Mallrats (1995) Review (This is a Short One)

Having recently watched Clerks, it's interesting to see how different Smith's second film was. Right off the bat you notice it's a lot more like a typical movie than Clerk is, at least in how it's structured. Whereas Clerks is largely just a series of events happening, Mallrats comes in with a much more focused plot and subplots. That's not to say it's better because of that, just an interesting thing to note.

Following around the characters of Quint and Brody after being dumped by there girlfriends. Together they go to the mall to seek some comfort, and inevitably try to win back their love interests. Despite being a radical departure from the kind of story you saw with Clerks, the movie still has a lot of that charm Clerks did with how the characters talk to each other. It also starts to establish a kind of cohesive universe between his Smith's movies, especially with the return of Jay and Silent Bob in a much more prominent role.

This is also the point in his career where Kevin Smith decides to get a lot goofier with the visuals now that he is working with an actual budget. I won't spoil how it's included, but the chase scene through the mall at one point involves a Batman grappling hook. It's a lot more over the top in terms of action when compared to Clerks, but as mentioned the way the dialogue goes it's largely in tone.

The themes going into Mallrats aren't nearly as strong as they were in Clerks however, and things feel a lot more straightforward. You have a plot with a pretty predictable outcome, but I don't think that's really a bad thing as the show seems to care more about being a silly comedy. The jokes consistently work, the characters are all likable, and it's nice to see the forming of a cohesive universe in Smith's films.

Given how well Kevin Smith writes his characters though, it's easy to get behind even his less than savory ones. Brody is kind of a lazy asshole, but there is still an endearing charm to him. Quint works great as the straight man of the movie, and seeing Jay and Silent Bob becoming more fleshed out characters from their debut is pretty great as well (Mind you, they are still pretty shallow, but for what they are they work great). The film's resolution isn't really all that satisfying, since as I said before the show focused a lot more on the comedy this time around, but it's a decent way to go out.

While you're not going to get the same kind of film as Clerks here, you're going to get a lot of the things that made Clerks enjoyable. If you're up for a less serious ride, a more conventional movie structure, and conversations that are both goofy and a bit more true to life than a lot of other movies, Mallrats is definitely worth watching.