Writer: Kevin Smith (Screenplay)
Starring: Shannen Doherty, Jeremy London, Jason Lee, Claire Forlani, Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams
Plot: Both dumped by their girlfriends, two best friends seek refuge in the local mall.
Tagline – It’s mall or nothing
Runtime: 1 Hour 34 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Brilliant Comedy
Story: Mallrats starts when TS (London) gets dumped by his girlfriend Brandi (Forlani), while his best friend Brodie (Lee) also gets dumped by Rene (Doherty), to get over the loss the two head to the mall to hang out, only to learn that Brandi’s father Svenning (Rooker) is hosting his dating gameshow in the mall, with Brandi as a contestant, leading the pair to look to sabotage the event.
As the day unfolds Brodie and TS do what they can to get their girlfriends back, learning what they need to focus on in life, while seeing their perfect lives going away from them.
Thoughts on Mallrats
Characters – TS is about to propose to his girlfriend only to get involved in argument breaking up with her, he turns to his best friend to help him through the day, as he plans to get her back, looking through his life, trying to figure out what went wrong. Brodie is the best friend that talks too much, he also gets dumped by his girlfriend and takes it differently to TS, he plans to just hang out at the mall, like most days, where he knows everybody, being more of a slacker than anything else. Rene is Brodie’s ex-girlfriend that just wanted him to get serious and has given him too many chances without getting any success in change from him. Brandi breaks up with TS after his joke ends up with a tragic ending, forcing her to go on the show and thinking Brodie needs to focus on something else in life.
Performances – Jeremy London is great in his role, but it is Jason Lee that easily steals this movie with his perfect comedy timing. Shannen Doherty and Claire Forlani are both strong when they get a chance on center stage, with the performances from the supporting roles all being great too.
Story – The story here follows two men that get dumped and spend the day planning on trying to get them back, learning about their mistakes to move forward in life, all from their favorite mall. This story does work very well and does show that sometimes you do need to just look at your life and reassess mistakes you might have been making in a relationship, it is told in a way that shows how well the two friends get on and how they know everybody there too. We get plenty of events which lead up to the conclusion of the story, showing that each member of the cast we meet is important to the final story.
Comedy/Romance – The comedy here comes from the events of the day, more comes from Brodie and the supporting cast who will get plenty of laughs. The romance focuses on how two young men need to learn what is important in life for them both.
Settings – The film is set in one shopping mall, it shows how it can bring people together and how a day in a life can happen with so much going on.
Scene of the Movie – The gameshow.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – We could see more from the women’s point of view.
Final Thoughts – This is one of the best comedies from the 90s, it has perfect timing for the most part and shows how life can be about a series of events in one day, making life bigger than you could imagine.
Overall: Laugh Out Loud Funny.