Clerks

I just caught the end of Clerks for the first time in a while. It seems so much more contrived than it used to. I know that it's supposed to seem that way, the artificiality is part of it's charm, but for some reason I find it, and all the View Askew movies, much more difficult to watch than I did a few years ago. I'm not sure if it's because the dick and fart jokes don't amuse me as much as they did then, or because maybe it was the novelty of the movies I found so appealing. They all seem so fake now. I used to love Chasing Amy. But now, I can barely watch it. A manage-a-trois as a cathartic means of resolving differences between people? Who thinks of things like that? Getting back to Clerks, I understand that the self-concious, self-referential nature of the movie, of all of Kevin Smith's movies, serves a purpose. I wrote a paper on it once. But that doesn't make them any easier for me to watch, though certain moments still shine through. "Salsa Shark" never fails to make me chuckle. And Silent Bob's line at the end is still golden. "There are lots of good looking chicks in the world, but not many of them will bring you lasagne." Mmmmmm.... lasagne.