The Task: Watch and write about every movie on my shelf, in order (Blu-rays are sorted after DVDs), by June 10, 2015. Remaining movies: 203 Days to go: 207
Movie #174: Mallrats
Mallrats is a very stupid movie. Mallrats isn’t even a very good movie. But for a certain group of slacker college kids for whom Clerks was less groundbreaking indie and more hilarious cult film, Mallrats was an acceptable followup. For the Clerks enthusiast, Mallrats had the return of Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith) and a plethora of references to people in the Clerks universe, that were considered funny just by virtue of them existing (i.e., if you got the reference, it was amazing). And it also had the tell-tale rapid-fire dialogue of writer director Kevin Smith, which was a draw for actors and fans alike.
Mallrats sees friends T.S. (Jeremy London) and Brodie (Jason Lee) both being dumped by their girlfriends Brandi (Claire Forlani) and Rene (Shannen Doherty), and then heading to the mall, as any red-blooded suburban dweller would do. T.S. mopes about all day trying to find a way to get Brandi back, while Brodie, in denial about how upset he is at losing Rene, still manages to screw her in an elevator.
All sorts of hijinks ensue, involving everything from harebrained schematic plans to Batman gadgets to Stan Lee waxing nostalgic on love to a topless psychic to Magic Eye posters to sweaty ass hands and melty chocolate-covered pretzels. It all culminates in a sabotaging of Brandi’s father’s dating game show so T.S. can get her back and Brodie can woo Rene. So it’s kind of sweet, a little.
Of course, it’s also foul, as all these Jay and Silent Bob films are to some extent. Dick jokes, sex jokes, farting during sex jokes, comic book character genitalia jokes, ass jokes — the movie has them all. Mixed with Smith’s tendency to philosophize about pop culture, it makes up what amounts to his signature style. It was pretty funny and cool when we were all in our twenties, but while I still have a bit of nostalgic affinity for the film, I admit it gets old easily.
One of the biggest problems with Smith’s work, in fact, is that his dialogue is so quick, so exact, that it often comes off too rehearsed and the timing never quite lines up. The most obvious example of this (though it happens throughout the film), is the repeated trampling of the joke about Shannon Hamilton (Ben Affleck) liking to screw his ladies “somewhere very uncomfortable.” Every time it follows with “What, like the back of a Volkswagon?” And every time the line comes too quickly, too forced, and the joke rarely lands like it should.
The one performance that really stands out for me (as it did for Smith as well, soon after dating her for a while and then writing Chasing Amy about their relationship, and for her to star in) is Joey Lauren Adams as Gwen. There mainly to provide exposition about T.S. and Brandi’s relationship up to that point, how great he is and how great they are together — how Brandi is stupid to let him go — she nonetheless stands out. She’s funny and charming and has a forceful personality that draws your attention, making the most of her small role and then some.
Like I said, while it’s not a very good movie, it still does hold appeal for me in a lot of little ways. And as a piece of the entire Jay and Silent Bob series, it’s a fun little film as well as a part of my very young adulthood. For better or worse, it holds a place in my heart and it probably always will.
Viable Option 