Mallrats (1995)

Director:

Kevin Smith

Writer (WGA):

Kevin Smith (written by)

Release Date:

20 October 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

Get off your TV watching brown eye and come see our movie!

Plot:

Both dumped by their girlfriends, two best friends seek refuge in the local mall.

Plot Keywords:

Mall | Ex Girlfriend | Comic | Jay And Silent Bob | Video Game

Cast

Shannen Doherty	...	Rene
Jeremy London	...	TS Quint
Jason Lee	...	Brodie
Claire Forlani	...	Brandi
Ben Affleck	...	Shannon
Joey Lauren Adams	...	Gwen
Renée Humphrey	...	Tricia (as Renee Humphrey)
Jason Mewes	...	Jay
Ethan Suplee	...	Willam
Stan Lee	...	Himself
Priscilla Barnes	...	Ivannah
Michael Rooker	...	Svenning
Carol Banker	...	Security Guard
Steven Blackwell	...	Arresting Cop #2
Kyle Boe	...	Pull Toy Kid

MPAA:

Rated R for strong language, including sexual dialogue, and for some scenes of sexuality and drug content.

Runtime:

94 min | 123 min (extended version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS-Stereo | DTS

Certification:

USA:Not Rated (extended version) | Argentina:13 | Iceland:L | USA:R (NO. 34072) | Brazil:12 | Australia:MA | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A | Germany:12 | Israel:16 | Norway:18 | Singapore:M18 (cut) | Spain:13 | UK:15 (re-rating) (2003) | UK:18 (video rating) (1997)

Filming Locations:

Eden Prairie Center Mall - 8251 Flying Cloud Drive, Eden Prairie, Minnesota, USA

Company:

Gramercy Pictures (I)

Trivia:

DirTrade(Kevin Smith): [jaws]: T.S. was going to propose to Brandi at Universal Studios "after Jaws popped out of the water".

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Shannon Hamilton and Brodie collide, you hear liquid hitting the floor from Brodie's cup, but you never see anything fall from the cup.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Brodie: [Brodie's voice] One time my cousin Walter got this cat stuck up his ass. True story. He bought it at our local mall, so the whole fiasco wound up on the news. It was embarrasing for my relatives and all, but next week, he did it again. Different cat, same results, complete with another trip to the emergency room...

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Women of Charmed (2000) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Build Me Up Buttercup

Best watched with eyes closed?

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.