Clerks III - Movie Review (NO big SPOILERS)

 by Rhett Rhodes - twitter: @rhettrhodes98

#SPOILERFREE on big spoilers, but contains small spoilers

    Upon first reading the articles sometime last year I believe about how this movie had started production for real and who was all going to be in it, I was definitely excited and couldn't wait for more. Then, no joke, I remembered 'Jay and Silent Bob Reboot' and I seriously lost all hope I had and figured there was no this was going to be good at all. The legacy might be ruined, and that thought alone was enough to bring a Zoloft prescription. Luckily enough for me, I feel as though the legacy has not been ruined after finishing 'Clerks III' and I feel pretty satisfied with it as an addition to the 'View Askew' universe of films. To me, it feels like the ending piece; I don't want it to be the last View Askewniverse movie, Kevin Smith talks about how there will be more, but I really think Kevin Smith is truly signing off on these specific characters in the universe. And in this day in age, that's not too bad of a thing as they are 100% classic characters.

    Starting off, I'd like to state the obvious that this is genuinely a depressing film. Yes, it has several laughs and good jokes and even re-touches on jokes from the very first film. Sometimes too often though, in the sense that the '37' joke was referenced in almost every scene of this movie. Kevin Smith's classic brand of humor is still there, you know with all the pop culture references and sometimes dirty word play. I'm not entirely sure if he's trying to re-kindle the days of when you can have a large religious themed side-plot like Dogma and it be rather offensive and talked about in every tabloid or film review. (I guess the latter worked.) But I could've lived without Elias' extremely over the top dramatic religious change of views and spews about it; unnatural in the real world and even for a bit of film fun it's not that fun. Elias, played by Trevor Fehrman, a fan favorite of Clerks II is absolutely put through the ringer in this movie with the horrible gothic-emo costumes that he changed entirely too frequently from scene to scene. What went from a fan favorite character is now kind of an annoyance to see on screen this time around.

via Bobby 24-

    Clerks III is loosely based on Kevin Smith's heart attack that he had suffered back in 2018, where in this universe, Randall suffers a heart attack and after surviving decides to make a movie at the Quick Stop. RST Video next door is now a dispensary and THC store owned and run by Jay and Silent Bob, and with their help and the help of Elias, Elias' friend and follower newcomer Blockchain Coltrane, Dante and the community from the very first film, they start right away and begin filming what Randall is hoping to capture as the story of his life. There's quite a lot of montage type sequences showcasing the many scenes they are filming and re-capturing, quite literally shot for shot re-creations in black and white that would make any Kevin Smith fanatic feel the upmost of nostalgia.

    There's a scene of auditions, where Randall and Dante observe several different celebrities reading classic Clerks lines and possibly improvising a lot. I thought that scene was a bit too much, and the cameos were extremely strange, ranging from popular new-ish actors and actresses and then a few that have faded into obscurity since the 90s probably. Freddie Prinze Jr. and his wife Sarah Michelle Gellar, neither of whom have been in the spotlight since Scooby Doo: Monsters Unleashed, were possibly the most surprising of all the cameos. My favorite is Brian Quinn who appears along with the rest of the Impractical Jokers only because if you look closely enough when watching Kevin Smith's 1999 hit-film 'Dogma' when Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are walking through the airport, two Mooby's fans are seen conversing in the background. One of those baby-faced Mooby's fans was indeed Brian Quinn, who was and still is surprisingly a close friend of Smith's best friend Brian Johnson. I believe they still have a podcast together, I am actually sick at home while writing this, but too lazy to research that much.

    Honestly, I was forgiving of a lot when it came to this movie because there really were a lot of jokes and chaotic-type moments (most of which involve Jay and Silent Bob) really hit and landed well. One that didn't was near the end during the scene where they are re-creating the scene with Rick Derris and Caitlyn Bree's sister, and I have no idea why but Rick Derris all of a sudden stops his original lines of dialogue and rants shortly about how he can't stand the racist undertone of the "Asian Design Major", and then Randall has to explain how it's not racist because he really is a Design Major that happens to be Asian and the newspaper had written it that way. Kind of seems like Smith in a way trying to let the current/newer audience know that the description of the Design Major in his first feature film is in no way trying to be racist and if it indeed offended anyone than he is sorry. It's like an apology, which I guess is nice and sincere but could've been done maybe later in a press junket thing.

    Finally, the ass end of my review. I bet you reading this is happier than shit. Clerks III did not end the way that I wanted it to; I'm thankful that it ended on a few laughs instead of some cries, but in the end there is some big changes in the View Askew universe that definitely jeopardizes many future stories in the universe involving these characters; hence why at the beginning of my rambling review I said it certainly feels like the end for these specific characters. Well, bigger questions should be raised... when will we see Brodie again? Is T.S. dead? And where's Brandi? Why were we told years ago Renee Humphrey signed on to do this movie but never appeared in the end? Who knows. Who knows...

7.7/10