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CLERKS III
(2022)
Randall decides to make a movie of his life after suffering a massive heart-attack.
In the early 1990s I visited Wizard Video on Francis Lewis Boulevard in Bayside to select something to watch with my friend. In the middle of one shelf was a movie in with little signs and arrows pointing to it saying how HILARIOUS this film was. My friend, Patrick, and I were considering it while the owner of the shop, who looked a lot like Stephen King, swore to us that the movie was amazing and we would not be disappointed.
He was right!
That viewing was my first experience with CLERKS and View Askew-niverse. I Would run off a copy of the VHS and watch it with everyone I knew. Anyone who worked in retail could relate to this movie. The customers. The adventures. The introspection. Yep. Part of youth MUST be a crappy job as a clerk because it teaches you how to deal with odd people and weird situations.
In the years that followed I would consider myself a fan of the work of Kevin Smith and watched most of his work. Some good, some not so much. Regardless, CLERKS IS a classic and would appeal to people forever. Clerks II, was also good, but had a tough act to follow. Word had it that CLERKS 3 wasn't ever likely to get done. Differences between Jeff Anderson (Randall) and Kevin Smith were too great to get the production done...
UNTIL..
Kevin Smith suffered his own near death experience and decided to work with Anderson and get the conclusion to the CLERKS trilogy made.
In this film, we start with Randall suffering a "widow-maker" heart attack and luckily survives. This brings him to an epiphany, having spent YEARS watching movies, he needs to make his OWN movie, about his life as a clerk. Effectively, this movie is about Randall making CLERKS / CLERKS 2 rolled up in one.
Due to the nature of the movie, it's a little more serious than what you'd expect from a Clerks movie. In fact, Mrs Baxojayz fell asleep a couple times while we were watching it. On the other hand, I was RIVETED to the screen. The human drama totally dragged me in and I was hanging on every word.
Mrs Baxojayz felt that the movie dragged quite a bit and needed more humor. Her final thought was that she DID NOT like the ending.
On the other hand, this movie spoke to me on many levels. The loyalty of friendship. Love. Loss. And humor. To me, it's a lot like life. This movie is an emotional roller coaster about the close friendship of Dante and Randall. I, too, did not like the ending... at first, but after some thought I came to the conclusion it was the only APPROPRIATE ending.
The original Clerks is a rare movie for me. There are many movies that I have watched many time, but Clerks is one of the few that I would pull off the shelf because I needed a good laugh. CLERKS III has some sad life lessons about getting older, and frankly, while I did enjoy it, I don't know if I could watch this on some frequent rotation. It's just too sad.
I do, however, highly recommend this movie for fans of CLERKS, Dante, Randall, and all the rest. That's right, I put Jay and Silent Bob in with all the rest! This installment turns the final pages in the Clerks saga and closes the book. Be sure to watch through the ending credits because there is a voice-over commentary from Kevin Smith.
In theaters now.
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