
“Clown in a Cornfield finds” a good balance of slasher and comedy
After an eight-year hiatus, cult director Eli Craig returns to the horror-comedy genre with his latest film, “Clown in a Cornfield,” from RLJE Films.
Kevin Smith makes a return to the world of convenience stores in Clerks III from Lionsgate. After suffering a massive heart attack, Randal (Jeff Anderson) enlists friends and fellow clerks Dante (Brian O’Halloran), Elias (Trevor Fehrman), Jay (Jason Mewes), and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith) to help him make a movie about life at the Quick Stop.
A wise man once said, “All fiction is based on some fact.” One of the things I’ve always commended Smith for regarding his writing was that he pulls from personal experience. Two of my favorite Smith films, Jersey Girl and Chasing Amy, deal with topics that resonate personally, even at the age of forty-one. The previously mentioned films dealt with fatherhood and unrequited love. Smith gets serious for Clerks III while keeping his trademark style of humor.
As fans know, Smith suffered an almost fatal heart attack in 2018 and changed his lifestyle. The heart attack angle sets our plot nicely early in the film. Throughout its runtime, Clerks III kept a smile on my face while validating that tomorrow indeed isn’t promised and to live life to the fullest.
Like the first two films, Brian O’Halloran’s Dante plays the straight man to Anderson’s edgy Randall. The jokes arrive in succession, and a few times, I hit rewind on my screener copy because I was laughing so hard at the last joke. I won’t spoil any of the bits, but I look forward to hearing them repeated by Smith fans and making their way onto memes.
Smith’s cast brings their A game, with everyone having a moment to shine. The characters’ arcs were realistic, mainly how Smith handles Becky (Rosario Dawson) and Elias. I also like seeing the return of other characters from the Clerks universe that I won’t reveal. In addition, as a cinephile, it was great to see the almost meta approach taken to the film within a film. Thankfully it all comes off organically and never as forced for the sake of a cheap laugh.
The third act of Clerks III sets up one of the boldest choices Smith has ever made in his nearly thirty-year career. However, after a post-film discussion with fellow critics, I understood why he made the choice he did. In hindsight, Dante and Randall always represented the two sides of Smith. I don’t want to get that deep with the analogy, but hopefully, after you see the film, my statement will make more sense to viewers.
Avoiding the threequel curse and closing out a trilogy with laughs and heart, Clerks III is worth your time.
Final Grade: B+
Clerks III is being released exclusively in theaters on September 13th & 15th via Lionsgate & Fathom Events.
After an eight-year hiatus, cult director Eli Craig returns to the horror-comedy genre with his latest film, “Clown in a Cornfield,” from RLJE Films.
First-time director Felipe Vargas explores the consequences of forgetting one’s roots in the chilling horror film “Rosario,” produced by Highland Film Group and Muchio Mass Media. Alan Trezza wrote the screenplay, which begins with our titular character, a Mexican immigrant, receiving her first communion. After a spooky incident involving her eerie grandmother, it becomes evident that Rosario is destined to move on when she grows older.
Director Duncan Skiles taps into the buddy pic genre for his feature debut in “Neighborhood Watch” from RJLE Films. Simon (Jack Quaid) is a young man grappling with mental illness who becomes convinced that he has witnessed an abduction. When he reports it to the police, and they refuse to believe him, he reluctantly seeks the help of his neighbor Ed (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), a jaded, retired security guard with a troubled past. As the unlikely duo delves deeper into the mystery, their pursuit of the truth forces them to confront the disappearance’s dark secrets and the unspoken wounds that haunt them.