Mallrats Is One Of The Most Underrated Comedies Of The Nineties. It Is Dumb, Crude, Completely Ridiculous, And Somehow Still A Hell Of A Lot Of Fun. This Is Kevin Smith At His Most Unfiltered And One Of His Most Entertaining Movies.
Mallrats Is One Of The Most Underrated Comedies Of The Nineties. It Is Dumb, Crude, Completely Ridiculous, And Somehow Still A Hell Of A Lot Of Fun. This Is Kevin Smith At His Most Unfiltered And One Of His Most Entertaining Movies.
Mallrats, released in 1995, is one of those movies that did not get much respect when it first came out but eventually found the audience it deserved. It was Kevin Smith’s follow up to Clerks, and while it is nowhere near as grounded as that movie, it has the same love of pop culture, ridiculous conversations, and characters who seem to have absolutely no idea what they are doing with their lives.
Kevin Smith wrote and directed the movie, and this was still very early in his career. Clerks had been made for almost nothing and became an independent film phenomenon, so expectations were much higher for Mallrats. Unfortunately, it was a box office disappointment. Looking back now, I think it is one of those movies that audiences simply needed time to appreciate.
Jason Lee stars as Brodie Bruce, a sarcastic comic book obsessed slacker who has just been dumped by his girlfriend. Jeremy London plays T.S. Quint, Brodie’s best friend, who is also dealing with relationship problems. The two guys head to the mall, where they spend the day trying to forget their problems and eventually coming up with increasingly ridiculous plans to win their girlfriends back.
The cast is packed with familiar faces. Shannen Doherty plays Rene Mosier, Claire Forlani plays Brandi Svenning, Ben Affleck plays Shannon Hamilton, Michael Rooker plays Brandi’s father Jared, and Joey Lauren Adams plays Gwen. Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith also return as Jay and Silent Bob, who were quickly becoming regulars in Smith’s View Askewniverse.
Jason Lee is probably the biggest reason the movie works as well as it does. Brodie is sarcastic, immature, and occasionally an absolute pain in the ass, but Lee gives him enough personality that you cannot help but enjoy watching him. This movie also helped establish Lee as a major comedy talent before he went on to bigger roles.
The plot is basically a day at the mall that gets increasingly out of control. Brodie and T.S. are dealing with their respective breakups while trying to get into a live dating game show being filmed at the mall. Along the way they encounter security guards, comic book fans, an obnoxious businessman, Jay and Silent Bob, and just about every strange character you could imagine finding in a nineties shopping mall.
And yes, the movie is stupid. There is absolutely no reason to pretend otherwise. Some of the jokes are juvenile, some of the situations are completely absurd, and the entire story feels like it was written by a bunch of guys who spent way too much time hanging around a mall. But honestly, that is exactly why it is fun.
What makes Mallrats work for me is the nineties atmosphere. This is a movie from a time when the mall was still a major social gathering place for teenagers and young adults. There are video game stores, comic book shops, food courts, cheesy stores, and people just wandering around with nothing better to do. It captures a specific period that feels almost nostalgic now.
The movie also has Kevin Smith’s trademark obsession with pop culture. Comic books, movies, television, Star Wars, sex, relationships, and random arguments about absolutely nothing are everywhere. The dialogue is ridiculous but often genuinely funny, and that combination became a huge part of what people eventually came to love about Smith’s movies.
The supporting cast deserves plenty of credit too. Michael Rooker is hilarious as the intense and controlling father who has no idea what to make of T.S. Ben Affleck is also great as Shannon Hamilton, playing an arrogant asshole who seems to enjoy making everyone around him miserable. Affleck clearly understands that the character is ridiculous and completely commits to it.
One of the best things about Mallrats is how much it feels like a snapshot of Kevin Smith’s early filmmaking style. You can see the same universe that would eventually connect Clerks, Chasing Amy, Dogma, and other View Askewniverse movies. It is rough around the edges, but there is a personality to it that you cannot fake.
I also think the movie has become more enjoyable with age because it is no longer being judged against what people expected from Kevin Smith after Clerks. If you go into Mallrats expecting another Clerks, you might be disappointed. If you simply accept it as a ridiculous nineties comedy about two idiots hanging out at a mall, it works much better.
For me, Mallrats is exactly the kind of movie that makes me miss nineties comedy. It does not take itself seriously, it is packed with memorable characters, and it has that slightly dirty, independent comedy feel that Hollywood eventually moved away from. Is it a masterpiece? No. Is it a hell of a lot of fun? Absolutely.
More than thirty years later, Mallrats has become a legitimate cult classic. The cast is great, Jason Lee is hilarious, Kevin Smith’s writing is unmistakable, and the movie captures a very specific moment in nineties pop culture. It may have bombed when it was released, but sometimes the audience gets it wrong the first time around, and Mallrats is a perfect example of that.