Mallrats

A 1995 film by Kevin Smith, and part of the The View Askewniverse. It is the second entry into this series, although chronologically set before Clerks.

T.S. and Brodie are comic-book loving slackers who have both recently broken up with their respective girlfriends. Seeking solace at the local mall, they find ways to sabotage their exes' plans and to try and woo them back. Like all Smith films, this film takes quite a bit of Refuge in Vulgarity. It was filmed in Eden Prairie Center in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, which at the time was a tired and dying mall with low traffic. (It has since been extensively renovated.)

Taking place a day before Clerks, with the usual parodies and Star Wars references (and a surprising cameo by Stan 'The Man' Lee).

Tropes used in Mallrats include:
  • Accidental Pervert: Silent Bob turns into one of these: each time a Zany Scheme backfires, he ends up in a women's dressing room, where he sees a girl in the process of trying on clothes. And it's always the same girl. The girl in question, Gwen, is later seen changing in semi-public while talking to Brodie and TS, claiming that it saves him the effort.
  • Actor Allusion: In one scene, Doherty's character Rene is called "Brenda" by mistake (her character in 90210). Ben Affleck's character's name, Shannon Hamilton, is a veiled reference to Doherty's previous marriage to Ashley Hamilton.
  • Bald of Evil: Brandi's father, Mr. Svenning.
  • Berserk Button: Shannon hates mallrats, because they just loiter with no intention on buying anything.
  • Black Comedy Rape: Trish the Dish.
  • Breast Attack: Gwen sneaks up on her old boyfriend TS, who jumps and "elbows [her] right in the freakin' tit!" She responds by giving TS an upward double axe handle to the groin. (Brodie uses the opportunity to explain his opinion of karmic justice to TS.)
  • Brick Joke: Jay and Silent Bob are seen with a random monkey in the Where Are They Now credits. This is not explained for three movies, until they rescue a monkey from an animal testing lab in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.
    • Actually picked up on in the 'Chasing Dogma' series of comics that has, as the name suggests, the movies 'Chasing Amy' and 'Dogma' as bookends - The series explains how Jay and Silent Bob end up in the same town as Bethany - They're searching for Shermer, Illinois (the site of many a John Hughes movie, and naturally, nonexistent), and along the way, end up rescuing a chimp which is hunted, in a hilarious Fugitive spoof, by a Tommy Lee Jones lookalike. Presumably needing some narrative for Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Smith recycled this with Will Ferrell in the Jones role.
    • In an effort to destroy the stage, Silent Bob dresses up in a Batman mask, swings past a critical pin (missing his chance to grab it), and crashes through a dressing room wall with Gwen inside. This (and their other antics) form the basis for the Bluntman and Chronic comic that forms the plot of Chasing Amy and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Additionally, Jay can be overheard telling this story to Loki and Bartleby in Dogma.
  • The Brute: Shannon.
  • Call Back: the kid on the escalator.
  • The Cameo: Of Stan Lee, no less. Also of Game Show host Art James.
  • Catholic School Girls Rule: Invoked deliberately by Tricia, as part of her sex research.
  • Celebrity Paradox: At one point, Silent Bob is shown reading Spike, Mike, Slackers, and Dykes, a book about the indie film industry which includes a chapter on Kevin Smith and the making of Clerks.
    • Also T.S putting on a Clerks' cap at the dirt mall.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: Trish the Dish and her video tapes.
  • Chekhov's Skill: Silent Bob practicing his Jedi telekinesis. Also, Willem's inability to see the sailboat plays a pretty important part in the ending.
  • Continuity Nod: Explains the death of Julie Dwyer, the girl whose funeral the boys crash in Clerks.
  • Deus Ex Machina: the third item Silent Bob pulls from his trench coat / Batman-esque belt is a grappling hook which enables him to escape Lafours with Jay.
  • Elevator Going Down: Brody and Renee.
  • Enforced Method Acting: Renne's anger about being called "Brenda" isn't fake. No one told Doherty that Suplee was going to say it, and it apparently ticked her off.
  • Fanboy: Brodie (a fanboy) uses" fanboy" as a term of abuse for another fanboy.
  • Follow the Leader: In-Universe. The game show is a shameless ripoff of The Dating Game.
  • Freeze-Frame Bonus: This could just be a mistake, but if you freeze-frame on the Magic Eye puzzle and actually adjust your eyes to see the picture, you'll see it isn't a sailboat; it's just a few abstract shapes. No wonder Willam couldn't see the sailboat.
  • Groin Attack: Gwen smashes T.S. in the balls with her purse, after he accidentally elbows her in the breast. Supposedly, in the take they wound up using, she accidentally did smash him and his agony is real.
  • Hyperspace Arsenal: Parodied. Silent Bob pulls a number of unlikely items from his trench coat, including a full-size, inflated sex doll.
  • It's for a Book: Parodied with a high schooler having sex with older men in order to write a book about it.
  • Jerkass: Shannon and Brandi's father.
  • Kneel Before Zod: Shouted by Jay after smacking a security guard with a baseball bat.
  • Leg Cling: The poster.
  • The Mall: Of course.
  • Moon Logic Puzzle: The Magic Eye puzzle Willam is obsessed with.
  • Mythology Gag: A portion of Brandi and Gwen's conversation backstage of the game show sounds vaguely familiar....

Brandi: Jesus, Gwen, the last thing I need at this point is a lecture on my love life.
Gwen: All I'm saying is...

    • In Clerks, Dante asks Randal if he's going to lock up the video store before the hockey game. Here, T.S. asks Jay if he ever gets stoned. Randal and Jay's responses are identical, right down to the vocal inflection: "Look who you're askin' here!"
    • Thirty-Seven.
    • T.S. is shown to be responsible for the cutting remark that convinces Julie Dwyer to swim laps until she drops dead. Dante and Randall wreck her wake in Clerks.
  • Not Distracted by the Sexy: T.S. completely ignores the topless psychic's breasts, and comes to an epiphany over her advice. Brodie however, who was previously excited at the thought of topless fortune telling, can't stomach the sight of her (fake) third nipple.
    • The ironic part is that he has the epiphany over what she's saying as she's trying to get Brodie to look at it.
  • Prequel: Set one day before Clerks.
  • Pyrrhic Victory: The Stink Palm.

Brodie: "It's a small price to pay for the smiting of one's enemies."

    • Fridge Logic: Brodie stink-palmed Stan Lee, the comics he reads at the dirt mall, Silent Bob, the microphone and Rene.
  • Rule of 3 - the third item is the charm. (See Deus Ex Machina/Triple Nipple)
  • Running Gag: Shannon's intention to have sex in a very uncomfortable place[1] with various women is constantly misinterpreted as having sex 'in the backseat of a Volkswagen'.
    • Willem and the sailboat puzzle.
  • Seinfeldian Conversation: T.S. and Brodie's conversation at the cookie stand about whether or not Lois Lane could carry Superman's baby to term.
  • Sexual Karma: Shannon by the end is the target of sex in a very uncomfortable place. Well, places, it happens in prison.
  • Shapeshifting Squick: Brodie thinks entirely too much about the love life of Reed Richards and Susan Storm.
    • And The Thing.
  • Shout-Out: The silent mall cop is named LaFours, after the unseen lawman in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid to the point of wearing a straw hat. This was lampshaded in a conversation between Jay and Brodie that was deleted, but can be seen on the extended edition DVD:

Jay: Is LaFours out there?
Brodie: No.
Jay: Good. For a minute there, I thought we were in trouble.

    • Oscar Wilde (in the extended release); Star Wars, multiple references to the dark side, Jedi Mind Trick and the force (LaFours); Star Trek (Vulcan Neck Pinch). Indeed, Silent Bob's speech at the end is a Yoda saying from Empire:

Silent Bob: "Adventure, excitement: a Jedi craves not these things".

Brodie: - "How do you know he's not my sidekick?"

  • Sight Gag: "Buy Me Toys" is literally the name of the toy shop in the mall. Next to it is a store called "Rug Munchers", presumably an LGBT carpet store.
    • T.S puts on a Clerks hat whilst at the dirt mall (when Brodie is stink-palming some comics).
  • Sock It to Them: "Phase one: First you take a run at La Fours with a sock full of quarters. I'd do it, but I pulled my back out humping your mom last night. Nootch. Okay, you clock him on his headpiece and knock his ass out cold. That's when phase two kicks in. I attack the structure Wolvie-Berserk style, and knock out the fuckin' pin and bickety-bam! the motherfucker is rubble. Hence, no game show."
  • Stoners Are Funny: Jay and Silent Bob.
  • Strange Minds Think Alike: "Like the back of a Volkswagen?"
    • Also, a singular example:

Gwen: Didn't I look just like Burt Reynolds?
Brodie and T.S.: (Beat) Except for the mustache.

  • Title Drop: By the proprietor of Fashionable Male.

That's it, you're fucking dead, mallrat!

Jason Lee: "He's the Heavy Metal version of T.S.!"

  1. ↑ meaning anal
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