O Balconista 3

It's mawkish, messy, not particularly clever about its meta commentary, and some of the jokes fall incredibly flat... but you know what? A good deal of this really works. The emotional stuff feels like it's straining, but it still got to me when it needed to. Emotions were felt.

I'm truly thankful I liked this for the most part, as I thought Kevin Smith's last two movies were genuinely awful. I can safely say that it's a huge improvement on Yoga Hosers and Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. It may be that I just have a soft spot for Clerks, but either way, I thought this was really good in parts, to the point where I can overlook some (but certainly not all) of the obvious flaws.

I had initially wanted to rerun through all of Kevin Smith's films before getting to "Clerks 3" but as it's on Amazon Prime now, it's probably better to watch it whilst I can. I think I'd view this as being one I watched appreciating its aimable charm, rather than one actually liked.

When a heart attack causes him to question the value of his life so far, Randall Graves (Jeff Anderson), decides to turn his experiences into a low budget film, set in the convenience store, starring himself and Dante (Brian O' Halloran), and utilising Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith) who own the weed store next door. Though Dante agrees to help, a personal tragedy in his own life threatens to overwhelm him.

When I saw "Reboot" a year or so ago, I thought that perhaps it would be impenetrable to anyone who wasn't already a pretty big fan of Smith's work, and not a good film to anyone that was. "Clerks 3" is better film, in my opinion, even if I still think that unless you've got a pretty good memory and a gnawing affection for "Clerks" it's just not going to mean much to you. I do have those - so came away generally feeling that the film was an acceptable time, but more because of how poignant and sweet the film becomes, in line with, I think, the director himself as he's become older.

I didn't find it funny though, which could be considered a pretty big failing for what is essentially a comedy. The religious aspect, with Trevor Fehrman's Elias denouncing God for Satan in light of Randall's heart attack feels forced, indeed most of the lines attempting comedy, from Randall or Jay feel like (or in fact are) call backs to previous movies. The use of NFT's as a plot point feels hilariously out of date, for a movie that was only released last year.

"Reboot" was just a cavalcade of "remember this character, here they are" and though "Clerks 3" has some of that, it's written into a comedy drama that has a more interesting and complete plot. It's pretty far from perfect, it's pretty far from good, even.... But I came away feeling positive about it, despite its flaws.

The Clerks franchise, being the one that launched Kevin Smith's whole career off, is clearly his most personal and dearest to his heart out of all of his IP. Therefore it's no stretch to assume each Clerks entry is an amalgamation of what Smith himself is feeling or reflecting on in his personal life at the time of creating it.

And this time around, with Kevin Smith fresh off of a heart attack in his real life, it's no accident that themes of mortality heavily seep into every pore of this film. And what happens when we're smacked in the face with our own mortality? Much like the trope of our "life flashing before our eyes", it's very commonplace to look backwards into the past at good times and view them under a different, more appreciative lens.

This film is exactly that: the artist looking back at Clerks 1 (mostly 1, but a little bit of 2 as well) through that nostalgic lens. Smith's reflection on his own mortality bleed through to the characters flashing back on their lives in the same manner. Smith called this film his "Jersey version of Cinema Paradiso", but I saw it more as his version of Fellini's 8 1/2, especially given that he is literally holding a camera in the film.

The trilogy is now thematically complete: Clerks 1 embodied youth, part II aging, part III dying. While Clerks III may be an interesting enough art piece for these reasons, it's just nowhere near as funny as the other 2. To be fair, it's not really trying to be most of the time with the heavy themes it's taking on. But still, it is a Clerks film and a comedy, therefore it does have humorous lines and moments all throughout, even in the more morose moments. And these were simply nowhere near as funny as the other 2 Clerks films.

Overall this film did an excellent job on the nostalgia & fan service if Clerks means a lot to you personally, but otherwise it is the weakest entry in the series in terms of comedic substance.

What happened to Kevin Smith? Seriously. It's been a long time since we've had anything from him that is really worth a watch. This one doesn't change that at all, sadly. It feels desperate to be honest. I had high hopes, but I was also more than a little cautious about getting my hopes up. After two fantastic entries in the Clerks series maybe a letdown was to be expected, but this one feels worse than that. First, the jokes fall flat most of the time. The ones that DO work are solid but there's just not enough of them. Second, the incredibly serious overtones feel out of place here, and that just gets more dire in the third act. Bottom line: it isn't as absolutely horrible as Yoga Hosers but it isn't in the same league as the first two films in the series. It isn't even half as good as Mallrats. My rating of 4 is given partly out of nostalgia for what it is. I can't say it earned it.

Clerks III.... Not a comedy. By a long shot, though there were quite a few attempts.... Definitely a personal story coming from Kevin Smith in many ways. I love his filmmaking. But Clerks III felt rushed. I feel like this was a missed opportunity to get huge laughs and quotes we could spout off to our friends for years to come. And we all know Kev is capable of that. The editing wasn't the greatest either which kinda ruined some of jokes, especially in the first act. The second act picks up a little speed but overall is too much of an ode to the first Clerks. (Which made me just want to watch the first one lol)

The good: Super low budget and they did excellent with what they had. Loved the nods and breaking the fourth wall that are a staple in Kevin's films. Hilarious cameos. I just wish that the story and joke writing could have trumped the sheer star power of the cameos and nods.

I'm really hoping Kevin moves on from sequels and reboots and does something original again soon! He's one of the most clever filmmakers out there and I can't put his movies down.