Roger Ebert Sounded Personally Disappointed With Kevin Smith In His Mallrats Review

Kevin Smith's "Mallrats" was, in 1995, a massive step forward for the director's career. His 1994 debut film "Clerks" had caused a sensation in the indie world, catching ahold of the popular zeitgeist with little more than clever conversation, pop culture references, and black-and-white film stock. "Clerks" was made for a mere $230,000 overall (and only cost $27,000 to shoot), but it raked in well over 10 times that at the box office. It did even better on home media, allowing Smith's voice to proliferate across a generation as "Clerks" became one of the most important movies of the 1990s.

"Mallrats," by comparison, was a slicker, larger film distributed by an established studio in Gramercy Pictures. Indeed, everything from the movie's budget to its setting and cast were bigger. Michael Rooker appeared in the film, while heartthrob Jeremy London played one of the two leads. However, the project's big "get" was Shannen Doherty, the ultra-hot star fresh off "Beverly Hills 90210." Smith also cast the breakout actor Jason Lee and managed to finagle a cameo from Marvel Comics guru Stan Lee (no relation). Even a young Ben Affleck had a notable role. In structure, "Mallrats" was similar to "Clerks" in that both movies were about a pair of layabout 20-somethings who bum about a retail outlet lamenting the sorry state of their respective romances.

"Mallrats," however, wasn't nearly as big a hit as "Clerks." It actually made less money at the box office and didn't get very good reviews. Roger Ebert only gave the film one-and-a-half stars, noting that its budget may have been 100 times greater than that of "Clerks" but that Smith covered essentially the same material with the same themes as he did in "Clerks."

Ebert, it should be noted, very much liked "Clerks." He observed that both it and "Mallrats" took place in an appealing world where dead-end teens and 20-somethings have new concerns other than hanging out and talking. As many critics observed, it was through the idle hours of conversation that the characters in "Clerks" stumbled backward into profundity. In his "Mallrats" review, Ebert described the movie as follows:

"One of the charms of 'Clerks' was that it captured the aimlessness and ennui of its world with deadpan humor. There wasn't a plot, just slowly developing themes, such as the return of old girlfriends and the problems of weird customers. We sensed that this was close to life [...], and it was funny the way the character seized on every small development as a break in the wall of inactivity."

That said, Ebert felt that "Mallrats" had the same kind of structure but with a more conventional Hollywood plot and predictable, typical central romances. A plot, Ebert pointed out, was not needed in "Clerks." Why did Smith feel the need to add one to "Mallrats" then? He continued:

"The fatal flaw in plotting the material is that we don't care. The movie is about two teenagers who are having girlfriend problems, and the problems, unfortunately, would be more entertaining if absolutely nothing was done to resolve them." 

In "Mallrats," there is an outsize scheme for the handsome T.S. (London) to win back his girlfriend Brandi (Claire Forlani) at a live game show taping at his local mall. Brodie (Lee) is roped into helping by running interferences on Brandi's cruel father Jared (Rooker) while also trying to renegotiate with his own girlfriend Rene (Doherty).

The plot gets ever more complicated as well. There is an evil security guard at the mall, and T.S. hires Jay and Silent Bob (Jason Mewes and Smith) to distract the guard and ruin the game show. (Jay and Silent Bob were, of course, characters carried over from "Clerks.") There's even a miniature running plot involving Jay and Silent Bob, as well as a subplot about a teenage prodigy (Renee Humphrey) and her studies on sexuality. She proves to be instrumental to foiling the romantic wickedness of Affleck's character, who has set his sights on Rene. Partway through the film, Brodie and T.S. actually leave the mall and go to a nearby flea market in order to visit a fortune-teller (Priscilla Barnes). The gimmick with the fortune-teller is that she has to be topless while peering into the future (!) and that she also has a third nipple. Oh, yes, and Ethan Supplee has a supporting role as a man who cannot see a Magic Eye poster. Remember those?

Ebert was disappointed by all the shenanigans, writing:

"'Clerks' spoke with the sure, clear voice of an original filmmaker. In 'Mallrats,' the voice is muffled, and we sense instead advice from the tired, the establishment, the timid, and other familiar Hollywood executive types."

Smith, it seems, sold out. He was eager to have a thriving career as a Hollywood player, and, with "Mallrats," made the studio-safe version of "Clerks," a film that lacked his first movie's striking eagerness and earnest sense of ennui. It seems that many of Smith's "Clerks" aficionados felt the same way, and they stayed away in droves. Like "Clerks," though, "Mallrats" found new life on home media, and some people came to like it just as much.