Clerks III

Clerks III

After narrowly surviving a massive heart attack, Randal enlists his old friend Dante to help him make a movie immortalizing their youthful days at the little convenience store that started it all.

  • Released:
  • Runtime: 120 minutes
  • Genre: Comedy
  • Stars: Jeff Anderson, Brian O'Halloran, Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith, Rosario Dawson, Marilyn Ghigliotti, Trevor Fehrman, Jennifer Schwalbach Smith, Austin Zajur, Scott Schiaffo, Justin Long, Fred Armisen, Ben Affleck, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Harley Quinn Smith, Ming Chen, Walt Flanagan, Bryan Johnson, Mike Zapcic, Jason szalma, Lisa hampton, AJ Wilkerson, Bob Leszczak, Robert Hawk, Ernest O'Donnell, Dave Ferrier, Brian Quinn, Ralph Garman, Melissa Benoist, Danny Trejo, Joe Gatto, James Murray, Bobby Moynihan, Grace Smith, Sal Vulcano, Ethan Suplee, Donnell Rawlings, Kate Micucci, Marc Bernardin, Freddie Prinze Jr., Anthony Michael Hall, Amy Sedaris, Chris Wood, Scott Mosier, Jake Richardson, Michelle Buteau, Marc Bernardin, AnnaMarie Brown, Yassir Lester
  • Director: Kevin Smith
 Comments
  • paudieconnolly - 12 January 2023
    Quick stop closes early.
    To begin with I thought Kevin Smith had captured some of the magic from the original clerks, there was always going to be a touch of nostalgia fans would expect no less. Unfortunately after half an hour with a storyline it's given up on , Then that's pretty much all there is a nostalgic look back while trying to pull on the heart strings of the diehard fans. Great cameos by the actor's you would hope to see. On the main wasted talent that could have been used in a so much more entertaining way. Just getting them to repeat lines from the original movie was a wasted chance to do something new. I'm a big fan of the first clerks movie watched it many times and felt clerks two was worth making an enjoyable sequel (Despite how many feel about it) This was not worthy of taking a place in a trilogy still 2 clerks for me back to the drawing board Mr Smith.
  • NightlySun - 25 December 2022
    Hollow, meandering, too many recycled jokes and ultimately too depressing for a proper conclusion to the View Askewniverse.
    Drama is not new to Kevin Smith. His previous movies tackled some truly serious matters that he didn't play for laughs. And you know what? It worked, because those movies had balance. Originality. Which is something that Clerks III lacks. Chasing Amy could be gut-bustingly funny, only to veer and take a sharp turn and hit you hard when you least expect it.

    A majority of the humor in Clerks III, however, consists of jokes recycled from previous entries in the View Askewniverse - primarily the first Clerks - while the few original jokes aren't funny because they're usually riffing on the same pop culture-bashing humor of the first two Clerks movie, only it feels much more dry at worst and flat out embarrassing and cringeworthy at best. The lack of actual humor leads to the movie just feeling that much more bleak and empty.

    I wouldn't have minded Dante dying at the end quite as much if Smith didn't INSIST on making his already miserable life that much worse by inserting a needless and horribly depressing plot point where Becky and her unborn child died in between movies. Look, I love dark stuff, but I recognize the difference between well-written dark stories versus shoehorning in extra angst for the sake of angst. Alien 3 was a letdown for precisely that reason, and Smith seems to have taken notes from it. In retrospect, Elias becoming a Satanist (in an exceedingly unfunny and painful to watch scene, I might add) and adopting a goth/metalhead appearance for the rest of the movie might have been Smith trying to say he's aware of the excessive angst. Granted, I was already in a bad mood when I saw it, and that probably made it worse.

    Randal's heart attack is another largely useless plot point. All it really does is give him the idea to shoot a movie about his life. The same life that he said he saw flashing before his eyes and hated it. And to make him act like a bigger jackass than usual. I know he's always been an unpleasant person, but the thing of it is, usually there's a method to his madness and he can raise some genuinely valid points about Dante and his whininess. Here, he just gets increasingly insufferable and ridiculously self-absorbed until it's too late.

    There is something redeeming here. I know I've been quite scathing of Clerks III, but its premise is commendable. The whole theme of coming face-to-face with your own mortality is unique for Smith. As I said before, yes, he's made plenty of movies with serious themes. Even the maligned Jay and Silent Bob Reboot had a few effectively emotional scenes. Sadly, it felt like it overshadowed everything else. One other good thing is that the scene where Dante is in the theater watching Randal's movie is beautifully shot and genuinely moving.

    I don't know if I would recommend this, let alone ever watch it again. If you're a completionist, then by all means. But don't go in expecting to be screaming with laughter. Certainly don't go watching it as a mood booster.