Yeah, man. I was in the same boat. "It's gonna be good this time! It couldn't possibly be any worse! Right?"
And I just don't get it. I watch his Fatman Beyond podcast religiously, and he's always articulate and quick-witted, just entertaining as all hell. How does he keep cranking out these subpar films? The dialogue in Clerks III is so aggressively unfunny, it's practically anti-comedy.
I really don't understand. There's one scene where they're auditioning "strangers" for parts in the movie they're making (within the movie), and the people auditioning are all Kevin's real life friends -- Affleck, the various Comic Book Men, Supergirl, etc. And the shit they're going on about comes off as omega-cringe improv. It's the kind of shit any other production would include in the "Deleted Scenes" of a home release -- the kind of stuff you endure with a grimace, and then think, "Yeah, I get why that got cut."
Not to mention all the bi-polar tonal swings where moments prior Dante and Randal are cracking wise, then suddenly they're weeping and sobbing out their lines... fucking what the fuck is this movie?!