Smith’s follow up to Clerks had a commercially underwhelming reception – and Smith made play out of bagging the film himself – but is actually pretty fun, and has since earned itself a cult. It’s fascinating in the context of his progression as a writer – Clerks was a series of comic encounters, basically, but grounded in reality, Smith’s unique point of view, and genuine sentiment. Mallrats sees him use many of the same elements in a slightly bigger canvas.
Once again there are two friends, one abrasive, the other sweet; the sweet one is having troubles with his love life, and has an ex who cheated on him a lot but who thinks about him fondly; Jay and Silent Bob are on hang to wreck havoc. But Smith digs in deeper with his writing – the abrasive friend is given a girlfriend, there is more of an overall, if silly plot (i.e. sabotage the dating game), the subplots pull together for a climax, it has more heart.
The women characters aren’t that strong, Brandi especially – they do get some potent dialogue but it’s in relation to the guys. Also I think he makes a mistake by having a number of scenes where characters talk at cross purposes. (This is something he wouldn’t do again). There are abundant pop culture references: Star Wars, X Men, Jaws, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Superman, Stan Lee (the first of what would become many Smith star cameos), etc. Terrific dialogue. Not an entirely realised work but by no means a stinker.
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