★★★
Clerks III is an American comedy written and directed by Kevin Smith. He additionally stars within the movie together with Jeff Anderson, Brian O’Halloran, Trevor Fehrman, Jason Mewes, Rosario Dawson, and Marilyn Ghigliotti.
After Randal (Anderson) suffers a large coronary heart assault, he decides to make one thing of his continued existence on the planet—and that one thing is a film about his life on the Fast Cease. Alongside along with his greatest pal and enterprise associate Dante (O’Halloran), Fast Cease clerk and the fixed butt of his jokes Elias (Fehrman), and the neighboring marijuana dispensary homeowners Jay (Mewes) and Silent Bob (Smith), the group embarks on a journey thirty years within the making: from the occasions of the primary Clerks film, all the way in which to the current. Randal and Dante have been via quite a bit collectively, however will their friendship final via the making of this movie?
From the lowbrow callbacks, to traditional Star Wars references, to the meta banter in regards to the filming of Randal’s film on black-and-white 16mm movie inventory, Clerks III is a captivating homage to a world constructed from Kevin Smith’s humble beginnings. The script went via a number of iterations till Smith suffered an near-fatal coronary heart assault earlier than a comedy present. After his expertise, he determined to rewrite the script with Randal having a coronary heart assault himself.
If the film feels acquainted to followers, it ought to: the setting is iconic. The unique Clerks was filmed solely on the precise Fast Cease comfort retailer in New Jersey. The ultimate days of filming for Clerks II was additionally filmed there (in addition to at a closed and boarded up Burger King in California). Due to this, Smith was decided to get the third and ultimate installment filmed on the authentic Fast Cease as nicely.
Whereas the film itself is a comedy, it does contact upon a large number of deeper themes together with grief, discovering one’s goal in life, and the expansion that comes from trauma. The characters are older now and should take care of conditions head-on as an alternative of utilizing enjoyable and video games as a method of fast diversion. It additionally talks about how each new day is an opportunity to start out a brand new chapter or flip a brand new web page. It’s a story about hope as a lot as it’s a story about friendship.
Whereas the entire actors (each skilled and never) give heartfelt performances, it’s O’Halloran that shines notably brilliant as he delivers essentially the most heartfelt monologue in the complete sequence. The eagerness in his eyes and thru his phrases reverberate via the theater in surprising methods.
Clerks III is an irreverent film, and but it has loads of coronary heart. Whereas viewers who’ve seen the opposite two movies on this trilogy will get extra out of the quips and gags, those that have solely a faint understanding of the Jay and Silent Bob universe will nonetheless discover this film humorous and surprisingly touching. Clerks III is actually the right send-off the sequence deserves. The closing credit shouldn’t be missed in an effort to get a little bit further behind-the-scenes commentary from Kevin Smith himself.
