After rounding up just over 27,000 dollars -- collected from parents, credit-card advances, and the sale of Smith's beloved comic book collection -- they shot Clerks, a hilariously scabrous look at American consumer culture steeped in Smith's own experiences behind the cash register. Shooting each night in the same convenience store where the director worked by day, they completed production in just three weeks and began promoting the feature on the festival circuit. In 1994, Clerks debuted at the Sundance Film Festival, becoming the breakout hit of the event. Suddenly Smith, with his flair for raunchy yet heavily stylized dialogue, colorful characterizations, and keen cultural perceptiveness, was the toast of the indie community, swiftly acquiring Creative Artists Agency representation and a distribution deal with Miramax.

After winning a court battle to replace the often-vulgar movie's NC-17 rating with a more commercially palatable "R," Clerks hit the arthouse circuit, where it recouped its initial investment many times over and became a critical smash. Soon Smith was at work on the 1995 comedy Mallrats, the second chapter in his self-described "New Jersey trilogy." Despite reprising a number of characters from the previous film -- including the director's own onscreen alter ego, Silent Bob -- Mallrats was both a commercial and critical disaster, and while members of his avid cult audience remained enthusiastic, he publicly "apologized" for making the movie at the 1995 Independent Spirit Awards ceremony. In 1997, Smith resurfaced with Chasing Amy, the final film in the trilogy and his most mature effort to date. Unlike its predecessor, the film won wide critical acclaim, with many critics praising Smith's insightful exploration of love and loss.

In 1999, Smith was back in the spotlight with Dogma, a film centering on the last living descendent of Jesus Christ, a woman named Bethany (Linda Fiorentino) who works as a clerk in an abortion clinic. Unsurprisingly, the film, which had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, garnered more than its share of controversy even before being released theatrically. Dogma's distributor, the Disney-owned Miramax Pictures, announced that they would not release the picture and intended to sell it to another distributor. They did so, as Smith all the while maintained that the film -- which also starred Alanis Morrisette as God -- was about the importance of faith, rather than an attempt to ridicule it.

Scaling down his themes somewhat, Smith dedicated his next film, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, to the stoner duo who appeared on the sidelines in each of his first four efforts. Prepped for a wide, late-August 2001 release, the 20-million-dollar road comedy seemed affable in terms of overall concept, until a sneak preview left representatives of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) up in arms over the film's derogatory language and recurring gay-sex jokes. Stopping short of issuing an apology, Smith again defended his right to portray uncouth characters: Jay and Silent Bob's homophobia, he argued, further illustrated their idiocy. Unconvinced, Smith's detractors compelled him to tack on a closing-credit anti-defamation comment and make a 10,000-dollar goodwill donation to the Matthew Sheperd Foundation. Little of this mattered to critics or fans, as JASBSB garnered mixed-to-poor reviews and decent (if precipitous) opening weekend box-office totals, proving that Smith had indeed cultivated a core audience.

After a turn in front of the camera in 2003's Daredevil, Smith returned to directing with 2004's Jersey Girl. The film had plenty of buzz surrounding it because it was one of two films starring uber-couple Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez slated for release. However, when the other film Gigli became a failure of nearly-Ishtarian proportions and the celebrity-duo called off their wedding, that buzz turned into a stigma. Attempting to remove some of the Gigli-residue on the film, Smith retired to the editing room and excised much of Lopez's role in the film. Nonetheless, Jersey Girl was largely panned and was a box-office failure.

Looking for a hit in the wake of Jersey Girl, Smith opted for a return to the film that started it all and began work on a sequel to Clerks.