James Reviews: 'Clerks III'

Picking up fifteen years after the events of the previous movie, best friends Dante Hicks (O'Halloran) and Randal Graves (Anderson) now own and run the Quick Stop convenience store. After Randal suffers a heart attack, he decides to make a movie about his life working as a clerk, featuring Dante, fellow co-worker Elias Grover (Trevor Fehrman), his friend Blockchain Coltrane (Austin Zajur), and local drug dealers-turned-dispensary owners Jay and Silent Bob (Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith).

If you've never seen the 1994 movie Clerks, you've most likely heard it in conversation. Made on a budget of just under $28,000 - around $57,000 to $58,000 in 2022's money - and entirely funded by Smith himself, it quickly became an icon in the realm of independent filmmaking and made him a household name. Some would argue it was one of the last true examples of an independent filmmaker breaking out into the industry.

In the years since, Smith has followed up with films such as, but not limited to, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, all of which are loosely connected in what is known as the View Askewniverse. Smith brought back Dante and Randal for Clerks II in 2006, wherein Dante got engaged and found out he had a child on the way, and now returns to the convenience stores for one last visit.

This movie is a comedy at its core, and just about every joke sticks the landing. It still has its fair share of sex jokes, but nowhere near as explicit as the original, or even the second movie. The humour is much more situational based, with occasional jabs at Disney, NFTs, people who complain about lack of diversity in movies, and the fakery of Hollywood as a whole. The movie goes along at a steady pace, balancing the story with the comedy, and neither feeling overbearing. There are some jokes that some might find juvenile, but they don't last long and by the time the next joke you laugh at hits the screen, you will have forgotten all about the one that you didn't.

Among all the laughs, Clerks III has a surprising amount of heart and dramatic heft. The strongest moments are credited to O'Halloran's portrayal of Dante, as the character is still grieving a personal loss and he struggles with it throughout the story. His one chance to have a happy ending was ripped from him, and now he faces the world as a middle-aged bachelor while dealing with a group of friends who seem to be mentally stuck in their 20s'.

It culminates in an explosive monologue regarding his frustration and misery at where life has placed him, concluding with his iconic phrase:

"I'm not even supposed to be here today!"

The buildup to this rant starts off normal enough, with the two clerks shooting a scene for the upcoming movie, but when Dante gets up and starts laying into Randal, the theatre was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. When awards season comes around, O'Halloran's performance deserves to garner some recognition, even if he gets zero nominations.

There are elements that could turn some people off. The movie is heavily meta - almost too meta - for its own good. Some moments feel almost as if Smith is tooting his own horn and flaunting the creative decisions that he made when making the original Clerks back in the 1990s'. It may seem like a clever bit, as Silent Bob showcases insight that nobody in the world of Clerks thought he was capable of. But to those who are aware of the production of the first movie, it feels more like Kevin Smith is breaking the fourth wall and bragging about how creatively smart he was at the time.

The audition segment lasts too long, and is arguably the only section of the movie that can be described as painfully unfunny. It features cameos of Ben Affleck, Melissa Benoist, Sarah Michelle Geller, Danny Trejo, and the Impractical Jokers' crew - among others - yet it comes across as Smith trying to show off how he got these recognizable names to be in his movie, rather than giving them a good reason to be there in the first place.

Clerks III won't win over anyone who isn't a fan of Kevin Smith, nor would I recommend it to be anyone's first exposure to the auteur, but for those who've followed the View Askewniverse, or merely watched the previous installments of the trilogy, it's a well-meaning homage with an impactful story to boot. In an era where it seems as if Hollywood franchises are just letting everyone down, it's nice to see one that can end on a high note.

Rating: 8/10 - Great