 |
| images courtesy Viewaskew |
Kevin Smith's band of misfits return for a third entry in the long running Clerks franchise. After decades of working the convenience store counter, best buddies Dante and Randal are back for another turn that quickly devolves into a rumination on friendship, life, and the dreaded loss of youth. Where the other films relied heavily on comic timing and laughs, Clerks III is a dark and nearly brooding look at a set of characters that are woefully unpleasant this time around. They’re just a sad batch and it makes this an altogether depressing watch. They've never changed. And they've never moved very far beyond the past.
Gone are the laugh a minute quirks. In their place are poorly acted melodramatics with absolute closure to this trilogy through a set of plotting mistakes that fully abandon what made the first two movies modern classics. Go into this expecting two things: repetition of previous jokes and the character assassination of Clerks as a whole. It's understood that Smith's near death experience and his own age heavily affected his writing on Clerks III, but it's so heavy handed that the final product is not an enjoyable experience. This is not escapist cinema in the slightest, but is a full tilt meditation on death.
Smith states that this is a tribute to independent cinema and that’s a highlight of the film. His love for movies remains a positive marker but the script is extremely troubled by its removal of adult humor and the tragic loss of rapid fire laughs. I can count on two hands how many times I actually laughed during this one. And honestly, it hurts.
Randal is making a movie about their lives as Clerks….in black and white. Dante is his lackey as the producer on their super low budget feature. Their friendship is pushed to the limits as key players from the other movies all make cameo appearances that make this feel like home again. However, Smith’s script reduces what we know to two hours of sentimentality and nostalgia that would fit much better in a project that hasn’t always been about crude sex jokes, smoking weed, and being dumb.
Clerks III is just not fun. Coming off a pandemic that’s stripped us all mentally and emotionally, the latest Kevin Smith movie is another reminder that we’re not here for very long. And that’s fine. But it feels woefully out of place in a universe where Jay and Silent Bob exist.
Kevin Smith’s near fatal heart attack almost cost us a unique filmmaker and creative force. What it left was an almost totally unlikable film that won’t sit well with most long term fans. His message is quite clear. But it’s almost so personal to his experience with near death that the movie is not that entertaining. Instead, it's a reminder of all the loss we've faced over the past few years and the tragedy that is life.
-CG
