Mallrats

As most Smith fanboys know, Mallrats has been trashed critically, financially (bad box-office) and by a lot of Smith's own fan-base.

Personally I like it. Even without watching the DVD with commentary by Smith its obvious that this outing was backed by Hollywood, emitting a polish and lack of gloom that his other films don't have and thus gaining flack over its lack of "Indie" look and feel and hammy storyline. Had this film been in black in white, shot using a cheaper production method, or had a less happier ending, it possibly would have fared better with the fans than it did.

Listen to the dialogue though and its soon apparent this is indeed pure Smith. And it shines. The long diatribes about seemingly nothing, the anti-establishment rumblings of Brody (who ironically spends a lot of the film clarifying escalator ettiquite and other mall law), and a bigger involvement of Jay and Bob (but not too much) make this as good, if not better than the other Kevin Smith films and quite possibly my favourite of his.

Its hard to rate this film, you'll either really like it and give it a 10 or tuck into another chocolate pretzel after giving it a 1.

Easily one of the lightest and hijink-filled Kevin Smith movies, "Mallrats" is the unlikely love story buried in a tale of consumerist tomfoolery. There are all sorts of little things happening in this movie that make me laugh, but you've gotta hand it to Jason Lee for really shouldering this thing. The man's working in shades of irate and I don't think he fails to pull off a single line. This is proof he was born to play Banky Edwards in Chasing Amy, and his rage never fails to delight. Doesn't matter what kind of day I'm having, simply hearing him yell "That kid is on the escalator again!" is always a mood-brightener.

There's a lot of surprisingly weak acting here, surprising considering the material doesn't require much heavy lifting. It often comes across as a high school play.

It seems Kevin Smith movies really click with some and not others. They don't click much for me. While there are some very funny moments, most of this film consists of lengthy rambled "gags" that are a chuckle at best.

To everybody who did not like this movie: You are not obviously Kevin Smith fans. I am, and everyone one of the NJ3 are great. This one is just different. Shannen Doherty is surprisingly cool in this one, and Jason Lee is hysterical. Jay and Silent Bob are hysterical as usual, and everyone else is great. Watch if you are a Smith fan, just keep an open mind.

I was originally going to write how "Clerks" managed to accomplish allot more than Mallrats with a much much smaller budget, but why kill the fun. This movie is great and a welcome addition to the world that Kevin Smith has created. Instead of the wise-ass remarks from the "loveable" Randal, we have the great Brodie Bruce (Jason Lee) ripping up the screen with his rude and crude observations. Mallrats is fun, enjoyable, and the one Smith movie you don't have to pay attention to, to enjoy.

This movie is about TS whose girlfriend breaks up with him after they get into yet another fight. His girlfriend's father seems to have it in for him and wants nothing more than TS and his daughter to part ways. After the breakup TS winds up at his buddy Brodie's house. From here it begins. Brodie will keep you laughing the rest of the way. Jason Lee made this character and this character made the film. Unlike in "Clerks", Jay & Silent Bob have a large part in this movie. They are in charge of helping TS get back with his girlfriend, which involves much sabotage. There is one main storyline and a couple of other ones along the way.

In all this is a great movie and who cares how it was put together. Allot of people felt it was a big jump for Kevin Smith (writer/director, Silent Bob) and Scott Mosier (producer) to go from a small independent budget to a Studio backed million-dollar budget. I might tend to agree, but who cares, this movie Rocks