Mallrats (Collector's Edition)

I don't want to like this film. Really, I don't.

It's offensive and vulgar (don't let your kids see it, please). It features a 15-year-old girl who researches her book on sex by sleeping with a variety of men between 14 and 30 years old and videotaping the sessions. The Easter Bunny gets beaten up. And when Willem (Ethan Suplee) can't see the sailboat in the Magic Eye picture, he's mean to little children (a lot of the film seems to be mean to little children).

But there's something about Kevin Smith's films that I enjoy - it's certainly not the constant swearing, but it could be the adorable Jason Lee, or the ever-present Jay & Silent Bob.

Mallrats is about a couple of college-age slackers who get dumped by their girlfriends on the same day and visit the mall to cheer themselves up.

TS (Jeremy London) is the quiet one, brooding over his love, while Brodie (Lee) is the not-at-all quiet one, obsessing over comic books and video games and ranting about everything he sees.

London is nice but dull, while Lee makes the movie. This was his first major film role, and he's just hilarious. And he somehow makes his insensitive, argumentative character quite likeable.

Jay and Silent Bob (Jason Mewes and Smith himself) are a lot of fun, as always, as they save the day for TS & Brodie and help them get their girlfriends back.

The movie doesn't really make any sense - there are many holes in the logic. But that's okay, it's not meant to be logical.

I really did hate the offensive parts (I can't watch when they beat up the Easter Bunny in front of little kids!). But, like I said, I couldn't help but enjoy the movie despite myself.

If you're not familiar with the movie, you may want to rent it before buying it. Unless you're already a Kevin Smith fan, in which case, you've probably already seen the movie a million times anyway. ;-)

Like most cult classics either people really love the film or they tend to consider it a useless piece of trash with some viewers in the center unmoved by the controversy. This movie is no different.

The movie seems to cling to the romanticized backdrop of a mall where two slackers out of their luck regarding women spend their time trying to find something interesting to do. The story is complicated by the fact the main character's love interest is being forced to date another man for the sake of her father's game show. From here begins an adventure for the sake of love, for chocolate pretzels, and for finally finding something to do.

The whole story is pretty funny and well put together considering the topic. Likely comic book fans will understand the main characters more than those who don't (it's a subculture even) but anyone can understand the general feel of the story depending upon if you like this sort of humor. I'd suggest watching it but if you didn't like Clerks you may find the same sort of humor here and be turned off to this as well.

Mallrats (1995) - Kevin Smith

It seems that out of all of Kevin Smith's Jay and Silent Bob films, this one has received the most negative reviews. Even my favorite film critic, Roger Ebert, gave this a 1 1/2 stars out of 4. Personally, I can't see why. Sure, it's not Kevin Smith's best film (that award goes to either Clerks or Chasing Amy), and its definitely not a great film, but its also not nearly as bad as a lot of critics make it out to be. I find the dialogue relatively witty, the interplay between the characters fun, and the minor romantic elements charming, at the least. Yes, the plot is relatively vapid, the acting is bad, and the overall refinement is a little lacking. However, I feel that all of it just adds to the overall charm. Thus, I would recommend that one at least check it out before immediately dismissing it.

This is a really lousy movie made up of crass, vulgar, toilet humor. I can't imagine how anyone could find this entertainment. The acting is totally second-rate and it looks like it was filmed with one of those old-fashioned "camcorders" that everyone had in the 70's and 80's. Even my two favorite stars, Priscilla Barnes & Shannen Doherty can't save this raw sewage.

In keeping with the theme of going back to the well, Kevin Smith and the View Askew gang present the Mallrats 10th Anniversary Edition DVD. If you're an absolutely die hard fan of the movie, by all means buy this now and spend the remainder of your day with the DVD and some chocolate covered pretzels. If you're not, just stick to the Collector's Edition you have now.

I'm a huge fan of everything that Kevin Smith and Company have done over the last fourteen years, but I was honestly a bit disappointed that this DVD didn't bring a lot to the table. You have the theatrical feature (with commentary) as well as the same features you had with the Collector's Edition DVD. The only difference on this DVD is that rather than seeing the cut footage as cut footage, Kevin and Scott cut it back into the film, creating the "extended" cut, and you also have a short 10th Anniversary Q&A with Kevin, Scott Mosier, and some of the cast.

Those are really the only differences. I was personally hoping for a little more effort. Perhaps an updated commentary track? Something more to make it feel like it's not just the same DVD with new packaging. All in all, it's the same movie we fell in love with once we saw it on Starz. If you're looking for a DVD with lots of extras, I'd suggest Clerks X.