I am a fan of the View Askew-niverse, which includes all of the films by Kevin Smith, many of which feature the characters of Jay and Silent Bob. The first film was “Clerks” and now the sequel, appropriately titled “Clerks II” is in theaters.

It is not great. In fact, I’d have to say it is the worst of Smith’s films, although I haven’t seen “Jersey Girl” and I heard that was pretty bad.

“Clerks II” picks up a decade or so after the first film and the protagonists, Dante and Randal, are still working their menial jobs at a convenience store and a video store in Leonardo, New Jersey. A fire at the beginning of the film burns down their places of employment and they end up working at Mooby’s, a fast-food joint with a giant cow as a mascot. One year after the fire, Dante is about to move to Florida to marry his girlfriend and start managing a car wash owned by his father-in-law. In short, Dante, now 33, is going to start living what he sees as a normal, productive life.

What follows in the film is Dante expressing doubts about the move and his love for his fiancee, his manager, Becky, expressing a semblance of love for Dante, and Randal, expressing the fact that he will miss his best friend, and expressing this with a Tarantino-like amount of foul language. Meanwhile, Jay and Silent Bob are fresh out of rehab and have (sort of) found religion.

The problems with this film are evident very early on. The beginning is ultra-slow and the limits of believability are stretched very thin. I didn’t buy Dante and his fiancee’s relationship, nor did I accept that any fast food restaurant could be that slow throughout the day. One of the best things about “Clerks” was the near constant parade of customers to the Quik-Stop. Not only were they amusing, but they made Dante and Randal’s (often vulgar) discussions more hilarious because they would talk about these things in public. That didn’t happen that often in “Clerks II” and when it did, it was often with a “big” cameo.

Eventually, things get going and Smith starts to show his writing and directing skills. A dance number to the Jackson 5’s “ABC” showed a great eye and an interesting take on the use of music in film. Parts of the sequence seemed a little out of place, but as an exercise in musical direction, Smith gets an ‘A.’ As Dante’s life starts to unravel - with complicated emotions piling up - the film really begins to generate some good laughs. It did feel like it was a little “too little, too late,” though. By the time the film reached its very appropriate ending, it was on solid ground, but the problems from the beginning and the large gaps without lots of laughs were not forgotten.

That said, there were some bright spots. Trevor Fehrman’s Elias was a joy to watch. His over the top geekdom was often hilarious. Rosario Dawson is continuing to prove herself as a very capable leading lady. Her portrayal of Mooby’s manager Becky hit all the right spots and likely had the audience falling for her as well. The chemistry between Dante and Randal and Jay and Silent Bob is still there in spades, although more of Jay and Silent Bob would have been nice, perhaps at the expense of the unfunny cameos from Jason Lee and Ben Affleck.

If you’ve never seen a Kevin Smith movie, don’t bother with this one. Rent “Clerks,” “Mallrats,” or the very well-done “Chasing Amy,” instead. You should also avoid this movie if you have gentle sensibilities. “Clerks II” has quite the potty mouth and there are lots and lots of adult themes.

I did laugh at a lot of things in this movie, but I expected to laugh at a lot more.

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