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Clerks III
In this current trend of bringing long dormant movie franchises back to life, Kevin Smith and his zany rep company return after 18 years for Clerks III, a look at Dante and Randal, still running the Quick Stop convenience store after all these years. And I can't believe I'm saying this, but this film is actually the strongest of the three.
In this film Randal (Jeff Anderson) has a heart attack, which forces him to re-examine his life, motivating him to write and direct a movie about his life, which turns out to be the first movie in the franchise. Unfortunately, Randal's ego gets completely out of control, driving everyone crazy, especially his best friend and co-worker, Dante (Brian O'Halloran).
It should be noted that this review is coming from someone who barely tolerated the first film and found the second one to be passable entertainment. These films were so forgettable to me that I never reviewed them, which makes it all the stranger that I had any interest in watching this film and enjoy it as much as I did? Really didn't see that coming.
Rest assured that Kevin Smith has not been sitting on his hands for the last 18 years, but this is the second official sequel to Clerks and I liked the fact that Smith's screenplay sort of breaks the 4th wall and eventually brings us back to the first film. The other thing I loved about Smith's screenplay that a lot of these other recently revived franchises didn't address is the fact that these characters are 18 years older and still doing the exact same thing they were doing 18 years ago.
The idea of these two guys making a movie who know nothing about making a movie went all the ways we expect it to, but Smith manages to bring his own brand of manic to the proceedings. Randal's insistence that it was his movie but Dante had to find the financing was a bit that never got old. Loved the auditions for the movie, which included cameos by Ben Affleck, Ethan Supplee, Danny Trejo, Fred Armisen, Melissa Benoist, and Anthony Michael Hall. Of course, the auditions become moot to prepare for the finished movie and we get a couple of unexpected surprises before that reveal that were unexpected. Also LOVED a breaking of the 4th wall I didn't see coming as Kevin Smith finally gave Silent Bob a voice.
Smith provides some interesting camerawork and the film is backed by a wonderful song score that frames the movie perfectly. Anderson and O'Halloran are still a well-oiled machine as are Smith and Jason Mewes as Silent Bob and the maniacal Jay. Shout outs to Amy Sedaris as Randal's doctor and Justin Long as a male nurse as well. Rosario Dawson is even allowed to appear as the ghost of her character in the second film. Fans of the franchise will find a lot to laugh at here.
In this current trend of bringing long dormant movie franchises back to life, Kevin Smith and his zany rep company return after 18 years for Clerks III, a look at Dante and Randal, still running the Quick Stop convenience store after all these years. And I can't believe I'm saying this, but this film is actually the strongest of the three.
In this film Randal (Jeff Anderson) has a heart attack, which forces him to re-examine his life, motivating him to write and direct a movie about his life, which turns out to be the first movie in the franchise. Unfortunately, Randal's ego gets completely out of control, driving everyone crazy, especially his best friend and co-worker, Dante (Brian O'Halloran).
It should be noted that this review is coming from someone who barely tolerated the first film and found the second one to be passable entertainment. These films were so forgettable to me that I never reviewed them, which makes it all the stranger that I had any interest in watching this film and enjoy it as much as I did? Really didn't see that coming.
Rest assured that Kevin Smith has not been sitting on his hands for the last 18 years, but this is the second official sequel to Clerks and I liked the fact that Smith's screenplay sort of breaks the 4th wall and eventually brings us back to the first film. The other thing I loved about Smith's screenplay that a lot of these other recently revived franchises didn't address is the fact that these characters are 18 years older and still doing the exact same thing they were doing 18 years ago.
The idea of these two guys making a movie who know nothing about making a movie went all the ways we expect it to, but Smith manages to bring his own brand of manic to the proceedings. Randal's insistence that it was his movie but Dante had to find the financing was a bit that never got old. Loved the auditions for the movie, which included cameos by Ben Affleck, Ethan Supplee, Danny Trejo, Fred Armisen, Melissa Benoist, and Anthony Michael Hall. Of course, the auditions become moot to prepare for the finished movie and we get a couple of unexpected surprises before that reveal that were unexpected. Also LOVED a breaking of the 4th wall I didn't see coming as Kevin Smith finally gave Silent Bob a voice.
Smith provides some interesting camerawork and the film is backed by a wonderful song score that frames the movie perfectly. Anderson and O'Halloran are still a well-oiled machine as are Smith and Jason Mewes as Silent Bob and the maniacal Jay. Shout outs to Amy Sedaris as Randal's doctor and Justin Long as a male nurse as well. Rosario Dawson is even allowed to appear as the ghost of her character in the second film. Fans of the franchise will find a lot to laugh at here.