Mallrats (1995) starring Shannen Doherty, Jeremy London, Jason Lee, Claire Forlani, Ben Affleck, Jason Mewes, Ethan Suplee, Kevin Smith directed by Kevin Smith Movie Review

Mallrats (1995)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Jason Lee and Jeremy London in Mallrats (1995)

Let's Go to the Mall

"Mallrats" is what I call a generational movie, where we have a group of similar aged people all at the same place on the same day and we watch various events in that day. But this is a Kevin Smith version of a generational movie and as such it is about larger than life characters who act in a way that is not real, asking questions you would like to ask but never would and reacting in an open manner rather than a guarded one. Basically you could say this is a movie which rather than having dialogue that you expect people to say and characters who behave in a way they should has characters who say what they think and act in a way which sticks two fingers up to conformity. And yes it is funny, strangely entertaining because it is disjointed, stupid and ultimately a lot of nonsense which will put a smile on your face.

Friends TS Quint (Jeremy London) and Brodie (Jason Lee - Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel) find themselves both being dumped on the same day and in order to forget about their woes Brodie insists they head to the Mall. There are various friends their such as Jay & Silent Bob (Jason Mewes & Kevin Smith) as well as Willam (Ethan Suplee) who is unable to see the image in Magic Eye pictures. But still their girlfriend troubles dominate till eventually they decide to do something about it with Brodie dealing with Shannon (Ben Affleck) who fancies his Rene (Shannen Doherty) and TS taking on his girlfriend Brandi's (Claire Forlani - Police Academy: Mission to Moscow) father.

Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes in Mallrats (1995)

Now there is a story to "Mallrats" but it is simple as both Brodie and TS have been dumped and going to the Mall to think things through set about winning back their girls. That means TS has to deal with Brandi's controlling father and Brodie has to deal with the sexually deviant Shannon who has made his move on Rene and is waiting to make his next uncomfortable movie on her. And that is basically the story, two guys, two girls and romantic tribulations.

But then "Mallrats" is not so much about the story but about the characters and a lot of humour. We have Brodi who acts as if he hasn't got any self control, saying it how it is or at least how he feels without a care for anyone else. There is also TS who just wants to get back with his girl and is almost normal compared to everyone else when you have Willam who stares at those dot images looking for the pictures and Jay & Bob who help Brodie and TS try and win their girls back. These are all daft characters that do daft things but they are daft things which are entertaining.

It's entertaining because of Kevin Smith's simple comic writing which constantly makes you smile. Come on who can't smile when Brodi asks Stan Lee whether Fantastic Four's Reed Richards thing is stretchy as well and that is not to forget a discussion on whether Lois Lane could handle Superman's super sperm. It is both daft and clever because it is the things you think but would never ask or discuss.

And the reason why a lot of this works when in fact it is quite a clunky, disjointed series of scenes is because of Jason Lee. There may be a whole list of stars such as Ben Affleck, Ethan Suplee, Claire Forlani, Shannen Doherty and Jeremy London but it is Lee who makes us laugh. It is Lee who is full on acting like he has no care and says what he thinks rather than what he should and so it is Lee who continually makes us smile and laugh at the daftness.

What this all boils down to is that "Mallrats" is one of those movies which I am sure as many people love as hate because it is daft, it is different and it is also seriously disjointed as it is like a collection of set pieces. But with people saying what they think rather than what they should it is full of utterly daft but fun scenes.


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