Kevin Smith, the once-indie film-making prodigy, has made his entire career not from his film Clerks, but from the tale of its production. In 1993, Smith famously used multiple credit cards and raised $27,575 to create a charming, dialogue-driven film during his off-hours at the New Jersey convenience store where he worked during the day.
As a fan of Clerks and Clerks II, I gave Kevin Smith’s latest film, Clerks III, a chance despite his recent lacklustre output. While it is marginally better than Tusk and Yoga Hosers, it falls short in many ways. The movie is a meta-comedy that heavily relies on references and recreations of scenes from the original film, which can be expected, but the execution is so lazy and uninspired that it left me in disbelief. The film fails to expand on the source material in any meaningful way, making it one of the laziest sequels I have ever seen.
Kevin Smith seems to have made a deliberate decision to cater solely to his podcast subscribers, which I am, and alienate everyone else, which is unfortunate. The movie is filled with callbacks and references to the original, but the way it was written — by simply rehashing old material — ensures that it will never be as quotable as its predecessor. While the original film was endlessly quotable, this one falls short due to its lack of originality.
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