Mallrats

Rating:
Summary: "All It Took Was a Fat, Chronic Blunt!"
Review: Kevin's second movie definatley holds true to that old sophmore jinx.

The movie is about two friends (Brodie and T.S) who are dumped by their girlfriends, and retreat to the mall to brood and try to piece themselves together. When they arrive at the mall, there is a stage being set up for T.S's ex-girlfriend's dad's game show, Truth or Date. T.S believes that his ex's father forced her to dump him (being as head strong as he is) and decides to try to sabotage the show...somehow. So, he uses two henchmen...Jay and Silent Bob, who now reside in front of the mall's pet store. Now with them trying to destroy the stage before showtime, T.S and Brodie try to get their ex's back, and after a quick visit to the local topless fortune teller (which turns out to be as funny as it is nasty and repulsive) he gets a great plan for winning her back.

The only problem is that T.S has to face her father, who had already tried to get them arrested by planting some weed on them. As for Brodie, he has to face his ex's new boy-toy, who's in it only so that he can get some action *in a very uncomfortable place* as he puts it.

The whole movie has but a few laughs, which involve chocolate covered pretzels, (the already mentioned) topless fortune teller, Jay and Silent Bob, and the Truth or Date gameshow being filemed live.

I rented this movie with very high spirits, hoping it would be funny, as are all of Smith's movies, but it turned out to be one wash after another. In fact, the only real thing of comedy in this movie were the antics of Jay and Silent Bob which include trying to destroy the stage, getting stoned (at one point, TS gathers a plan, and asks Jay, You guys up for getting stoned, to which Jay replies with a laugh, Look who you're askin,) beating up the Easter Bunny, and a lot, lot more. It was especially nice to have them in the movie THAT much after only being featured in Clerks for a few brief scenes.

There are tons of hit and miss jokes, among which, the backseat of a volkswagon being the longest.

The stupid sound effects during the movie add nothing but a corniness that isn' common for any Smith movie (unless it is meant to be.)

Actually, the movie was really entertaining, not as funny as Clerks, I must say, but it has that Smoth charm that kept me rewinding that tape. There are just some movies that are supposed to be funny, but actually aren't, but that doesn't take away from their entertaining qualities... look at Bill and Ted, for example.

The movie works, overall, but is still heavily flawed, and lacks that sophisticated humor that made Clerks what it is today. Many find this movie to be boring, and I can see where they're coming from, and some say it's the best of the Jersey Trilogy, and I can get that too, but as for me, it was a pretty deacent movie. Not as man laughs, but it does entertain to some degree.

Personally, I reccomend the othe movies first, save this for last. Or, actually, you should watch this movie second (in order, sense Kevin's movies are designed in such a way that if you watch them out of order you won't be able to understand them, because you need the other movies for the basis for many of the othe movie's plots or jokes) after Clerks, with the though that this is his worst, and if you love it, then you're bound to love his others, but if you don't, then at least you know that you've seen the worst, and it's smooth sailing from then on.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but not as good as others. 3 1/2 Stars more than 4
Review: That's about all that can be said about this movie and DVD. THe extras aren't wholly spectacular, yet the film's funny moments are great. Specially Silent Bob and his utility belt. Great stuff. By far the Jersey Series' red-headed step-child. But if you're the big Kevin Smith fan, buy it.

Rating:
Summary: "you call that romantic". "no i call that illegal"
Review: i bought this movie and love it. if i could give it 6 stars i would. the characters (t.s, brodie, jay, silent bob, brandie, and gwen) all have a screwed up day at the mall. ben affleck makes his "jersey saga" debute a the manager...of fashionable male. with a hilarios "jedi mind trick"at the end that will make you need to laugh. buy this movie to day.and take 1 moment, just 1 moment because thats all life is is a series of moments, to enjoy it...

Rating:
Summary: Mallrats-underrated
Review: This is by far the best of Kevin Smith's five films, although it is highly underrated. Jason Lee's performance as the cruel Brodie is awesome. This is what you should see whenever you want to kick back, drink beer, and eat pizza.

Rating:
Summary: A "Smart Porky's"
Review: I'm one of the schmucks that thinks Smith missed the mark with this one. I know the end product isn't what Smith really wanted, but it probably wouldn't have been much better or worse anyway. Clerks was hard to top, and it seems like Smith was kinda pressured or rushed to do this. I certainly don't want to cut down Kevin Smith(and this review will probably sound like that), he's one of the best newcomers of the last decade if you ask me. To me, this movie is just okay. Some of the dialogue, acting and humor are just so God-awful it's mind boggling. On the other hand, there are some extremely funny moments. So, ultimately it evens out as okay to me. As I mentioned before, this movie has some rotten dialogue. The whole food court arguement is extremely lame. Jeremy London's role is there because it has to be. He's not that good and comes across as a schmuck. Jason Lee is pretty funny, but his whining gets pretty annoying. "No libido to attack??" "Boy Wonder??" "Are you nuts??" Kevin Smith also has a nasty habit of showing us how many fancy words he knows, and all of his characters(even Jay!) sound like they all have English degrees. We all know that no one talks like that(not even Smith I bet). It's alright to throw some of that out, but he goes overboard with it. There are also reoccurances of jokes that just aren't funny no matter how much they're pounded into the ground like: The Volkswagen crap, the kid on the escalator, Slient Bob crashing the changing rooms. Plus, Jay and Bob are made into cartoon characters this time instead of the scummy drug dealing slackers they were in Clerks. All in all, it's really not too bad, just could have done without a few things.

Rating:
Summary: Slackers Rule The Mall
Review: Kevin Smith's second film in "the Jersey trilogy", MALLRATS centers around two budddies, who spend too much time, hanging out at the mall. T.S. (Jeremy London) and Brodie (Jason Lee) have recently been dumped by their girlfriends. The friends decide to try and win them back by making a trip to the mall, where Brodie's girl, Rene (Shannen Doherty) and T.S.'s girl, Brandi (Claire Forlani) will be as well. Along the way, the boys meet up with Spiderman creator Stan Lee (playing himself), and this being a Smith film, Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith), make a spirited return after CLERKS. The film has that great View Askew take on life. As usual though, it's Lee, who gets all the best lines. By having a few characters from CLERKS return, the films are (loosely) tied together, and even introduce us to what the future holds for some in CHASING AMY. Don't let that stop you though, the movie works fine as a stand alone. Critics have said the film was not quite as good as Smith's first film--it's just different--that's all.

The Collector's Edition DVD has another winning commentary from Smith et al. There's over 60 minutes of deleted scenes from the cutting room floor. Some of which are really funny, while others are not, a mixed, but worthwhile bag. The extras also include footage fom the commentary recording session, a making of feturette, the clever theatrical trailer, a video from the soundtrack, and a handful of production photographs. This disc is a must for fans of Kevin Smith Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Snoochie boochie!
Review: Kevin Smith made it big after "clerks" and his next movie was "mallrats." It's not as deep as "clerks," it's a much more tongue-and-cheek kind of movie. Nevertheless, "mallrats" is a great, fun film.

The DVD bonus features are not that great. The deleted scenes were wisely deleted as they are not at all funny.

Kevin Smith said the studio wanted an 90's "meat-balls" but smarter. I think that's pretty close to what they got.

This is also the first Kevin Smith movie that Jason Lee appears in. His performance as Brody, T.S.'s comic book loving side-kick is probably his best to date.

"Mallrats" is every bit as vulgar as "clerks." Fans of Kev's first movie will not be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Every film Smith makes is stupid.
Review: If you watch Kevin Smith films, listen to Howard Stern, spend too much time on the Internet, and watch MTV. This movie with it's zero cast of stars is for you. But Not Me.

Rating:
Summary: A fine DVD edition and a decent movie
Review: I think everyone that grew up in a mall-containing town can remember a phase in their life when they were a mall-rat. Kevin Smith, the writer-director of this picture, obviously remembers the experience well and has written this amusing film about the phenomenon. The plot: two guys (T.S. and Brodie) have just broken up with their girlfriends. To ease the pain, they decide to take a cruise through the mall. A series of mishaps and adventures ensue, culminating with the two of them as contestants on a Dating Game-style TV game show.

This is the 2nd in the Jay and Silent Bob series. Here our favourite drug-dealing anarchists are trying to disrupt the game show, first by trying to knock down the set and then by giving drugs to the original contestants. The film is not a sequel to Clerks, and in fact some of the actors in Clerks (notably Brian O'Halloran, THE clerk in Clerks) are in this film as different characters. However, it is in the same spirit as the earlier film, with numerous pop-culture references (to comics, Star Wars, and TV shows), foul language, and slacker characters.

Overall, the film is probably as good as Clerks, but without being as fresh. The production is obviously slicker - it looks and sounds much better. There is more plot here, and less "random" dialogue, but that's not a good thing. The best parts in Clerks were the verbal wordplay between Dante and Randal. Here, there are fewer moments of genuine truth to underscore the dialogue, and it feels a bit like Clerks without a soul. Therefore, I rate it 1 star below Clerks (out of 5).

This DVD is a great buy. It's jam-packed with nifty extras, the most important being a huge number of cut scenes. There was an entire subplot excised from the theatrical cut, and it's neat to see it re-created in the cut scenes. The commentary is quite good with lots of tidbits on actors, and some funny jokes as well. Having said that, I found this DVD the most irritating disc I've ever tried to navigate! There's just something about the setup that irritated me. Oh, well, I got used to it, and this DVD is certainly recommended for any fan of the film - there's lots here to keep you interested, even after having seen the film 100 times.

Rating:
Summary: a must have
Review: this dvd is a definite must have for kevin smith fans. the movie is so genius that most people can't appreciate it. if you're not a kevin smith fan, buy it and you'll become a fan. the commentary is probably the best of all five commentaries (thats my twin brother...barney affleck) affleck and smith in one room for a commmentary always makes it funny- but the movie is a great waste of an hour and a half if you just want a cheap laugh without much plot, this is a good way to go. 5 stars all the way.