CLERKS II — *** — Brian O'Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Rosario Dawson; rated R (vulgarity, profanity, drugs, sex, violence, brief nudity, racial epithets).

The last film Kevin Smith made was the 2004 comedy-drama "Jersey Girl," which bombed. Famously.

His old fans couldn't buy into his attempts at domestic maturity, but the material was still too vulgar for those outside his fiercely loyal fan base.

Clearly he learned his lesson. His new film, "Clerks II," marks a return to rude-and-crude form. And it does try to say something about personal growth — though with all the naughty jokes, the audience might not notice.

Smith may be an acquired taste, but "Clerks II" is his most consistently funny film since the first "Clerks," a dozen years ago. This one picks up the story more than a decade later, with slackers Dante Hicks (Brian O'Halloran) and Randal Graves (Jeff Anderson) still working in the customer-service industry.

However, a fire ravaged the video-and-convenience store combo where they worked, so now these two lovable losers find themselves working dead-end jobs in a fast-food restaurant. Dante has a chance to get out, though, as he's engaged to Emma (Jennifer Schwalbach Smith) and is supposed to move with her to Florida. Meanwhile, he's clearly in denial about his attraction to his boss (Rosario Dawson).

As always, Smith pushes things too far, and there's material that definitely make this a very hard R, verging on NC-17. A bestiality bit goes on way too long, as does a routine about racist terminology.

And, of course, it's also heavy on pop-culture references, especially as one of the new characters is a Lord of the Rings and Transformers-obsessed nerd (Trevor Fehrman). Relative newcomer Fehrman gets some of the biggest laughs and puts in a serious bid to steal the movie.

O'Halloran and Anderson may have limited range as actors, but they're adequate for what's asked of them, and Anderson's trademark snarkiness is appealing. (And yes, Jason Mewes and Smith do reprise their roles as Jay and Silent Bob.)

"Clerks II" is rated R for crude sexual humor and language, including strong profanity, other bodily functions humor and references, drug content (marijuana use and references), simulated sex and other sexual contact (some aberrant sexuality and bestiality), comic violence, brief nudity (partial male nudity and nude artwork), and use of racial epithets. Running time: 97 minutes.

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E-mail: jeff@desnews.com