Film Review of the Week

Comedy

Clerks III (15)

Review: Writer-director Kevin Smith gives himself a hearty pat on the back with Clerks III, a self-indulgent stumble down memory lane and the making of the semi-autobiographical 1994 comedy which made his name. Presented in black and white, Clerks was shot on a budget of 27,575 US dollars at the New Jersey convenience store where Smith worked. The third film in the series recreates scenes from the original in lustrous colour while addressing the theme of mortality – a subject close to Smith’s heart after a near-fatal myocardial infarction in 2018. Imitation is the sincerest form of self-flattery.

“I’ve never seen an entire film set in a convenience store!” gushes Randal (Jeff Anderson). “Because who would want to watch that?!” retorts best friend and co-worker Dante (Brian O’Halloran), Smith’s on-screen alter ego. In-jokery is persistent – Clerks III is a love letter, gushingly scrawled by Smith to himself – and the filmmaker uses the end credits as an opportunity to wax lyrical in voiceover as himself about fond memories of the past 28 years and the initial response to his low budget debut. Devoted fans will be in nostalgia-soaked heaven but for the rest of us, the third instalment hits as often as it misses and some heartfelt soul-searching from Dante sits uneasily next to the raucous buffoonery.

Dante Hicks (O’Halloran) and Randal Graves (Anderson) work side-by-side at Quick Stop Groceries, next door to the weed dispensary run by Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith). They are joined by co-worker Elias Grover (Trevor Fehrman), co-founder of the Christian Crypto Club who has his own mute sidekick, Blockchain (Austin Zajur). During a heated conversation, Randal suffers a heart attack and is rushed into surgery. Doctor Ladenhelm (Amy Sedaris) defies the odds to save Randal. “Keep his spirits up,” she advises a relieved Dante.

When Randal decides to make his own film based on real-life events at the convenience store, Dante follows doctor’s orders and wholeheartedly supports his buddy. Dante’s old flame Veronica (Marilyn Ghigliotti), who features heavily in the 168-page script of In Convenience, dismisses Randal as a “strip mall Soderbergh” but the aspiring auteur prefers to think of himself as “retail’s Richard Linklater”. As production begins with Randal directing himself (“It worked for Orson Welles!”), Dante seeks guidance from his girlfriend Becky (Rosario Dawson).

Clerks III recycles pop culture references and visual gags under the guise of foul-mouthed art masquerading as life. O’Halloran and Anderson reprise their on-screen bromance, the former demonstrating his dramatic range with tear-filled scenes of rage and regret. Auditions for Randal’s masterpiece deliver surprise starry cameos. With this third picture, Smith heads for the checkout with familiar ingredients that are almost out of date but still taste pleasing.

Comedy

Ticket To Paradise (12A)

Review: Julia Roberts is well versed in the art of sabotaging marital bliss on the big screen. In My Best Friend’s Wedding, she enacted an underhand scheme to stop the love of her life (Dermot Mulroney) from marrying his sweetheart (Cameron Diaz), then in Runaway Bride, Roberts left Pretty Woman co-star Richard Gere standing at the altar. Third time’s a charming confection as the Oscar-winning actress reunites with George Clooney to play an acrimoniously divorced couple, who plot to wreck their daughter’s island wedding so their only child doesn’t suffer the same heartbreak as them in the future. Predictably, sparks of attraction are rekindled in a foreign climate as director Ol Parker translates his work behind the camera of Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! from a fictional Greek island to the Indonesian archipelago.

Co-written by Parker and Daniel Pipski, Ticket To Paradise makes no pretensions about reinventing the contemporary rom-com, juxtaposing amusing set pieces (competitive beer pong, close encounters with aquatic creatures) and heartfelt confessions about the fragile human heart (“Being loved is not the same as loving”). It’s a glossy escape from reality that witnesses Roberts fall asleep in the jungle under a manmade canopy of leaves during a downpour and regain consciousness in spotless attire with lusciously conditioned, tumbling locks and flawless make-up. The two leads could play these roles in their beauty sleep and their innate megawatt charm powers director Parker’s breezy romp.

Los Angeles gallery owner Georgia Cotton (Roberts) and ex-husband David (Clooney) have been simmering with resentment since they called time on their marriage 20 years ago. “We try not to be in the same time zone if I can help it,” Georgia informs a colleague. The couple’s daughter Lily (Kaitlyn Dever) is caught in the middle of the acid-tongued animosity. During a post-graduation trip to Bali with best friend Wren (Billie Lourd), Lily falls in love with seaweed farmer Gede (Maxime Bouttier).

Thirty-seven days later, the giddy young couple decide to marry, jettisoning Lily’s plans to attend law school in America. David and Georgia call a truce as they travel to Bali to covertly break up the tropical lovebirds. With just four days until the nuptials, a blissfully unsuspecting Lily introduces Gede to her parents and Georgia’s current beau, airline pilot Paul (Lucas Bravo), touches down in the sun-kissed idyll.

Ticket To Paradise offers a feelgood package deal of breath-taking locations, tart one-liners, dreamy youthful optimism and Clooney and Roberts drunk-dancing to House Of Pain’s 1992 bop Jump Around. The cast appear to be having fun (enforced by outtakes during the end credits) and the effervescence is infectious. Parker and Pipski’s script is occasionally heavy-handed with sentimentality but gifted actors know how to encourage us swallow a line saturated in syrup without making us reach for travel sickness pills.