Sitting here at this keyboard and figuring out the words to say is proving to be incredibly difficult this morning. Now I’m not saying this movie is bad. Not at all. It is instead, something rather different. You see, Clerks has been a film that has stayed close to my heart for nearly 30 years now. A small black and white independent movie about two store clerks, dealing with customers, and just having random geeky conversations in between, was just something that this young boy connected with. It was unlike any other story I had seen. These two sounded like me. They were having the same conversations I would. Dante and Randall were the two older best friends I never had. I became obsessed with this film, and subsequently, it’s 2006 sequel, Clerks II. Books, comics, limited edition 10 year anniversary box set, I would collect as many Clerks related merchandise as I could get my hands on. This film series meant way too much for me and I was naturally incredibly eager and excited to see my favourite boys again after all this time. But nothing, absolutely nothing, could have prepared me for the journey I was about to take with Clerks III.
If I needed to describe this movie in one word, “homecoming” would be it. It’s been 16 long years since the last movie and I shed a happy tear as the opening credits rolled and I saw my favourite QuickStop clerk struggle over a jammed lock. Our boys are back. Our store is back. Our weird, shady, customers are back. Just a few minutes in and it felt like I was saying hello to a bunch of long lost friends. This was going to get very personal for me.
Who, or What, or Why Is Clerks?
For the uninitiated, and there’s a lot of you out there, a quick recap on what the hell Clerks is. Now I don’t blame you for not knowing. Clerks was always that cool little secret that only a handful of random weirdos and movie buffs knew about. This indie movie made on a minuscule budget that spoke to an incredibly specific demographic. Namely the the kind of geeks who saw themselves in the two main characters in the movie. It isn’t for everyone, but there is a lot of heart there if you give it a chance.
Now Clerks III is, without a doubt, the most meta of these films. Kevin Smith, who famously suffered a heart attack, delivers a story about how Randall gets a heart attack, questions what he is doing with his life, and thanks to his bestest buddy, decides to direct a film about his life in a convenience store. He gathers all of his friends and starts shooting it on a budget of just $27,000.
This was, for all intents and purposes, essentially the story of how Clerks was made in the first place. Every single shot of Randall’s “INconvenience” was a recreation of original shots from the 1994 classic.
A View That’s Askew
Clerks III is the culmination of nearly 30 years of Kevin Smith’s filmmaking journey. Going into it, I was honestly ready to just laugh and have a good time with my two favourite boys, but Smith clearly had other plans. Yes, there are laughs aplenty in this, especially for longtime fans, but what Smith has also done is deliver a finale so heartfelt, that it will leave you, on the floor, curled up in a ball, and weeping like a child. All of that View Askew humour is here, but it is infused with a maturity that will send you on a real emotional ride.
Brian O’Halloran and Jeff Anderson, who play Dante and Randall, deliver what is possibly their best performance ever. They are both older now and there is so much more at stake. They are dealing with the harsh realities of life and, more importantly, dealing with loss. Clerks III is definitely the most emotionally charged movie in this series, and rightfully so. We too have grown as they have. And we too can feel the truth of what it means to be an aimless, aging geek. This may be Kevin Smith’s story to tell, but it is something that is immediately relatable to everyone, everywhere, who has ever wondered what happened to all those innocent workers on the second Death Star.
The Final Curtain
Clerks III is definitely Kevin Smith’s magnum opus. For the longest time, I thought that Jay and Silent Bob Reboot was. And while it was a fun ride to say hello and goodbye to our favourite high duo, it is very clear that Clerks speaks to Smith on another level. This story, that he has been working on for possibly the last 10 years, was so worth the wait. This was the closure we all needed. Every question we ever had was answered. Smith gave his entire heart to this story, for himself, and for us. It was a gift we could have never expected. If you’ve been following the Clerks saga in any way, this movie will both fill your heart with joy and rip it into pieces.
Admittedly, this entire review is incredibly biased and emotionally charged, but that doesn’t change the fact that this is a great film. It isn’t for everyone, but it should be. Sure, there are bunch of dick and fart jokes interspersed with arguments about Star Wars, but at its core, Clerks has always been a story of friendship at it’s finest. That no matter what happens in life, as long as you have your best friend by your side, you can achieve it all. And that’s what attracted me to this in the first place. Two guys, sitting at the convenience store they work at, shooting the shit and having fun. They, were all of us. And they still are.
Dante, Randall, Smith, from one geek to another, I thank you. For the laughs, for the tears, for the fights, for everything. You have filled this young boy’s heart with memories and joy that will last a lifetime. Clerks III, what a fucking ride. Snoogans.
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