We all know that this is Smith's 2nd film after the low budget Sundance hit that was Clerks. Sure it was box office flop and recieved poor reviews (well, not too bad since it has a 50-something rating on Rotten Tomatoes), but it gained a strong cult following over the years and became a well-regarded entry in Smith's "Askewniverse" Films, which were, at it's time, the irreverent, foul-mouthed, crude humored equivalent of today's Marvel Cinematic Universe. Like those films, past events are referenced (Julie Dweyer's passing, the unhinged sexual activities of a Cousin Walter, etc.), characters are crossing over (the always omnipresent Jay & Silent Bob), foreshadowing (the orangutan at the end of this film had a prominent role in Jay & Silent Bob Strikes Back), and the reconcilliation of the film's tones being slightly off-kilter (Clerks and Clerks 2 have fairly realistic settings, Mallrats and J&SBSB have a pretty cartoonish, but riotious tone and Dogma was religious fantasy-cum-bitting satire), with the exception that none of these guys have armored suits, gamma-induced mutations, or godly powers with guys named Loki being invol.....oh, wait, never mind..
The point I'm trying to make is that these are normal, hopeless, hair-brained and otherwise shiftless guys that we could connect to and laugh at as well, being that those qualities make them acceptable targets. It's just a idiotic but neverheless fun movie with a few moments of brilliance that revolves around two guys getting over their respective break-ups by heading to a mall, where they plot to win their girlfriends back, discuss the sexual activities of superheroes, and run afoul of one of the gf's dad. The conversations they hold are hilarious of fucked-up proportions and their actions are morally uncompromising, and that's what make this film a great late night viewing.
Mallrats and Dogma are courtesy of Universal Studios and Lionsgate Entertainment respectively.
No comments:
Post a Comment