Dante’s Debut

Okay, it's true that Kevin Smith should probably have quit after this film, while he was still ahead. And yes, this low-budget, quasi-home-movie features some terrible acting and stagey dialogue. But it's still pretty funny, especially if you can bring yourself to ignore what its success has wrought. Vulgar and ugly, much like the lives of the two main characters, Clerks speaks to anyone who has held a dead-end job. (Actually, is there anyone who hasn't held a dead-end job? Oh, yeah, this is Orange County. Never mind.) A video-store clerk and a convenience-store employee crack wise while trying to make it to the end of the workday. That's pretty much it. But with laughs.
Wed., Feb. 27, 7:30 p.m., 2008