10 Most Unexpectedly Depressing Movies
2. Clerks III
Prior to Clerks III's release, Kevin Smith hyped it up as the triumphant finale to the beloved slacker trilogy.
And while there's perhaps something inherently depressing about two middle-aged guys still working the same dead-end job from their 20s, nobody was prepared for quite how bleak the threequel ended up being.
Smith kicks things off with a massive punch to the gut, by revealing that Dante's (Brian O'Halloran) happy ending at the conclusion of Clerks II was quickly obliterated.
His pregnant love Becky (Rosario Dawson) was killed by a drunk driver shortly after Clerks II, and Dante has been in a depressed, miserable funk ever since.
His best pal Randal (Jeff Anderson) then suffers a massive, almost fatal heart attack, and while it seems like the rest of the film will offer up a redemptive finale for the duo, that's not quite the case.
Clerks III's big twist sees Dante suffer his own heart attack at the end of the movie, eventually causing his death.
And though it prompts Randal to start living his life to the fullest, it's an absolutely devastating ending for Dante: a man who never triumphed over his grief and dropped dead before he could find true happiness again.
Clearly the outcome was influenced by Smith's own near-fatal heart attack back in 2018, but for many fans it was simply a too-bittersweet note to close things out on - a strangely despair-filled, laughter-devoid finale to the comedy trilogy.