The British musician and filmmaker Jeymes Samuel wanted to make a biblical epic like “Ben-Hur,” with a side order of biblical-adjacent “Spartacus,” but his way. The result is the satiric/earnest/rollicking/mellow amalgam called “The Book of Clarence,” starring LaKeith Stanfield as a dope-dealing striver in 33 A.D. Jerusalem. The trailer looks like an action comedy, and it isn’t that, really, thought it contains both action (chariot street racing, gladiator bone-crunching) and comedy. Does it work? I’d say no, and sort of, and in the end, almost. The extreme tonal change-ups careen from full-on…
