Clerks (1995)

Writer-director-actor Kevin Smith's highly touted black-and-white low-budget sleeper, about a day in the life of two convenience store workers, is never going to be mistaken for Grand Illusion — a way-above-average student film would be more like it. But Clerks is often very funny, although its characters are unrealistically glib. This letterboxed laserdisc version looks appropriately grungy, and there are a couple of surprising bonuses, including the bogus original ending (the lead clerk gets killed in a holdup — talk about a mood breaker). Meanwhile, Smith and his cast and crew riff nonstop through the film on a secondary audio track; it's like eavesdropping on a beer-soaked frat party. B