Review of Mallrats (1995) by Dustin P — 12 Dec 2012

2 Stars out of 4.

Mallrats is the ideal follow-up to Kevin Smith's Clerks. It is not a sequel, but a more original attempt to adjust from the wage earner (at Quick Stop) to consumers in the mall. Smith's plots have a passiveness to them, expressing the absurdism and stasis of both buyer and employee. Many things happen in Mallrats that happened in Clerks: there are girl problems, two best friends, unconventional attitudes, and Jay and Silent Bob - before they struck back. But Mallrats, unlike Smith's adequate first attempt in movies, just does not have that urgency, that angst as if its characters want to explode. That's what makes these films funny.

I got very little in that with Mallrats. It stars Jeremy London as T.S. Quint, a boy with high hopes in marrying and moving to Florida with his girlfriend Brandi Svenning (Claire Forlani). She ends up dumping him on behalf of his lack of support and her obnoxious father (played to a fault by Michael Rooker). T.S.'s rambunctious best friend Brodie Bruce (Jason Lee) also lost his girl since he loves comic books and video games too much and takes no time to fulfill her. Mallrats could be an oddball morality tale, about two boys in New Jersey (Smith's key milieu) who rediscover friendship in a place, the mall, which dismisses them as products.

But it's not. I think, if I am right, Kevin Smith wants an ensemble of characters dwelling in a mall to exemplify once again an eager, very sullen youth. But at the same time, the stakes are not raised, nothing is developed, and there is no urgency. Smith did this movie, because Universal was willing to finance it, since Clerks was so successful. Mallrats is said to have continued the View Askewniverse series. Kevin Smith also said he would do any film the studios wanted, as long as they paid for his films. It appears he did not say this in jest.

Mallrats is not a train wreck, but it is not satisfying as a comedy or a movie. You expect for Brodie and T.S. to lose their callous ways and, whether they get the girl or not, become full-grown, polished, and learned consumers themselves. There needs to be a tie in, a focal point of interest that goes beyond the lame jokes. Smith is terrific at creating zany characters, but there is nothing to like in any of them. You get hateful in the midpoint and by the end, cannot believe these characters have discovered anything. I could not believe even the rotund Willie (Ethan Suplee) would have found the sailboat in the end. He is such an ornery annoyance.

Now, Kevin Smith has made clear that his films are never about the active protagonists. His writing plays off much of the Generation X attitide: non-chalant, self-conscious, and unconventional. Jay and Silent Bob are always great comedic touches: Jay (Jason Mewes) never shuts up and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith) is the Chaplin that barely says a word. In Mallrats, however, everything is gone to waste. This is a hang around movie that relies on its script to maintain interest. But it falls in love with its self-loathing attitude than parodying it.

In a potentially clever set piece, Brodie entertains an audience of Truth and Date, a game show hosted by T.S.'s ex-girlfriend. Smith tries to bestow hilarity and inspiration in this scene, but the scene is too mawkish and cruel for us to believe these characters are real under-achievers and proud of it.

I did enjoy the conversation between Brodie and Stan Lee, where Lee speaks of a false anecdote about how he lost a girl and how that dismay inspired all the comic books he would publish. What makes this scene so charming is that Smith manipulates the right reactions from us: the conversation is played as totally saccharine, and then immediately after, we stare at the screen, gawking. Then we discover, that Lee was manipulating Brodie on behalf of T.S. Smith says the jokes on us.

I wanted more of this in Mallrats. But there is little joy. The movie has become a cult favourite today and I can see why. The film plays off the fantasy of comic books and has fun with the fact that the youth are gradually becoming animated caricatures of a brutally conventional, dependable society. So I can confess one thing: Mallrats is for the comic fans but not those willing to laugh.