Clerks III | 2022 | R | – 5.3.10

Why is “Clerks III” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “pervasive language, crude sexual material, and drug content.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes, a sex scene in a car without visible nudity, many sexual references, a couple of implied masturbation scenes, remarks about making a pornographic movie, two men having heart attacks in separate scenes with both ending up in the hospital and one man dying, a man talking to the ghost of his dead wife, many arguments and insults, and over 130 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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The characters from the previous installments of the Clerks franchise are reunited, and when one of them has a heart attack, he recruits the group to make a movie about his life. Also with Ben Affleck, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Justin Long, Rosario Dawson, Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes, Fred Armisen, Jeff Anderson, Trevor Fehrman and Brian O’Halloran. Directed by Smith. [Running Time: 1:55]

Clerks III SEX/NUDITY 5

 – A man and a woman flirt in a car, the woman asks the man if he wants to have sex and we see the windows of the car steamed as the car rocks back and forth; several other men stand outside the car watching and one man seems to be masturbating (it is not clear if he really is, or if he is just gesturing; we see his hands in his pockets and we see rhythmic movement).
► A person thrusts into a costume’s head. A woman kisses a man on the forehead. A man uses his two index fingers to touch his clothed nipples when a reference is made to a pornographic movie. A man and a woman hold hands in a movie theater. While playing hockey on the roof of a building a man throws a kiss to another man when they stand close to each other, before a starting shot.
► A man’s T-shirt bears an ad for a brand of candy that is sexually suggestive and the image of the candy resembles a part of the male anatomy. A man drops his pants in a hospital waiting room and offers himself to Satan as a concubine (we see his bare legs to the upper thighs and he is wearing boxer briefs).
► A man talks about catching a man self-pleasuring in a store’s bathroom. A man tells another man, “Sex sells.” The ghost of a woman talks to her living husband about having a lot of sex in Heaven and she lists the celebrities that she has had sex with. A man remarks about his girlfriend having performed oral sex on many men. A man talks about another man breaking his neck trying to perform oral sex on himself. A storefront sign contains a sexual explicit reference. Two men do an elaborate handshake and another man says, “That’s quite a hand job.” A woman says that her husband was in a strip club (we do not see this).
► A woman wears a low-cut tank top that reveals cleavage and bare shoulders in a few scenes. A man is shown wearing briefs in a couple of scenes (we see his bare legs to the hips) and he is uncomfortable removing them in an ER because he thinks the size of his genitals is embarrassing.

Clerks III VIOLENCE/GORE 3

 – A man in a hospital bed flinches and then lies motionless; another man in the room calls for help, medics rush into the room and we then see mourners gathered at a funeral. A man struggles to breathe, starts to perspire and collapses into a display in a convenience store; he is rushed to the hospital in an ambulance and we are told that he is having a heart attack. A man collapses in a convenience store and lies motionless on the floor; we see him in the hospital with tubes, an IV and a ventilator. A man in a hospital bed is shown with tubes and an IV as a doctor prepares to insert a stent during a heart attack; the doctor tells the patient that she will be making an incision in his groin and he is uncomfortable taking off his underwear (please see the Sex/Nudity category for more details).
► A man holds a gun on another man in a convenience store.
► The ghost of a man’s wife appears to him a few times and one time we see her sitting on her gravestone as the man grieves over her death (and their unborn child); the woman jokes about spitting and defecating on her grave. Several men play hockey on the roof of a building. A man sells marijuana to another man on a sidewalk and behaves nervously, afraid that he will be seen. A man tries to talk to a man, as they take him into an ER and security is called to take him out of the building.
► A doctor tells a man that the heart attack he is having is called “the widow maker” because the mortality rate is so high. A doctor tells a man that his friend may suffer from depression after surviving a heart attack. A man berates another man for being part of a death cult (referring to Christianity). A man accuses another man of worshiping Satanic Superheroes. A man refers to someone biting off a bat’s head. A refers to being bitten on the anus by a rattlesnake and another man sucking out the poison. When people complain about a movie script, a man says, “Everyone’s a critic.” A man talks about another man breaking his neck trying to perform oral sex on himself. A man talks about wanting to kill himself every day. A woman yells at a man. Two men yell at each other in a couple of scenes. A sign hangs in a convenience store that reads RIP with a photo of a person that we understand was killed in a drunk driving accident. A man panics after praying for Jesus to smite a man, and the man has a heart attack. A man talks about a time when another man burned a store down.
► A man brings tripe into a convenience store and tells a customer not to buy cigarettes because his lungs will end up looking like the tripe (he says it is a lung and other people in the shop react to the smell). A man lies on the floor of a convenience store and foam pours from his mouth (it does not appear to be a health emergency). A cat defecates in a litter box (we see the feces). A couple of remarks are made about a character in a movie getting his hand cut off. A man on a stretcher is shown with a bloody head wound in an ER. A doctor in an ER wears a witch costume including long green nails.

Clerks III LANGUAGE 10

 – About 132 F-words and its derivatives, 1 obscene hand gesture, 24 sexual references, 49 scatological terms, 29 anatomical terms, 14 mild obscenities, name-calling (nut, racist, Luddite, the widow maker, puds, pal, self-centered, Silent Bob, ugly, fake, Schindler’s List, ghastly, soulless, the quiet place, selfish, unbelievable, fanboy, pit, Drinky McStinky, backward, coward, woke, Friar [F-word deleted], plucky, the worst, creepy, sick, fine looking woman, senile, weird, dirty little [mild obscenity deleted], Elon Muskrat, hideous crack whore, evil, tawdry trash, stupid, blasphemy, queen of oral, veggie [anatomical term deleted]), exclamations (heck, come on, what’s up doc, shut-up, gee whiz, big deal, snoochie-boochie, alright already), 3 religious profanities (GD), 34 religious exclamations (e.g. oh my God, Christ, for God’s sake, Jesus, one God, God, Lord, Christ vampire, Chris Kites, Christian [anatomical term deleted], blasphemy, hail Satan, a man prays to Satan several times, Jesus [F-word deleted] Christ, Holy [F-word deleted], Holy [scatological term deleted]). | profanity glossary |

Clerks III SUBSTANCE USE

 – A sign on a store reads “THC” and the store sells marijuana, a man throws marijuana from a sidewalk to the roof of a building where another man catches it, a man hides marijuana in a VHS tape case and opens it to sell some a few times, a man sells marijuana to another man on a sidewalk and behaves nervously, afraid that he will be seen, a man smokes from a giant marijuana cigarette, a man remarks about how “high” someone was, and two men give or sell several people marijuana in a parking lot. A man comes into a convenience store and he seems drunk (he stumbles and slurs his words). A man smokes a cigarette, and we see an ad for vape pens.

Clerks III DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Change, death of loved ones, moving on, NFTs, faith, Christianity, Satanism, friendship, cryptocurrency, cults, movie making, Gen Z, being woke, romantic love, body-shame, divorce, publicity, grief, diversity, Howard Stern questioning one’s reason for existence and self-worth.

Clerks III MESSAGE

 – A sudden reminder of mortality concentrates the mind.