Country:
USA
Recognizable Faces:
Jason Lee
Shannen Doherty
Jeremy London
Clare Forlani
Ben Affleck
Joey Lauren Adams
Kevin Smith
Jason Mewes
Michael Rooker
Stan Lee
Ethan Suplee
Renee Humphrey
Directed by:
Kevin Smith
Penniless and lonely week-ends are good for one thing. Revisiting your favorite movies. Mallrats is probably the movie I've seen the most in my life. I can honestly say I think I saw it over a hundred times. I used to let it run twice a night while I was doing other stuff in my apartment and let the amazing dialogs sink in. It had permanent influence on me as I now use the expressions "nefarious" and "ungodly & horrific" all the time. I hadn't watched it in six months or so and this week-end was the time I would give it another go for the love of my readership.
For those who don't know Mallrats, it's the story of slacker extraordinaire and comic book lover Brodie Bruce (Lee) and his best friend T.S Quint (London) in an epic journey to reconquer their respective scorned lovers. Both dumped for very different reasons, they will hit the local mall in seek for solace, only to find their girlfriends in delicate positions. Brandi (Forlani), T.S's girlfriend is at the mall to be a contestant of her father's dating t.v show pilot and Renee (Doherty), Brodie's girlfriend is about to go on a date with Shannon Hamilton (Affleck), renowned for his tastes for girls on rebound and anal sex. Brodie and T.S will enter a quest to save their respective girlfriends, showing the courage that only two slackers with nothing to do can show.
Kevin Smith isn't a "true" director in my opinion. In the sense that he doesn't really care about cinematography. He wants to tell stories first. The rest is optional to him. So there are two driving forces behind that movie: acting and writing. And driving forces they are. One of the reasons why I like this movie so much is the performence of Jason Lee as Brodie. He's given a great role to start with, but Lee's snot nosed performance (it was his first lead role) is baffling. He gives life to Brodie Bruce like no one should have done. Whenever he's on screen, everything and everybody around him disappear. It's quite the feat for Lee, who's a shithead scientologist in real life. Seriously, listen to one of his interviews and you'll have hard time not to punch your screen to make him shut up. So it's a miracle he's so good as Brodie.
Smith's writing is so good that it makes the movie. Quick wits and hyperbole makes the situation blow up to levels of grandeur that go way beyond the simple romantic comedy. Mallrats is an epic tales like The Odyssey, performed by heroes of our time and age. That's why this movie doesn't age. The parallels in between both stories are scary because they are multiple and (I'm sure) completely unplanned. Here are a few.
-Brodie and T.S are longing for their estranged lovers like Odysseus.
-Renee is on the verge of committing to a potential, aggressive lover.
-They make a trip to the Circe's Island (The dirt mall, Ivana's booth). Brodie has to pull T.S away from there because he's mesmerized, almost hypnotized.
-Brodie goes on a final showdown in public with his nemesis and regains his queen, who loved him and waited for him to "show up".
There are more, but those are the major ones. Mallrats will never get old. It didn't make a lot of money in the theaters, but it's a movie made to be seen again and again on your home screen. It's a work that sinks deeper and deeper into you with every viewings. Beyond comedy, beyond great story telling, it's carrying a very important message. It's not what you do that defines who you are, but who you are that defines what you do. Brodie is a slacker yes,but he's also a courageous and strong willed person. I'm not going to spoil anything, but he's the character that ends the movie in the best professional situation. No, Mallrats will never get old. It's not the most challenging movie, it doesn't have the power of more thoroughly crafted films, but it's going to stick with you.
SCORE: 95%
