Mallrats at 30
If there is a custom-built filmmaker for the GenX brain, it’s Kevin Smith. Smith, a New Jersey comic book geek and film nerd, bootstrapped his first film, Clerks, by depending on friends and maxed out credit cards to tell a “day in the life story of a specific group of disaffected youths living the American Nightmare in suburban New Jersey. Following the success of his debut, Smith’s sophomore effort planned more of the same with a bigger budget, bigger laughs, and bigger stakes. Mallrats, released thirty years ago today, took the day-in-the-life story of Clerks and moved it from the Quick Stop to the mall. The themes were similar: love, loss, angst, comics, witty banter, low-stakes adventures, and lots of f-words. While the movie flopped in theaters, it found its audience in video stores across America, where the same disaffected youths in suburbs across the country were struggling with their own misadventures in young adulthood. And it hit me hard.
No One Really Talks Like That
In Smith’s world, the View Askewniverse, young adults talk fast, using witty banter, foul language, entendre, and college-level grammar to express their feelings about love, lust, angst, consumerism, and, of course, comic books. While the language seems hyperbolic and strange, it honestly wasn’t too far off from how my movie-obsessed friends spoke to one another. I felt a real, genuine connection to these characters and this world, so much so that I made a pilgrimage to Red Bank, New Jersey, and even met Jason Mewes, Jay of Jay and Silent Bob fame.
Silly Fun and Lots of Jaws References
Jaws is my favorite movie of all time, so it should come as no surprise that I was obsessed with the near-endless Jaws references contained within Mallrats. From the obvious references, the Jaws ride in Universal Studios, to the more subtle, like Willam’s outfit, Mallrats pays homage to Jaws in many ways. A theme that would continue in Smith’s next film, Chasing Amy.
An Easter Classic
Smith’s possibly arbitrary decision to set the movie around Easter, makes this movie an instant Easter classic. I often call it “the Greatest Easter Story ever told,” a joke that makes Christians go nutty. Having Jay and Silent Bob literally fight the mall’s Easter bunny, is something that I’ll never not find funny.
It’s A Love Story Baby Just Say Yes
At its heart, Mallrats, like many of Smith’s films, is a complicated love story. Smith makes personal movies that allow him to explore his emotions and work out his feelings on the biggest of canvases, the silver screen. Sure, it’s an absurdist comedy which includes bizarre side-quests to visit a three-nippled fortune teller at the dirt mall and Jay and Silent Bob’s failed quest to take down the stage being erected in the mall, but it’s also an exploration of feelings. Brodie and T.S. are heartbroken. T.S. wears it on his flannel sleeve while Brodie buries his feelings deep under piles of comics, delicious cookies, and tiny sodas. But their quest is the same: to reconcile with their true loves, find happiness, and pick up comics.
90’s Time Capsule
Mallrats is a ’90s time capsule. Malls are no longer as prevalent as they once were, and are less so a place for teens to escape, gather, and have misadventures. The soundtrack itself could be taken from any mid-’90s alt-rock radio station during any given hour. The clothes, the attitude, and the angst are all dripping with sarcasm. If you ever had to answer the question, “What were the 90s like?” An hour and a half at the Eden Prairie Mall would suffice just fine.
