Over the past thirty years, Kevin Smith has had a wholly unique career with a filmography full of ups and downs that can be packaged into various phases. The first phase of Smith’s career gave us the View Askewniverse, an interconnected pentalogy of New Jersey stories that explored everything from a couple of guys hanging out at the mall to the potential end of existence thanks to a pair of renegade angels. The third phase of Smith’s career was a sharp right turn, as he tried his hand at horror with films like Red State and Tusk.
But in hindsight, maybe the most fascinating period of Smith’s career is the second phase that came between these two, a trilogy of films in which Smith embraced his more sentimental side. These films included Jersey Girl, an earnest and underrated look at fatherhood that Smith continues to mock to this day; Zack and Miri Make a Porno, in which Smith combined his penchant for dirty humor with a surprisingly gratifying romance; and Clerks II, Smith first return to the View Askewniverse, which took the world that he started with in 1994’s Clerks, but mixed that reminiscence of the past with an occasionally affecting story about two friends realizing they need each other. After Jersey Girl and Zack and MIri weren’t box office successes, Smith moved away from this more sentimental side of himself and packed it away, as he experimented in darker stories for almost a decade.
After his heart attack in 2018, Smith seemed ready to explore the View Askewniverse once more, but this time, by once again embracing that sentimentality. With 2019’s Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, not only did Jay (Jason Mewes) become a father, but Smith also reinvestigated his 1997 film Chasing Amy in a way that was both affecting and attempting to right the errors that film made decades prior. While Reboot was flawed to say the least, it seems to have kicked off Smith’s fourth phase, a way of revisiting his beloved characters with compassion and care, not necessarily returning to the well because he knows that works, but rather, Smith is furthering these stories with the heart that was often missing with these characters and stories. He tested it out before with Clerks II (particularly the wonderful third act that might be one of the best things Smith has ever done), and with Reboot, and now with Clerks III, we see the culmination of this combining of nostalgia and heart.
When we left Dante (Brian O’Halloran) and Randal (Jeff Anderson) at the end of Clerks II, this duo were back behind the counter at the Quick Stop, but now as owners. Dante was now engaged to Becky (Rosario Dawson) who had a kid on the way, while Randal was back where he had wanted to be: back with his best friend at the store where they made so many memories together.
If Clerks II was Smith exploring what Dante really wanted out of life, Clerks III becomes about Randal finally figuring out what he wants to do with the time he has left. Taking a page from Smith’s own experiences, Randal has a heart attack, and realizing how short life can be, decides he wants to make a film about his experiences at the Quick Stop over the years. With the help of Dante and Randal’s frequent punching bag Elias (Trevor Fehrman), Randal sets out to make his masterpiece.
As Smith’s filmography has grown and gone down some strange paths, the Clerks series has always felt like the most personal and best encapsulation of where he is in his career at any given point. Clerks, naturally, was his film, shot cheaply and fully informed by his time working at the Quick Stop convenience store. With Clerks II, Smith—as previously mentioned—found himself in a period where he seemed to really want to push himself forward, and did so here with surprisingly touching moments of friendship, and a clear desire to want to become a better filmmaker (who would’ve expected a dance sequence in Clerks II?)
Clerks III continues this trend, as Smith not only delves into his experiences with his heart attack, but explores the joy he had making the original Clerks at the Quick Stop all those years ago. As Randal makes the film, we watch as he recreates moments from the 1994 film, complete with the original actors, and it’s one of the most joyous and charming things Smith has ever done. Smith isn’t telling the same story with a few more decades behind him, he’s exploring the glory days of his youth and showing the audience how life-changing and momentous chasing his passion was as a kid. These recreations are full of sly nods for fans of Smith and his commentaries on the filming of that indie classic, but are also charming for the newcomer for what they represent to Randal.
But even more so than the previous installments of this series, Clerks III works because of the performances from O’Halloran and Anderson. These two have basically become Smith’s version of Jesse and Celine, and it has been brilliant watching them grow together. Clerks II had these two friends admitting that they loved each other and needed each other, and we begin from that point in Clerks III, as Dante and Randal are now not just co-workers and business partners, they admittedly need each other. Dante has had a hard time since 2006, and while these reflections on these last few difficult years could’ve been too cloying and sweet for this series, Smith handles them with great control and awareness. O’Halloran is asked to shoulder much of the emotional weight here, as we see him worrying about losing his best friend and pondering the losses he’s had in his past, and he deftly pulls these moments off. Similarly, Anderson is at his all-time best, as we finally see the potential that he’s always had shining through, as he gives his all towards something. As these films have gone on, both O’Halloran and Anderson have been asked to handle more than one would’ve expected after Clerks, and both have been able to meet the challenges thrown at them time and time again.
Yet Clerks III also works so beautifully because it shows Smith embracing his strengths, his interests that have always served him well, and avoiding the pitfalls he’s made in the past. Smith’s films have often felt like a small community coming together to tell a story, and from the very beginning of decades-long friends playing hockey on the Quick Stop roof, or the usual patrons coming back to reprise the roles of themselves, that sense of community can be felt throughout Clerks III. Even the fact that Randal now lives in an apartment at the Quick Stop block of stores, above a dispensary now run by Jay and Silent Bob (Smith) even furthers that small-town community aspect of this narrative.
Smith has also cooled it down significantly when it comes to the dick and fart jokes here—which makes sense, considering these characters are almost 50 years old at this point. That type of humor has never been the strength of Smith’s work, but again, it’s the heart that has always stood out in his works, and takes the forefront in Clerks III. In Smith’s movies, you can always tell when he’s passionate about his story and characters because that intense love can be felt throughout the film. Clerks III might be the best example of this, as Smith wholeheartedly embraces the sentiment in this story, without having to always undercut these moments with humor. Clerks III is certainly still funny, but it’s the emotional core of this film that is paramount to everything else, and that’s a style that looks good on Smith.
With Reboot and now Clerks III especially, Smith has found a way to explore his fan-favorite characters once more, but in a way that makes these stories even more fascinating in hindsight and—most importantly—finds Smith once more telling personal stories through these reappraisals. In Clerks III, Smith returns to where his career began and has made one of his best films in decades, a tender and compassionate look at friendships that last no matter what, a remembrance of where Smith came from, and an appreciation for all those who helped him along the way.
Rating: A-
Clerks III comes to theaters on September 13.