Mallrats

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Mallrats
Directed by Kevin Smith
Produced by Sean Daniel
James Jacks
Scott Mosier
Written by Kevin Smith
Starring Shannen Doherty
Jeremy London
Jason Lee
Claire Forlani
Ben Affleck
Joey Lauren Adams
Jason Mewes
Renee Humphrey
Kevin Smith
and Stan Lee
Music by Ira Newborn
Cinematography Dave Klein
Editing by Paul Dixon
Distributed by Gramercy Pictures
Release date(s) October 20, 1995
Running time 94 min.
Language English
Budget $6,100,000
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Mallrats is a 1995 film written and directed by Kevin Smith. It is the second to be set in Smith's "View Askewniverse" series of interlocking films set mostly in New Jersey, although the movie was filmed in the Eden Prairie Center Mall, which is located in Minnesota. As in the other View Askewniverse movies, the characters Jay and Silent Bob figure prominently, and characters and events from other films are discussed. Several cast members, including Jason Lee, Ben Affleck, and Joey Lauren Adams, have gone on to work in several other Smith films. Comic book icon Stan Lee made a cameo appearance, as did Brian O'Halloran, the star of Smith's breakout feature Clerks.

Mallrats was the subject of much critical derision when it was released, with many critics comparing it unfavorably to Smith's first film, Clerks. In his negative review of the film, critic Roger Ebert said "Before Mallrats was released, I chaired a panel that Smith participated in and Kevin Smith cheerfully said he'd be happy to do whatever the studios wanted, if they'd pay for his films. At the time, I thought he was joking." [1]

Kevin Smith responded by apologizing for Mallrats at the 1996 Independent Spirit Awards, though he later stated that the apology was made in jest. Nevertheless, the film developed a strong cult following after it was released on video.

Contents

[edit] Plot

T.S. (London) is preparing for a trip to Universal Studios Florida with his girlfriend Brandi (Forlani), during which he plans to propose to her; however, the two have an argument and break up after Brandi tells him she can't go because she's volunteered to fill in as a contestant on Truth or Date, her dad's "cheesy Dating Game rip-off" TV show. T.S. turns to his comic book-loving best friend Brodie (Jason Lee), who has also broken up with his girlfriend Rene (Shannen Doherty), and Brodie suggests the two might find solace at the local mall.

Brodie and T.S. discover Truth or Date is shooting at the same mall, and ask local ne'er-do-well drug dealers Jay and Silent Bob to destroy the show's stage (which they admit they were going to do anyway), a task for which they devise elaborate but ultimately unsuccessful plans. Brodie also finds out Rene is being pursued by his nemesis Shannon Hamilton (Ben Affleck), a clothing store manager who hates Brodie because of his "lack of a shopping agenda," and has nefarious plans for Rene, intending to seduce her and then have sex 'in a very uncomfortable place' with her. A running joke is that this is interpreted as the 'back of a Volkswagen' rather than the anal sex he intends.

Between seeking romantic advice from Stan Lee and debating such topics as the sexual proclivities of comic-book characters and the status of a cookie stand located outside the official food court, the two run into various acquaintances, including a sex researcher who happens to be a minor, and a guy who spends all day trying to see the hidden image of a sailboat in a Magic Eye poster. They also run afoul of Brandi's father, who has the mall security guard La Fours (Sven-Ole Thorsen) plant marijuana on their persons so they can be arrested. In addition to helping them escape, Jay and Silent Bob get two of the game show contestants stoned, allowing T.S. and Brodie to replace them on Truth or Date and woo back their respective exes.

[edit] Making Mallrats

[edit] Pre-production

After the success of the independent hit Clerks, writer/director Kevin Smith and his best friend/producer Scott Mosier began to make their second film. After a screening of Clerks, producer James Jacks approached them to do another movie for Universal Studios. Kevin Smith soon finished the script for this new film, and casting began. They cast Jeremy London, an actor with a TV series and a few movies to his credit as T.S. Shannen Doherty was the most famous cast member after her appearances in many movies and the hit TV shows Little House on the Prairie and Beverly Hills 90210. Jason Lee was cast with no prior acting experience; before the film he was a professional skateboarder. Lee has since appeared in all of Smith's films, and is the godfather of Smith's child. Since Mallrats, Lee has gone on to achieve fame as the title character on the TV show My Name is Earl. Ben Affleck, who was a relative unknown at the time except for appearing in Dazed and Confused, was cast as Shannen Hamilton. Affleck has also since appeared in all of Smith's films. Joey Lauren Adams was cast as Gwen Turner. Later she would date Smith during which time he would write the main character in Chasing Amy for her. Ethan Suplee was cast as Willam Black. Producer Scott Mosier was supposed to reprise the role, but Suplee was so good, they cast him as instead. Ethan Suplee later also scored a role in My Name is Earl. The most troublesome role to cast was Jay, as the studio did not want Jason Mewes to reprise his role from Clerks, which Smith had written for him. Mewes had to audition for the part against actors such as Seth Green and Breckin Meyer.

[edit] Filming

The cast has said filming the movie was the most enjoyable part of production. They all stayed in the same hotel and would go out drinking after shooting. Ben Affleck said he realized how much fun making a movie could be. And producer James Jacks said it was the most fun he ever had making a movie.

[edit] Release

There was much hype about the film, and played extremely well at Comi-Con. However with a poor marketing campaign, and almost no 'name' actors in the film, the film flopped. It only made $2,122,561 at the U.S. box office in total. Critics also disapproved of the film. It has since developed a cult following over the years, and is considered a 'Cult Hit'. In 2005 a 10th anniversary DVD was released.

The films cult following also helped former skateboarder turned actor Jason Lee launch his acting career. The film is also credited for helping View Askew focus more on their characters Jay and Silent Bob, who are often credited for helping Kevin Smith's and the films popularity. It was also reported in Wizard magazine that 80 percent of Kevin Smith fans' favorite film by Smith was "Mallrats".

[edit] Cast

[edit] Opening credits sequence

The opening credits sequence features a number of comic book covers based on characters that appear in the film. The covers appear next to a corresponding character parodied in the credits. Many of these covers make references to existing comics. They appear in the film in the following order:

  • Brandi - The Last Babe on Earth (Claire Forlani as Brandi Svenning) — On this cover, Brandi is escaping from what appears to be a shark emerging from molten lava. This is a parody of Kamandi - The Last Boy on Earth.
  • Buttman Adventures (Ben Affleck as Shannon Hamilton) — The logo is a parody of logos for various Batman comics.
  • Gwen (Joey Lauren Adams as Gwen Turner) — A parody of Gen¹³. An odd point of detail is that there is an emblem on the character's right shoulder that appears to be a canceled sign of a penis and adjoined testicles. This seems to be a reference to the scene where she kicks Quint in the groin. Coincidentally, Joey Lauren Adams would portray a lesbian on Kevin Smith's next film, Chasing Amy. This could also be seen as a reference to lesbian actress and screenwriter Guinevere Turner, a friend of director Smith's, who in turn would appear in Chasing Amy as the woman who invites Adams to sing at the club. Art by Adam Hughes.
  • Weapon Sex (Renée Humphrey as Tricia Jones) — A parody of Weapon X, a comic featuring Wolverine of the X-Men series. Various sex toys are seen on the cover while the Tricia character is sporting gloves with claws parodying Wolverine's. The book Boregasm is also featured.
  • The Incredible Bulk (Ethan Suplee as Willam Black) — A parody of The Incredible Hulk. Willam's character is shown crashing through a wall, holding a Magic Eye poster titled "Sailboat". Art by Dave Johnson.
  • Adventures of The Man (Stan Lee as Himself) — A play on "Stan the Man". Stan's feet appear to be similar in design to the Spider-Man costume.
  • Angry Pop Comix (Michael Rooker as Mr. Jared Svenning) — Mr. Svenning is seen as an armor-clad warrior holding the skull of T.S. as Brandi stands in the background, shocked that he has added T.S. to his collection. Art by Ethan Van Sciver.

All of the covers can be viewed at View Askew website here: Mallrats "Comic Toast"

[edit] DVD

A special edition DVD was released in 1999 including 1.85:1 Anamorphic widescreen picture & 5.1 Dolby surround sound bonus features included

[edit] The Version That Never Should have Been

In 2005 a tenth anniversary DVD was released. It features an alternate cut of the movie created specifically for the release. Included in the previously deleted footage is several different subplots that were cut out from the movie:

  • An alternate opening scene, in which Mr. Svenning hosts a Ball for The Governor of New Jersey. In this scene, T.S. accidentally shoots the Governor on the roof of a school, which ends up costing Mr. Svenning his reputation as well as a big pay raise. This explains the reason why Svenning shows an intense dislike for T.S. and why Brandi is so intent on breaking up with him.
  • Included scenes where T.S. also makes it known to Brandi that he proposed to marry her.
  • A new subplot of Brodie showing intentions of wanting to be on television, which explains his surprised look during his appearance on Truth or Date.
  • An extended arrest scene in which La Fours wants to put Brodie and T.S. into jail for an extended period of time, rather than "overnight" when the pair were initially arrested
  • An extended fight scene between Brodie and Shannon Hamilton, in which Hamilton tells Brodie to forget Rene.
  • An extended rant from Mr. Svenning, a result of T.S. making it slip that he intended to propose to Brandi.
  • A scene after the Game Show in which the Mr. Svenning demands to have T.S. and Brodie arrested, but instead he is the one who is arrested. It turns out that since Svenning was the producer of the show, he faces multiple FCC fines for Brodie's antics.
  • An extended "Where are they now?" ending sequence, in which Mr. Svenning is revealed to finally get a job at the network as a janitor and a shot of Shannon Hamilton screaming after his rape in prison.
  • A scene that showed Tricia Jones flirting and having sex with La Fours in order to distract him from catching Jay and Silent Bob. This explains the final segment in the 'where are they now' ending sequence, showing La Fours kissing Tricia during the book signing.

[edit] References

  • Various references to the 1975 horror film Jaws can be found throughout Mallrats. The Mallrats character names "Brodie Bruce", "T.S. Quint" are references to the characters "Brody" and "Quint" from Jaws. Bruce was also the name of the shark, and Smith stated that the initials T.S. stands for "The Shark". T.S. had also planned to propose to Brandi at the point "when Jaws pops out of the water" on the Universal Studios tour.
  • The scene between Brodie and Stan Lee has been compared to the scene between Wolfman Jack and Richard Dreyfuss in American Graffiti by many, even a Universal executive at the time. Both scenes are similar, in that a celebrity of some sort (who is played by the celebrity himself) gives advice to a young man who has girl trouble.
  • The character LaFours is a nod to the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, in which a man by the same name leads a posse that is chasing the titular characters. He is identifiable in both films due to his trademark straw hat.
  • As referenced in the credits, Kevin Smith is a John Landis fan. During the scene when Brodie and Rene are having sex in the elevator, while everyone waits outside, The Girl from Ipanema can be heard; the same elevator music that is used by Landis in many of his movies, notably The Blues Brothers, (it is heard while Jake and Elwood are on the elevator going to the Cook County Assessment Office).
  • When Silent Bob is hanging upside down, drops the tape and starts reaching for it, he mimics the scene in The Empire Strikes Back where Luke Skywalker is hanging upside down in the Wampa cave and reaches for his lightsaber, only to use the Force and have the lightsaber "jump" into his hand. Silent Bob attempts Force telekinesis several times throughout the film, stemming from him having seen "Empire and Jedi" the night before Mallrats takes place.
  • The jacket that Renee is seen wearing in the film says "Degrassi" on the back. This is a reference to Degrassi Junior High, a Canadian drama Kevin Smith watches. He and Jason Mewes (Jay) would later star in a three episode arc of Degrassi's spinoff show Degrassi: The Next Generation. The DVD for these three episodes is Jay and Silent Bob Do Degrassi.
  • In the scene where Rene tells Jay and Silent Bob to go help T.S. and Brodie, Willam (who's focusing on the Magic Eye) turns to Rene and says "Brenda?", which is a reference to Shannen's character in Beverly Hills 90210. Rene snarls, "Dick!" and shoves Willam, then storms off. Suplee was told to say this by Smith before the scene was shot, and so was Doherty. However, Suplee wasn't told that she would respond, so his reaction is genuine.

[edit] Links to Smith's other films

  • In Clerks: The Lost Scene it is revealed that Mallrats takes place one day before Clerks.
  • At the U.S. Route 1 Flea Market ("Dirt Mall"), as Brodie is looking through comics and explaining that T.S. used to be a "stand up guy", T.S. tries on a black cap that reads "Clerks.". Standing next to Brodie and T.S. as the hat is tried on is Kristen Mosier, sister of producer Scott Mosier and former girlfriend of Kevin Smith. Smith has also noted on several occasions (including the Mallrats DVD commentary), that Kristen Mosier was the inspiration for Rene Mosier, Shannen Doherty's character. The Clerks hat in the scene is one of four made during the production of that film by Kristen (the hats can be seen frequently in Clerks production photos).
  • Ethan Suplee plays Willam Black in this movie, a role originally played by producer Scott Mosier in Clerks.. In the continuity of the View Askewniverse, Kevin Smith refers to this as the "Willam of Two Worlds" phenomenon, in reference to DC Comics's multiple universes.
  • As in his previous film Clerks., Kevin Smith cast his childhood friend Walt Flanagan in multiple roles. In Mallrats he appears as Walt Grover the Fanboy and in an uncredited role as one of Svenning's construction assistants (wearing similar wardrobe to T.S.). Jay also remarks that LaFours is "faster than Walt Flanagan's dog" after he and Silent Bob are chased to the food court.
  • Brodie's house is the same house used as Dante Hicks' residence in Clerks.
  • Trish "The Dish" Jones (Renee Humphrey) is one of the three View Askew series' infamous "Jones sisters" (the others being "Heather Jones" from Clerks. and "Alyssa Jones" from Chasing Amy).
  • Brian O'Halloran, who played main character "Dante Hicks" in Clerks., plays cousin "Gil Hicks", one of the contestants on the Truth or Date game show at the end of the film.
  • In episode 3 of Clerks: The Animated Series the window of the pet store says Gerbils Gerbils Gerbils, just like the pet store in Mallrats. In that same episode Steve-Dave and Fanboy make an appearance.
  • At the end of the film, during the "Where Are They Now" segment, Jay and Silent Bob are shown walking down a highway with an ape, named in the credits as Suzanne (the song played over the credits is Susanne, by Weezer). This storyline is played out in the Jay and Silent Bob comics and is a major part of the Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back plot.
  • The Eden Prarie Mall used in the film actually exists in Minnesota, but in the film exists in New Jersey. The mall is later referenced by Alyssa Jones in Chasing Amy.

[edit] Ties to New Jersey

[2] [3]

[edit] Trivia

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • The now dilapidated Bannister Mall in Kansas City, Missouri was originally considered for filming until mall executives objected to content in the film, subsequently refusing to allow the production to be shot there.
  • During one particular rant by Brodie in the film, he remarks to T.S. that he'd like to see a remake of the late 1970's NBC television show B.J. and the Bear, (...'a remake good show') because if there is one thing he can't " get enough of ", it's " a man and his monkey ". B.J. and the Bear would again be referenced during an episode of My Name is Earl, in the last scene of Season One's 'Broke Joy's Fancy Figurine', in which Randy (Ethan Suplee) asks Earl (Jason Lee), " What's the name of the monkey from 'B.J. and the Bear' ? "
  • The character Jared Svenning was not originally bald. This was a decision Michael Rooker made while trying to dye his hair gray. Smith approved of the choice, saying Rooker "looked like Lex Luthor".
  • Before the film's release, Smith had ideas for a sequel to be named Mallrats 2: Die Hard in a Mall — (an obvious spoof of "Die Hard in/on a ...," a phrase used to describe action movies after that film's success). Mallrats 2 was scrapped after the first film was a box office failure. Smith has also stated that he had considered a comic book sequel based on the original Mallrats 2 premise. Smith would later be in the fourth Die Hard movie Live Free or Die Hard.
  • There was a scrapped Sega Genesis game based on the movie.[4]
  • The comic collection seen in Brodie's basement is Smith's own collection which he re-purchased after the success of Clerks. It was originally sold to help fund the filming and production of Clerks.
  • In the scene where Brodie is playing as the Hartford Whalers in a video hockey game for the Genesis, the sound effects and gameplay do not match: he is playing the bespoke NHL All-Star Hockey, while the organ music is from EA Sports' seminal NHL series. Smith wanted to use the more popular EA game in the film, as he is a fan of it, but could not due to rights issues and promotional considerations, the NHL series was used.
  • The MagicEye "sailboat" picture is actually a 4 x 3 matrix of geometric shapes consisting of a cross, a circle, a diamond, a star, 4 segmented circles and 4 cones.
  • Kevin Smith had said several times that Seth Green was on standby to play Jay, since several people felt that Mewes either wasn't a good enough actor, or was too drugged up to play his own role. Mewes still remained in his role at Smith's insistence, although he admittedly had a rather nasty substance problem.
  • During casting, Seth Green and Breckin Meyer were considered for the role of Jay while Jennifer Love Hewitt and Reese Witherspoon auditioned for the role of Trisha Jones.
  • When Stan Lee and Brodie are talking on the balcony, Brodie shakes Stan Lee's hand with his "Stinkpalm."
  • Some print advertisements for the film featured a 3D stereogram, an in joke.
  • The shirt Brodie wears throughout most of the movie is actually a morphed image combining the headshots of 3 actors who auditioned for the role, but didn't get the part.
  • The Coen brothers were filming Fargo at the same time and near where Mallrats was being filmed.
  • Both Shannen Doherty and Alyssa Milano auditioned for the part of Rene Moiser.
  • T.S. and Brandi get married in Universal Studios Hollywood even though they had planned to visit Universal Studios Florida. They stand on a boat in the Jaws portion of the Backlot Tram Tour in Universal Studios Hollywood.
  • In one of Jay and Silent Bob's schemes to rid of La Fours, Silent Bob dresses up like Batman, predating his character as Bluntman.
  • A gang in the video game State of Emergency 2 is named the Mallrats.
  • In front of the comic book store the fanboy is wearing a View Askew jersey with the view askew clown on it
  • While at the run down mall, TS tries on a Clerks baseball cap.

[edit] References

  1. ^ New Jersey and "Mallrats" -- perfect together?, The Record (Bergen County), October 15, 1995

[edit] External links

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v • d • e
Kevin Smith
Films
Outside the Askewniverse
Productions
Abandoned
Comics
Notable characters
Notable cast and crew
Miscellaneous
Preceded by
Walt Flanagan's Dog		 The View Askewniverse Chronology Succeeded by
Clerks./Clerks.(The Lost Scene)/Clerks: The Lost Scene