not likely to find a filmmaker more in touch with his fan base than Kevin Smith. If you haven't been following his video blog Train Wreck: The Making of Clerks II over at the Clerks II site, then you've got lots of cool stuff to catch up on.

Come on, Clerks II. Make me proud.