Clerks III – Review
100 Minutes, Rated R
Written and Directed by Kevin Smith
**NOTE: this post will be updated with audio once we actually have the chance to talk about it. Until then, enjoy this brief look at Mark’s thoughts. Stay tuned.**
Synopsis:
Dante, Elias, and Jay and Silent Bob are enlisted by Randal after a heart attack to make a movie about the convenience store that started it all.
A few months ago, I did an episode with Lisa over at the “I Love that Movie” podcast, where the idea is that the guest gets to come on and gush about a film they love.
I, being the guest, chose the film, and that film was Clerks. That film reached me on so many levels, from the pop-culture references to the way Kevin Smith wrote his dialogue that, as a writer, inspired (and mirrored) some of my own tendencies… all of it.
I love Clerks.
Love it.
And, generally speaking, I have enjoyed everything else Kevin has written and directed over the years, from the “oh-my-God-I-know-those-people” characters of Mallrats, to the incredibly smart Dogma, to the unexpected horror that is Red State and moving through the almost-perfect, yet frequently maligned Tusk.
So, it should be clear by now to everyone that I’m a big fan.
After Kevin’s near-death heart attack, I anxiously awaited his next project, which turned out to be Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (JSB Reboot), whose autographed poster and shooting script still grace my office. I bought my VIP ticket to the “Reboot Roadshow” when it came through Salt Lake City and relished my photo op with the man himself.
Bliss.
Although to be honest, I found that film to be a bit too safe, too secure. Kevin had come out of a dark place and the movie was cathartic for him to make, a chance to revisit these characters one more time, when he might never have had the opportunity to do so.
And while I did find aspects of it to be genuinely moving, I felt much of the film lacked that certain something from his other works. Yes, it was still crass and loaded with pop-culture references, but that spark from those other films just wasn’t as bright, the characters a bit flatter, more predictable.
But I was happy to hear that, even if we couldn’t get a Mallrats 2 after that, we would at least be getting a Clerks III. Clerks 2 had been a worthy, if still inferior, sequel to that original, and I enjoyed it very much.
For Clerks III, he is employing a similar release strategy to JSB Reboot: he is travelling with the film on the “Convenience Tour” around the country, with Fathom Events doing event releases over a two-week period for those who can’t make one of the hosted screenings.
I was lucky enough to screen the film a few days ago, and as there is not currently a Convenience Tour date for Salt Lake, I will likely not see it again before it hits theaters.
With that admittedly long-winded introduction, here are my thoughts on Clerks III.
Well, my hope going in, after JSB Reboot, was that Kevin had fully processed his heart attack and was ready to attack the Askew-niverse and these characters with renewed vigor and passion, moving beyond the do-overs and maudlin sub-text that had permeated JSB Reboot.
My hopes were, at least, partially dashed.
Rather than having moved past and embraced his post-heart attack career, he fully relives it in this film, putting Randall into the writer/director’s chair as his proxy following said heart attack.
What follows then is 100 minutes of behind-the-scenes “Clerks: Redux.” The screenplay is written, based on everyone we already know, who play themselves, and we get a near shot-for-shot recreation of the original.
There is nothing original here. Without spoilers, Rosario Dawson’s presence is limited, for an admittedly narratively justified reason, but also because she wasn’t there in the original, and so was a superfluous character in terms of “Randall’s” script.
The gags are exactly as they were, because the meta-construction of Clerks III is that Clerks didn’t exist until it was filmed during this movie.
Clerks becomes the John Conner of the View Askew-niverse, sired by its own descendent.
A cinematic paradox.
What is truly sad is that most of the cast gives good performances. The chemistry between Brian O’Halloran and Jeff Anderson’s Dante and Randall are as good as ever, though Jay and Silent Bob have been tweaked from their earlier incarnations to discomforting effect.
I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention one of the key players in the original, Veronica, played by Marilyn Ghigliotti, who appears courtesy of Randall pitching her the opportunity to play herself in his movie. She appears at the Quick Stop and, in one of the film’s more genuinely dramatic moments, berates Randall for exploiting not just his own life, but hers, without thought or regard for what that might mean to someone.
It’s a great scene, reminiscent of her rant to Dante at the end of the original, and rather than that revelation somehow shaking the film (meaning Kevin) loose from the inevitability of its own derivativity, he follows it with a super-cheap sex joke between Veronica and Dante in the immediate follow-up.
And, by the way, that scene makes no sense for Dante at that point in the film, for reasons.
Even by the end, as Randall is showing the finished film to Dante (no spoilers), the emotional weight of that scene is presented by Randall, not Dante, when by all rights (and the dialogue up to that point) it should have been Dante’s.
Heck, over the credits Kevin even reads to the audience a bit that didn’t make the film, but that he wanted in the film enough to read it to us in its entirety.
Why not just include it in the first place? It’s your film.
There’s even a Deus Ex Machina (Lucifer Ex Machina?) that saves the day at the end.
It is, in the words of Deadpool, lazy writing.
Clerks III should certainly exist. Just not THIS Clerks III.
I hope Kevin gets back on track for whatever comes next. I hope it’s something unexpected like Red State or Tusk was. He needs to move on, move past, and recapture that spark that made him the Sundance indie-darling all those years ago.
It’s in there; we’ve seen it.
I hope we see it again. but I’m 100% certain Clerks III will win Kevin Smith any new converts to his work. Although I’m also 100% certain that those who attend the Convenience Tour are going to have a great time, as there is simply nothing like watching Kevin talk about his movies (and endless other topics) surrounded by fellow fans. I hope to be able to partake of such an experience again, myself.
After all, I’m still a huge fan.
Clerks III is screening exclusively in theaters from September 13 through 18 via Lionsgate and Fathom Events. Or you can try to catch the film as Kevin Smith tours with it. Find cities and dates HERE.
Clerks III stars Brian O’Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Trevor Fehrman, Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes, Austin Zajur, Jordan Monsanto, Logan Mewes, Amy Sedaris, Justin Long, Rosario Dawson, Jennifer Schwalbach, Marilyn Ghigliotti, and a cast of dozens of people who owed Kevin cameos.
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