Review of Mallrats (1995) by Rikki C — 08 Oct 2010

Mallrats, to me, has always been an excellent and hilarious movie bordering on "comedy classic status". Not until watching the bonus material included on the Anniversary Edition DVD did I learn that it was basically a critical failure.

Mallrats was actually my introduction into the world of "Kevin Smith". Flicking through cable channels one day, I stumbled across this flick and have been a devoted fan ever since!

Since becoming more knowledgable in Kevin Smith films, To this day I cannot see why this film did so badly and how people can sit there and blast it.

As most people agree, the dialogue plays a decent part on why Smith films are so fantastic and fun, and this was the first thing that grabbed my attention. As mentioned, when I stumbled across Mallrats on Cable, it was almost the end of the film at the Game Show segment. To have a chick insinuating having sex as a question, and having Brodie (God bless Jason Lee!) scream out "Oh, you mean like...!", I was hooked. Thankfully, as cable is infamous for doing, Mallrats got multiple re-runs and the next day I caught the flick in full.

The quotable lines are countless. The talent found in casting is absolutely outstanding. The dialogue is quirky, thoughtful and biting, etc., etc... It's difficult to attribute the movie's failure to anything other than poor marketing and it not being properly prioritized by Rogue Pictures. But, whatever the cause, Mallrats has found it's cult following in the years following its release. It's too good a movie to have remained unnoticed and unappreciated for too long.

The film plays though in a similar style of 'Clerks', but with a bigger budget and a few more locations(TC and Brodies houses, strip mall). the majority of the movie takes place at the mall though.

Jason Lee really makes the movie. his character (Brodie) has such a strong, sarcastic personality. he's hilarious. the main character (TC) is pretty bland. I dont think he did anything funny throughout the movie. thats fine because you dont need to be funny when you're next to jason lee. he carried all the jokes perfectly throught this movie.

The movie has an ensemble cast, with Shanne Doherty, Ben Affleck, Michael Rooker, Amy Adams, and like I mention before Jeremy London and Jason Lee.

I'm my opinion Mallrats is a classic, and just like Clerks and Jay and SIlent Bob this is one of my personal favorite . . . .