[5.9/10] If there’s a recurring theme in Kevin Smith’s Askewniverse films, it’s young men learning to sort their shit out so that they can live up to their potential and get the girl. These young men tend to be rough around the edges, and given that most of these films came out in the 1990s, the gender politics at play aren’t always sterling. But what saves a movie like [*Clerks*](https://trakt.tv/comments/794234) is that it comes with a certain true-to-life sense of how messy immature young adults can be, even and especially when they need a firm nudge (or swift kick in the pants) to grow up. *Mallrats* maintains the observational bent and pop cultural banter of its Quick Stop predecessor. Most of that is through Brodie, the shit-stirring equivalent to Randal from the prior Kevin Smith movie. His praise for the local temple of commerce, debates over what qualifies as being part of the food court, and steadfast beliefs on the proper care of comic books all carry over Smith’s particular voice and take on both real life and its fictional alternatives. But what it lacks in comparison to *Clerks* is that sense of realism that makes its main characters’ flaws and foibles a little more forgivable. *Mallrats* is basically a live action cartoon. Everything in the film is bigger and more exaggerated than in Smith’s last cinematic outing. And as a result, instead of the scruffy but recognizable pals from the Quick Stop, we just end up with a couple of unlikable pricks hanging around the mall. That is, perhaps, too harsh. There’s a reason that Jason Lee would go on to become a mainstay in Smith’s stable of favorite performers. While it’s implausible that Brodie would go on to become the host of *The Tonight Show* on the back of a foul-mouthed, insult-heavy session on a cheap game show (maybe he should have run for President), the network suits aren’t wrong to note that Brodie has a certain presence. Particularly for a first role, Lee’s charisma and scrappy charms are outstanding, and manage to elevate a character who, by all accounts, should be insufferable. But Brodie, T.S., and their romantic partners, need that elevation, because as-written there’s very little to root for. Brodie is mostly a jerk, and outside of noting that his buddy’s been pining for his ex all day, there’s little in the way of hints that he harbors a heart of gold. Brodie’s newly-minted ex, Rene, seems right to want to be rid of him, but her casual digs and deceiving her current beau and general lack of development in the film don’t make her much of a prize either. You don’t really root for any of the couples in *Mallrats*, and Ben Affleck’s as a douchey romantic rival to Brodie doesn’t do much to change that. At least Brodie has an arc here. While it’s pretty thin gruel, the idea that he needs to get over his obsession with comics and pop culture, and make room in his life for someone he cares about, lest he regret it for the rest of his life, is a strong one. The theme resonates for those drawn to Smith’s oeuvre. And against all odds, Stan Lee himself gives one of, if not the best performance in the whole film, as the voice of wisdom and experience telling Brodie to broaden his horizons and realize what really matters. The film doesn’t do much with that epiphany, but by god, it’s something. The same can't be said for the “romance” between erstwhile protagonist T.S. Quint and his likewise freshly-minted ex, Brandi. To be frank, as much of a big nothing of a character Brandi is, she seems pretty justified in kicking T.S. to the curb when he throws a fit over postponing their plans to help out her dad. T.S. comes off like a jerk from the minute he’s introduced as causing a death through weight-based insults, and doesn’t get much better from there. His pouting asshole routine is never endearing; his challenges to Brandi on the dating game-esque show come off petulant, and the “I just needed to know you care” resolution to their conflict is cheap and unsatisfying. The movie spends more time telling us T.S. is a good guy than ever demonstrating that. In short, all of the main players kind of suck here. T.S. is a child whose cartoon rivalry with his girlfriend’s dad doesn’t make up for his general entitled attitude. Brandi is a generic drip who could be swapped out for any number of nigh-identical love interests. Brodie is buoyed by Smith’s trademark witticisms and Lee’s charismatic performance, but is an asshole to everybody from random comics proprietors to his strangely familiar fellow game show contestant. And Rene gets in a few good lines herself, but she’s underdeveloped and has her share of detestable choices as well. If *Mallrats* were a grounded film about the thorny but lived-in tangles among young adults finding love and figuring themselves out, that might all still work, even if the characters fell somewhere short of likable. (See: Smith’s follow-up to this film.) But it isn’t. This is a larger-than-life studio comedy with exaggerated personalities and goofy antics. It’s hard to have an enjoyable romp when you don’t enjoy the main players who are out there romping. So what does work in the film? Well, the antics of the characters who don't need arcs or psychology or to do anything but thrive in a Looney Tunes environment. Which is all to say, this may be Jay and Silent Bob’s finest hour. Their Roadrunner & Coyote-esque antics to try to fell a menacing mall security guard are a laugh. Their beating up the Easter Bunny on T.S. and Brodie’s behalf is both amusing and strangely noble. Jay’s extroverted stonerism is at its apex, and actually comes in handy for once. And the running gag about Silent Bob’s mechanical skill and erstwhile Jedi powers pay off big at the end of the movie. Their escapades are mostly a sideshow, but also, the most entertaining part of the movie. (Give or take a similarly-situated struggle to decipher a Magic Eye puzzle, which is truly the best plot in the film.) The other side of the coin is that *Mallrats* offers much of the juvenalia Smith is known for without much in the way of cleverness behind it. Gags about a topless fortune teller who has to rub her nipples to see the future are gratuitous without really being funny. Jokes about giving an intimidating mall dad diphtheria via chocolate-covered pretzels in a hand in your drawers are feeble. And the less said about a major plot point hinging on the prodigious sexual escapades of an underage girl, the better. Still, when you step back from the meager relationship drama and underwhelming characters, the best thing *Mallrats* has going for it is the way that Smith seems to want to throw in everything he loves. The tributes to fanboy touchstones from ["*Batman ‘89*](https://trakt.tv/comments/106396) to *The Empire Strikes Back* are winning. The comic book-y rants and ruminations land as well here as they did in the last Askewniverse film. And true to the title, the film succeeds as a paeon to, and time capsule of, the local mall as its own, strange little ecosystem, full of adventure and excitement (and a fair bit of trouble) for its devotees. The problem is that Smith isn’t content to just give us some weightless misadventures with broadly-drawn characters in that setting. Instead, the writer-director admirably wants to add some ballast to the picture with another story of manchildren getting over themselves and realizing what’s important. Only this time, the proceedings are too over-the-top, the manchildren are too unpleasant, and the relationships are too tepid to want to invest in, let alone root for, anything the movie has to offer on that front. In that, *Mallrats* is Smith’s sophomore slump. It exists halfway between the grungy realism and unvarnished humanity of *Clerks* and the outsized goofery and exaggerated shtick of a mid-1990s major studio comedy, seemingly unable to synthesize the two influences. (Something Smith would get the hang of in *Dogma*.) The movie has some nice moments, and a few good laughs here and there, but never finds its center or characters worth latching onto through all the nonsense. Like the real life malls Smith is riffing on here, there’s some nostalgia on offer in *Mallrats*, but this is, largely, a disappointing relic of the times.