“… Smith is glad he took Mosier’s advice because he’s happy with how the movie came out, and no critic will convince him otherwise. Still, he says, “I’ll read every review, and the bad ones will kind of bug me to some degree, only in as much as I wish they liked it as much as me.”

Hartford Courant – “The Dude Behind `Clerks II’” (**CONTAINS SPOILERS**)

“…Oddly enough, you end up making it under the radar even if you are tagging on a sacred cow,” Smith says. “People put a lot more attachment on the original than we ever did. We didn’t set out to make a cult classic or seminal indie film. We just wanted to make a movie about dudes sitting around talking again. This is probably a more realistic take on embracing adulthood, even if there is a donkey show.”

Philadelphia Weekly – “Silent Bob Speaks”

“…Sometimes I wish I could be like every other filmmaker. I’ll talk to Robert [Rodriguez] and Quentin [Tarantino], and those dudes never read the fuckin’ Internet. They tell me to just look at the box office returns. But we don’t make these things in a vacuum. We make ‘em for people to see. I fell in love with the Internet because the idea of finding out what a guy in the middle of the country—a guy that I’ll never meet—to find out what that dude thinks about the movie. That’s fascinating to me.”

OnMilwaukee.Com – “‘Clerks’ ring up second hilarious movie” (**MINOR SPOILERS**)

“…Hilarious scenes are abundant, but 99 percent of the movie is too vulgar to be mentioned here in detail, but it’s funny. When you think Smith has pushed the jokes too far, guess again. He’ll keep pushing and his wit is unmatched. Smith’s fans won’t be disappointed.”.

New City Chicago – “Kevin Smith returns to Oz” (**CONTAINS SPOILERS**)

“…Smith cites the “Wizard of Oz” again in the film’s surprisingly loving, lovely ending, which I won’t give away. “Both of them, to me, occur to me as incredibly heroic,” Smith says of how it all turns out. “It’s not heroic like Wolverine popping his claws and taking out Jean Grey, it’s that quiet heroism of somebody doing something that never in a million years you would expect them to do and arriving at that conclusion themselves. I just love it. It really works for me, man. That’s the movie. All the other stuff is scenery.”

ScrippsNews – “Review: Smith rings up more brilliance with ‘Clerks II’” (**CONTAINS SPOILERS**)

“…Detractors may say Smith is stuck in his own immature, fan-boy time warp. But he has matured, and so have the characters. It isn’t a sea change; it’s an evolution that’s natural and respectful, in Smith’s totally disrespectful way. They’re still finding truth, but it’s age-appropriate truth.”

Orange County Weekly – “An Open Letter To Kevin Smith” (**CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS**)

“…Though you packed your bags for L.A. years ago, I suspect your heart will always belong to Red Bank, and maybe that’s why Clerks II slips on as comfortably as a well-worn shoe. It is, I think, the best thing you’ve done in years—the funniest and the most genuine.”

Toledo Blade – “Kevin Smith puts his indie stamp on many of his works”

“…In 12 years I’ve learned to tell a story better. I’m a sharper writer. If you look at Clerks now, there’s no plot. It’s just sketches. Clerks II has an arc. But at the same time I get an inordinate amount of people, be it fans or from financiers who say it’s time to step up and grow. I’m just like, don’t they get it? This is what I do. It’s not a matter of me learning to do something better. It’s me doing what I want to do.”