Clerks III

Smith had a heart attack and decided to work his experience into another Clerks film. Not necessarily a bad idea, but this effort is easily the weakest in the series. It isn't particularly funny and relies heavily on misplaced nostalgia and callbacks. The drama is often forced and/or maudlin, adding nothing of real weight or value, and the pacing is off. Whatever Smith _thinks_ he is saying about mortality and friendship is superficial and merely confirms his lack of depth and insight.

It misses a lot, but its clearly a film of passion more than anything. Smith isn't a great filmmaker, he's often not even a good one, but its got heart, and I liked seeing this little universe I grew up with one last time.

I assure you, this is cheap god awful dog shit. Feel like I'm watching some bullshit youtube skit videos

A sizeable notch down from the previous two, there’s not a single memorable scene and even Randal seems curiously muted here (with Elias providing the majority of the much-welcome laughs). The nostalgia trip angle exists seemingly as an excuse to recycle old material, and the jarring drama is even more time-consuming and ham-fisted than in Clerks II. I’ll give this a pass as I haven’t seen the other two in yonks and went in with low expectations, but if not I doubt I’d be so charitable.

I like the two first Clerks movies, and in this third outing, the core idea is decent enough, but the execution is god-aweful and tonally the movie's so insanely inconsistent that it becomes borderline experimental.

Writing as someone who really liked part 2, this no longer works. Although Anderson & especially O'Halloran have become good actors, Smith is no longer funny. He's certainly become sentimental & there are some moving moments as we watch once loved characters consider the passage of time, their achievements or lack thereof, but song choice & familiar, now aged, faces do most of the heavy lifting. & while recreating much of the original may evoke nostalgia, it only highlights this copy's lacking

Time to hang up the jorts, pal.

I rewatched this and I'm glad I did. Great beginning. Emotional. Good song. Movie coasts a lot on enjoying these characters prior, and I'm not immune to that. As a vehicle for Smith to reflect, this is a great closer and I dug the emotional beats/performances a lot. Where it benefited from the rewatch was that I wasn't bothered by the movie-making section anymore. On first watch I thought he forgot to write jokes and relied too much on self-reference, but there ARE jokes in there.

A parody of "the making of..." Smith ought to take the Clerks franchise in the same direction Halloween (specifically Season of the Witch) was supposed to go - make Clerks 4, but this time it has nothing to do with any of the main characters. Instead, it will deal with a paroled mathematical genius living way below his potential because his friends are holding him back.

Smith makes a very meta goodbye to the characters that started his first movie. I neither expected the movie to get this emotional at times nor that the nostalgia would hit me this hard. Recommend, if your a fan.

I was expecting dog shit because I haven't been crazy about Smith since I quit weed and discovered dating at 21, but I genuinely felt something.

The dialogue is stale, the acting is somehow worse than it has ever been in the Clerks series, which is not known for its acting, and the emotional beats are manipulative. This movie really makes me appreciate how fresh and innovative the first Clerks was, and how the second installment took a new approach to things and was filled with smart, funny button pushing. Don't bother with 3, unless you want a nostalgia fix with a heaping scoop of callbacks to a better time in Kevin Smith's career.

You know, some sequels better left unmade...

Being his signature film series, Kevin Smith makes a genuine effort to make a good movie in Clerks III instead of a pure fan service slop, with a real plot and comedy-drama sensibilities which reminded me of Scrubs. It doesn't always work, but it's an acceptable conclusion to the saga.

The totally unnecessary finale...

A fitting end to the series. Better than it had any right to be. Surprisingly got to me in places.

Fuck you, Kevin Smith, for pulling at my heartstrings this damn hard. Shit's lethal man... Also, Brian O'Halloran's A game? Jesus...

In “Clerks III,” Dante and Randall return to the Quick Stop after Randall’s heart attack prompts them to make a movie about their lives. Packed with nostalgia, the film delves into real issues like mortality and grief, balancing humor with emotional depth. It marks a significant shift towards seriousness in the trilogy.

not so good

I’ve seen Clerks many times over the decades and Clerks 2 is probably my 2nd favorite Smith joint (even the Clerks cartoon might be 3rd on that list) so I was on this movie’s side going in. But man, it’s just shockingly dour. There was always bleakness undercutting the humor in Clerks, but it was like one part bleak to four parts funny - a ratio now inverted. Future watches will continue to conclude with Clerks 2, a film this one just repeats the Dante/Randal dynamics of but worse.

Smith has lost it years ago. I would much rather just re-watch Clerks II or any Smith film of that era than give his new movies a chance. Dull and masturbatory.

Kevin Smith mourns what the world would have been like if he had died from his heart attack, by trying, for 100 minutes, to blow himself, but ends up breaking his neck. If you're interested in watching some of his films, remember to stop after 2006's "Clerks II".

While "Clerks III" has its moments, it's ultimately a mixed bag. The emotional moments are powerful, but the humor falls flat too often. Fans of the series will likely appreciate the continuation of Dante and Randal's story, but the film doesn't stand up as a great comedy on its own.

As a film it’s quite meh. As a nostalgis trip, especially if you are a viewaskew and Clerks fan, beyond amazing trip of nostalgia. Smiths’ journey after his heart attack is all on display and it is quite fun. Apart from the satanists, it was quite good. The satanists were also good but a bit exaggerated, but what else do you expect from Smith?

Starts off promisingly personal until sliding steadily into the shamelessly derivative. We all like to relive our glory days, but Kevin Smith takes it far too literally. Jeff Anderson--always the best at delivering Smith's profane barbs and humanizing his man-child impotency--is the lone buttress in a losing battle against sentimentality.

Goes between being very goofy and irreverent to being very sad and bittersweet. I thought it was well done. It's heavy on the nostalgia which can be a little overdone at times. I still thought there were plenty of funny moments and it had the heart that most good Kevin Smith movies have. Both Anderson and O'Halloran do a really great job, I always enjoy seeing them on the screen. Made specifically for the long time viewaskew fan just like the last one.

When I think about Kevin Smith, I think about my favorite musical acts, who sure, have been playing the same tunes for decades - with some new stuff that sounds kinda different but I still appreciate - but man, when they crank up the classics and play those same old strings, it reminds you why you fell in love with them in the first place. Allow me my fan-card, dear reader: I love this movie, and this filmmaker, and all it's (and their) flaws. Trevor Fehrman is, once again, a scene-stealer.

I was probably one of the few that thought that the Clerks II ending was the perfect send off for these characters, and unfortunately III never manages to convince me otherwise. III spends far too much time being meta and throwing around nostalgic references to the first two films instead of concentrating on a fitting concluding chapter. It remains funny in parts but still the weakest of the series. Clerks fans will be satisfied to varying degrees but for me it was a little disappointing

This is another good addition to the Clerks film series. The cast all seem to be having a great time here. There are a number of funny and satisfying moments but also some sad ones. Overall I would definitely recommend this film.

While you can feel a lot of Kevin Smith's 'what perspective I gained' in this film, it's also a lot of shouting and F-Us and it's a bit short on other substance, just a lot of running gags and homage to his first film. The acting ranges from on-point to forced on a regular basis and it's palpable. Just okay.

Oh boy. If this had just been a comedy, it would have still been kinda lazy with a lot of cheap callbacks but also still funny and a fitting end to the franchise. But Smith has inserted a LOT of bad drama in this that drags it down significantly and that Brian O’Halloran, bless him, just cannot pull off. The cast is good otherwise, and there are some not bad jokes, but the dramatic portions are truly awful. I still enjoy the first two for nostalgia reasons, but this one is just not good.