A problem Kevin Smith seems to fall into with "Mallrats" when compared to his debut is definitely in scale and use of budget. "Clerks" was a movie made on a budget that could be made in a few weeks of working at the average grocery store in 2016. Where as "Mallrats" was made on a budget of enough money to buy a Stan Lee cameo without having the film be a Marvel branded picture.

That's not to say "Mallrats" is necessarily a bad film, far from it, it just seems to be stretched a bit too thin from Smith's first effort as a director. Mostly down to the extended rung time to two hours as opposed to under an hour…

Kevin Smith's foray into slightly larger budget filmmaking, "Mallrats," Smith's follow-up to "Clerks," finds the director expanding his comic and cinematic canvas. The second film in Smith's New Jersey trilogy, he again follows two pals as they try to figure out life in the suburbs of the garden state. It may lack the unpolished, independent charm of "Clerks," but "Mallrats" is a stand-out comedy in its own right.

Revolving around T.S. and Brodie, two chums who have been dumped by their respective girlfriends, "Mallrats" finds the two trying to mend their broken hearts with a little retail therapy. Smith throws in a successful combination of subplots, personality-rich secondary characters, and pop-culture goodness to elevate his script.

Smith's dialogue is still…

My Grandmother always used to say "why buy the cow, when you can get the sex for free".
-Brodie

Even though I'm a huge Kevin Smith fan and love watching this film, it's hard to ignore the flaws in Mallrats. His best films all have something personal to say underneath the dick and fart jokes, be it Clerks or my all time favorite Chasing Amy. While watching Mallrats it's quite clear Smith doesn't have all that much to say except maybe taking a stab at making a studio film far too early in his career.

It's not that it's a bad movie though, just an unbalanced one. The main problem being that the film is centered on the relationship/breakup of…

More Slacker madness from the King of the Slackers Kevin Smith himself, this comedy aimed at the Generation X'ers doesn't have quite the inspiration of his debut film. What it does have though is all the dumb comedy you could ask for from Smith and his team of miscreants. Jason Lee, Jeremy London, Shannen Doherty, Ben Affleck, Jason Mewes, Joey Lauren Adams, and Claire Forlani supply the laughs in a story set in and around The Mall after Lee and London are dumped by their respective girlfriends. Not as subversive as Clerks or for some as funny, there are still some terrific scenes of silly nonsense, mostly courtesy of Lee. For me Jason Lee always excels in Smith's films, whether…

Review In A Nutshell:

So far in my life, I have seen one Kevin Smith film and it was Jay and Silent Bob Strikes Back, which by the way is a childhood favourite; weird right? It stuck on to me all these years, though it has been a while since I have seen it but I guarantee the next time I do get the opportunity to view it, nostalgia would hit me and diminish my ability to rationalise. I do recall seeing Jersey Girl when it came on TV but during then I did not know it was by Kevin Smith and my memory of the experience was quite vague. I did not know what to expect from Mallrats as…

Kevin Smith rarely makes a dull movie. They tend to be right in your face and although most are funny as fuck, he does every now and again make a dud. Now I wasn't going to mention Cop Out, as it almost sullied his reputation forever with me, but it also starred the star of the show here....Mr Jason Lee.
Forget Jeremy London and the airhead that is Shannen Doherty and just enjoy the humor of Lee. While obviously Jay & Silent Bob get a fair bit of the laughs here, it's down to Lee to deliver the majority of the sarcasm and toilet humor that Smith is famous for. It's another of those movies with a simple premise. Smith's usual…

At the same time the most 90s thing that ever 90s-ed (Affleck could fit a family's under his sports coat) and a chilling prophecy of the future (slacker nerds with few if any redeeming qualities win women who are entirely right to rid themselves of said men until they get hit with the "script stupids"). And yes, I know this isn't the first time that undeserving men get the women in a movie, but it's probably the first that ties it in so closely with the nerd culture that is now just "the culture." (Yeah, there was Star Wars talk in Clerks, but romance wasn't so much on the brain there and that film seems to realize a bit more…

Seen in a Mall, as part of Eastleigh Film Festival 2017:

It always baffles me a little bit how Mallrats, upon it's original release, was such a flop. Ok, it's a bit of a stoner screwball comedy, and not as immediately indie and content-driven as Clerks was, which is what Kevin Smith originally got so much credit for that it allowed him to make this film with actual studio money instead of his own savings from selling stuff he owned and using credit cards.

Looking back, it might have come across as a bit of 90's background noise at the time, but watching it now it seems so much more like a slice of nostalgia from the 90's, back before…

I hadn't seen Mallrats in roughly fifteen years. Kevin Smith was such the shit back then after his success with "Clerks," the little indie film that could. Alrhough Mallrats is no Clerks it has several funny moments thanks to Jason Lee, a prequel of sorts to a better performance and film in the Kevin Smith film Chasing Amy (released the following year) that also featured Ben Affleck and Joey Lauren Adams in both films too. I liked the Brenda from 90210 reference to Shannen Doherty's character, BJ and the Bear, plus Brody's rant on what area is considered the food court at the mall. I recognize personal sentiment and nostalgia give this film an additional star...This film was shot in…