★★★
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 an enormous 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 buddy and enterprise accomplice Dante (O’Halloran), Fast Cease clerk and the fixed butt of his jokes Elias (Fehrman), and the neighboring marijuana dispensary house owners 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 basic Star Wars references, to the meta banter concerning the filming of Randal’s film on black-and-white 16mm movie inventory, Clerks III is an enthralling 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 completely 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 last installment filmed on the authentic Fast Cease as properly.
Whereas the film itself is a comedy, it does contact upon a large number of deeper themes together with grief, discovering one’s function in life, and the expansion that comes from trauma. The characters are older now and should cope with conditions head-on as a substitute 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 vibrant as he delivers essentially the most heartfelt monologue in the complete collection. The eagerness in his eyes and thru his phrases reverberate via the theater in sudden methods.
Clerks III is an irreverent film, and but it has a whole lot 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 really the correct send-off the collection deserves. The closing credit shouldn’t be missed with a view to get a bit additional behind-the-scenes commentary from Kevin Smith himself.
