CLERKS III:
THIRD VISIT TO THE QUICK STOP WILL MAKE YOU LAUGH…AND MAYBE EVEN CRY A LITTLE!
By Nico Beland
Movie Review: *** out of 4
LIONSGATE
Dante Hicks (Brian O’Halloran-Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma) and Randal Graves (Jeff Anderson-Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Now You Know, Zack and Miri Make a Porno) are back in Clerks III, the latest film in the View Askewniverse franchise and the third and final installment of the Clerks trilogy. The film is once again directed by Kevin Smith (Mallrats, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob) and features the majority of the cast of 1994’s Clerks and its 2006 sequel, Clerks II reprising their roles.
In an era where Marvel, DC, and the MonsterVerse are usually considered the dominant cinematic universes in film these days, Smith’s View Askewniverse I feel often gets overlooked when discussing shared film universes. Clerks 1 and 2, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back were made and released at a time where cinematic universes weren’t nearly as prevalent as they are today, so it’s kind of interesting to see Kevin Smith do what Marvel would eventually do decades earlier with character crossovers, stingers during the end credits, and even a Stan Lee cameo in 1996’s Mallrats long before it became a popular trend in movies based on Marvel Comics.
I really enjoyed the first Clerks movie, and you can see why it’s a fan-favorite among independent films and comedies. I love the dynamic the Dante and Randal characters have basically as polar opposites, the dialogue is very witty, and the circumstances in the film while exaggerated to an extent are relatable, especially to those who have worked retail before, like what Office Space would eventually do for the office environment.
The first film ended up being a sleeper hit and was very well-received by critics, resulting in Clerks spawning not just the 2006 sequel, Clerks II but also an animated series as well as fan-favorite characters, Jay and Silent Bob getting their own film series including 2001’s Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and 2019’s Jay & Silent Bob Reboot. Clerks II is definitely inferior to its 1994 predecessor, but it has its moments, plus Brian O’Halloran and Jeff Anderson are once again hilarious as Dante and Randal and even newcomers, Rosario Dawson and Trevor Fehrman are given time to shine.
Now, we have Clerks III released via Lionsgate and Fathom Events sixteen years after the last film as the conclusion to the Clerks trilogy. While I may still prefer the first movie as the best, I had a good time with Clerks III.
It delivers the laughs and a lot of meta humor for fans of the franchise, but this one also has a surprising amount of heart. Not to mention, this is a very personal story as a lot of the things the characters go through are depictions of events that occurred in Kevin Smith’s life, which makes the film as a whole a lot more powerful than you’d expect.
The film follows Quick Stop convenience store clerk, Randal who decides to make a movie with his longtime friend, Dante based on their lives after surviving a heart attack. Accompanying them on their quest to make the greatest movie ever made are everyone’s favorite drug dealers, Jay (Jason Mewes-Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma) and Silent Bob (Smith), nerdy Christian turned Satanist, Elias Grover (Trevor Fehrman), former Mooby’s restaurant manager, Becky Scott (Rosario Dawson-Men in Black II, Sin City, DC Animated Universe), and Dante’s old flame, Veronica Loughran (Marilyn Ghigliotti-Starship: Rising).
Overall, Clerks III is a love letter to the Clerks/View Askewniverse franchise, Kevin Smith’s personal life, and independent filmmaking. Fans will enjoy all the callbacks and recreations of scenes from the earlier films including a reference to the original ending of the first film where Dante is shot dead which was rejected by Miramax (The distributor of Clerks 1).
I enjoy how Clerks III is essentially a movie within a movie and that it revolves around Randal and Dante pretty much making an in-universe remake of the first Clerks movie with a lot of in-jokes and meta humor of what might have actually happened while Smith was making it back in the 90s. In a bizarre way. You could say Clerks III is semi-biographical as a lot of the plot elements are taken from Smith’s life, even right down to the heart attack from 2018.
The dialogue is very witty, and the actors do an excellent job delivering these funny lines, there wasn’t a huge audience when I saw it, but they were having a great time and laughing hard at some of the things the characters were saying. With that said, I was also very impressed at how these comedic actors portraying such goofy characters could also sell the more dramatic and heartfelt moments, without giving anything away, let’s just say Clerks III kind of took the Click route and threw in this really dramatic final act in an otherwise silly comedy, and it surprisingly doesn’t feel out of place.
It’s a warranted conclusion that gives the characters a satisfying sendoff with lots of laughs, shenanigans, and a little bit of drama thrown in. It also shows that not just the actors but the characters themselves have matured since the earlier films and Randal goes through an arc where by the end, he’s a changed man (With his vulgar personality still in check!).
Clerks III is a hilarious and heartfelt sendoff to the Clerks franchise and one of Kevin Smith’s best films in recent years. Not a perfect film, but if you’re a fan of Clerks 1 and/or 2 and Kevin Smith, definitely give this a watch, whether baked like Jay and Silent Bob or sober.
From the blog www.moviewatchinpsychopath.blogspot.com