How do you solve a problem like Kevin Smith’s? After his last continuity film, 2001’s Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back was put in the can, the actor/director/writer made a fair attempt at legitimizing himself as a mainstream director. Sadly, his attempts which included Jersey Girl, and Zack and Miri Make a Porno, failed to capture the hearts and minds of a film critic-bedecked box office oriented-film industry. Understandably, he went rogue, and is now producing films from ideas he’s drawn exclusively from his sole creative outlet, the SMODcast podcast, producing them on tiny indy budgets too, and overseeing limited releases of them to surprisingly, still mainstream theaters. I’d like to say the results have been a mixed bag, although it’s more accurate to say that it’s a bag of something that severely needs to be mixed.

​His latest film in this SMODcast format is Yoga Hosers, the second in a proposed, or rather threatened, trilogy of films that take place in an especially paranormal-inflicted area of Canada. The two recurring sets of characters in these films are Guy LaPointe, a semi-celebrity paranormalist played with prosthetic makeup by Johnny Depp, and this film’s two main protagonists: Colleen Collette, and Colleen McKenzie, played by Lily-Rose Depp and Harley Quinn Smith, the daughters of said movie star and director.

“The Colleens” began their film presence as a relatively clever idea for a cameo in Kevin Smith’s previous film, 2014’s Tusk, wherein a father places his daughter and his leading man’s daughter in the role of a pair of convenience store clerks, a nod to the movie which gave Hollywood Kevin Smith. It’s often a losing proposition to take a pair of characters who were onscreen for ten minutes and make them the stars. He pulled it off with reasonable success using Jay and Silent Bob, and I have to admit, it actually does work in this film as well. Lily-Rose and Harley Quinn aren’t in any way playing against type, they’re a pair of modern fifteen-year olds, who have sung in bands and, likely, participated in shopping mall yoga while posting liberally on Instagram. They have a simple charm which, in the spirit of Smith’s other two-person protagonist roles, allow them to play off their supporting cast with a joy that can only come from two teenagers casually outsmarting every adult around them.

That much of the movie works, but the major downside is while the Colleens are infinitely wonderful in this movie, every single other character is awful. I’d call them all human cartoons, but even that is being way too generous. It’s more like The Colleens live in a world made up of ill-conceived, one-joke SNL characters, hopping on screen wearing a bad wig or possessing a prosthetic zit, doing five minutes of painfully unfunny shtick and then disappearing completely. It’s simply amazing how many times this happens, whether it’s Adam Brody as Ichabod, the tattooed and muscled thirty year old drummer in The Colleens’ band, Austin Butler and Tyler Posey as Hunter Calloway and Gordon Greenleaf, The Colleen’s hot-and-not high school love interests, or Justin Long as self-absorbed yoga instructor Yogi Bayer, who flies into a rage over cease-and-decist phone calls from Warner Bros. It just goes on and on. Even Johnny Depp vamps through this film in a manner not unlike Mike Myers, allowing the gobs of lumpy prosthetics to completely disguise his non-commitment to Kevin Smith’s brilliant character creation.

By the time this movie laugh-tracks into its second act, an absurd concept involving a mad Nazi scientist and his army of 6 inch tall Nazi bratwurst clones, everyone in the SMODCast playground has gotten into the act. Kevin Smith uses prosthetic makeup and loads of CG replication of himself to play the “bratzis,” characters that straddle the line between the Despicable Me’s Minions and Troma-grade movie monsters, dispensing with their victims by climbing up their backside and...inserting themselves in a most uncomfortable place. The third act reveal of the Nazi scientist Andronicus Arcane, played by SMODCo regular Ralph Garman, falls embarrassingly flat, as Garman uses this pivotal role to perform every vocal impression that comes off the top of his head, from Al Pacino to Ed Wynn. Seriously, when you see a man in a Nazi costume impersonating 1950s-character actor Ed Wynn, that’s the moment your brain shuts completely down. Even Garman is used to the same disposable end as any other character, since his presence is used to set up a final boss fight with a lame monster costume that makes the Golgothan from Dogma look like a damn Brian Froud illustration.

​This movie just smacks of the simple arrogance of a writer/director who’s not being warned that his work is uninspired. The end credits include a snippet from an SMODcast where they jokingly invent the title of the film, while the movie itself peppers “Yoga Hosers” throughout, as if it is actually intended to catch on as some sort of ethnic slur. Part of Arcane’s sinister plot involves him murdering all of the art critics of the world, an ideal that Depp’s LaPointe would actually permit, as “at least he’s not murdering anyone human.” This is the kind of filmmaking that spawned works like Leonard: Part Six, or The Love Guru, and Kevin Smith remains gleeful that whatever he produces, no matter how awful, will nonetheless get made, exactly the way he wants it. ​

There really isn’t much more to say. I’ve described everything I possibly could have about the substance Yoga Hosers provides, and still remain roughly 200 words short of a full review. And although I’m more than certain it’s going to end up wasted, I’d like to take what few words I have left, and write a small, meaningful appeal to Kevin Smith.

​Kevin…

It’s become all too obvious that you’ve been severely burned by the critics in your career, and to a certain extent, you’re absolutely right. Movies like Jersey Girl and Zack and Miri deserved a bigger chance than they got…I assume…I never actually watched either of those films. In the past, though, you’ve turned out some of the movies that have made me a true fan of the silver screen. You’ve inspired me to take whatever I have at any given time, and hopefully, one day, create something that’s just as culturally significant as Clerks was to me.
​
In all honestly, there’s no need to despair. The Kevin Smith that made that awesome movie is still in you. It’s evident in every scene with Lily-Rose and Harley Quinn, because you made this movie with the intent of establishing them as admirable people and wonderful actors.
​
But along with the intent, there also has to be a sense of meaning; of unexplored universal truths contained in your writing. Ideas that extend far beyond casual jokes made on a regular podcast.

You once took a monologue about independent contractors on the Death Star and made it into an allegory about the futility of human existence. I still have hope that one day that something just as brilliant, will be the Kevin Smith movie I’ll see when next I step into a theater.

But, oh hell, you’ve got the ball, bring on the Moose Jaws…

Branding is a funny thing. It can benefit a business in so many ways, simply because you know exactly what to expect when you walk in or log onto their website. You know you're getting a coffee at Starbucks and you know you're getting a hamburger at Burger King, and the list goes on and on.  

When it comes to filmmaking, branding is equally as important, and after a while, some filmmakers become well known for what they bring to the big screen. After all, if the name is George Romero, you know zombies are on their way and well...if you're Kevin Smith, everyone expects a hilarious ride. That is until a couple of years ago when Kevin Smith decided to try something completely new by making a film unlike anything he had made up to that point with Red State. 

It should be a wonderful night for three teenage boys. For waiting for them on this night is an incredible woman who has promised to show them their every fantasy and desire. But their night takes a turn for the worse when they realize she has drugged all of them and when they awaken from their drug induced coma they discover that they are now in the hands of the Five Points Trinity Church, a radical fundamentalist organization that quickly show the boys they are willing to murder to spread their message. But the boys are now caught up in something far more terrifying, for when the ATF arrives to deal with the church and their parishioners, everyone discovers that the congregation happens to have a wealth of automatic weapons at their disposal, and they’re willing to use them and lose their lives if necessary, in order to defend their temple and their devout beliefs.

Upon hearing about this film, I was absolutely intrigued simply because of the fact I had to see what Kevin Smith was going to do with a plot like this. There was never any concern in my mind about the film being bad, simply because Kevin is a fantastic filmmaker as is, and his technical skills behind the camera are as sound as they come. Instead, I was more excited about what we would get in a horror/thriller/action flick from a man who has spent his life making us laugh.  

In the end, Kevin once again delivers. Red State is in a word, terrifying. It is intense, playing out at a breakneck speed and never letting up once the nightmare gets rolling. Plus, we have to take a moment and discuss the incredible cast that Kevin pulled together for this film. John Goodman, Michael Parks, and Academy Award Winning Actress Melissa Leo are just stunning in this film. In fact, major kudos go to Michael Parks for his incredibly bone chilling turn as the leader of the congregation. His performance leaves you about as uncomfortable as you can get, and truly sells the premise of the film.

Oddly enough, this is perhaps the only Kevin Smith film that he’s written and directed that appears to be devoid of a deeper meaning and quite frankly that's okay. This is just a look at fanaticism and it definitely features echoes of the Westboro Baptist Church, or the madness of David Koresh and the Branch Davidians and well...it does a great job of showing us how much people in this vein believe in their cause and how far some of them are willing to go. See this one if you haven't, since it's a great story, a great movie and this film serves as a transition picture for Kevin Smith, one that shows him graduating from comedy films to something far more cerebral.

​The old saying ‘you can’t win ‘em all’ exists for one particular reason in that, there’s a lot of truth to that statement. Because sometimes in life, regardless of your magnificent track record and regardless of how much preparation and effort and care you put into a particular task or goal, you will fail and fail miserably and there’s not a single thing you can do about it. Of course, there are individual lessons to be learned when this happens, but in that moment, there’s no way you can be happy about it and after a string of magnificent hits and well-reviewed films, Kevin Smith finally reached his moment of unexpected failure in 2010’s Cop Out.
 
Because let’s not mince any words or bones about this movie, this is a rough film when all is said and done, which was quite the surprise to me when I first settled in to watch it. Because this really did have all the ingredients for a successful comedy, since you can’t go wrong with having Kevin Smith as the man behind the camera, and adding Tracy Morgan and Bruce Willis into the mix were also solid decisions and making it a buddy cop flick seemed like the icing on the cake. But the jokes simply don’t work in this film, and it is the only Kevin Smith movie that I merely chuckled at and well, the failure of this film can be attributed to a couple of key elements.
 
First and foremost, one of the big problems with this motion picture is attributed to the fact that Kevin never quite jelled with his star, Bruce Willis. Because it is now well-known that these two didn’t get along during the production of this film for various reasons that we won’t re-hash here, but the tension between the two is evident on screen. For Bruce’s performance seems detached and bored here, and after you learn of the feud, there are some shots where it seems as though he’s straight up scowling at the camera and that’s a shame, because had these two been on the same page his performance could have been comedic gold, but, what’s done is done and the divide between these two hurts the film greatly since Bruce’s phoned-in performance makes the movie boring.
 
But in all honesty, that particular problem could have been overlooked and forgotten had there been a better script for this movie, which oddly enough isn’t Kevin’s fault in the slightest. For this is the first film that Mister Smith directed that he didn’t write and well, while it’s obvious that Robb and Mark Cullen had their hearts in the right place when assembling this screenplay, the end result leaves a lot to be desired. For the plot in and of itself is pretty messy to say the least and a lot of the moments that should be hilarious fall flat on a consistent basis and well, that only adds to the boredom one experiences when watching this motion picture and really, since the script is the foundation for a film, this is truly what makes this one so incredibly rough.
 
Which leaves me to wonder what this movie would have looked like, had Kevin been given some re-writing power by the studio, and if he and Bruce had found some common ground. But, alas, that kind of pondering does us no good for this is the end result and the sole reason I put little blame on Kevin’s ability to direct something mainstream is based upon his work for The CW’s superhero shows since any time he’s stepped behind the camera there, the end result has always been fantastic. But, as I made mention of at the start of this review, sometimes things just don’t go your way, and that’s exactly what happened here. But, on the plus side, it would seem that this sour experience with a studio flick motivated Kevin like never before since his next project went to some supremely unexpected places.  

There's been a point for all of us in our lives when money is pretty much non-existent for us. Such an event forces us to eat on a budget; and it leaves us hoping we have scraped up enough cash to keep the lights on and well, a lack of cash simply puts us in outright survival mode. Sometimes this struggle goes on for longer than we want, and when it ends there is incredible relief at not having to count our pennies every minute of the day. 

But, going through such a problem isn’t all bad. After all, being that broke allows for some serious soul searching to occur. Plus, it can galvanize a person to put themselves onto a path of success or leave them as bitter as can be. But that's what hardship does for all of us, it teaches us something be it good or bad. So. leave it to Kevin Smith to find a way to combine all of those truths within the framework of the hilarious comedy, Zack and Miri Make a Porno.

Zack and Miri are the best of friends and well...they're about as broke as it gets. Living from paycheck to paycheck is simply the norm for them, and it's only getting tougher since the power in their apartment was recently turned off. It seems there is no hope, until a video shot by two annoying teenagers at Zack's work of Miri goes viral, and it inspires Zack to come up with an idea that may solve all their problems...they need to make a porno movie on their own, and reap the financial benefits.

Of the films we've discussed so far from Kevin Smith's career...Zack and Miri Make a Porno is by far one of his funniest works.  There were tears for me when it came to this one, simply because of how hilarious not only the premise of the film is, but how wonderfully crafted the jokes are. For example, there is a scene were Zack and Miri audition actors from a local acting troupe for a role in their upcoming porno, and they have the actors read lines from their delightfully dirty script, and the actors do it in legitimate style.  

That's the kind of zany humor you will find in this film, but you'll also find the other Kevin Smith staple that’s showing up in his later films; that slice of everyday life, since who doesn’t understand the plight of these two characters since we’ve all struggled to pay the rent. But this movie also offers up so much more, for it is also a love story, the kind that reminds to take the time to really look at our lives and see what the people in front of us mean to us and oddly enough, the importance of following a dream since Zack in essence finds his calling here and goes the distance in seeing his vision come to fruition.  

This one really is one of Kevin Smith's finest comedies, simply because the plot is so wild and crazy that you don't expect to find such incredible ideas within the confines of the story, but all the basics are there. This is another one to catch if you've missed it and it is definitely worth a second or third viewing to catch all the jokes you miss while you are doubled over laughing, the first time around.

It's a good thing when our dreams stay with us. They give us the hope we need when things are rough, they allow us to get through the day when we know we are meant for something more. Yet, there is little that can prepare us for when the big day comes, that all-important moment when our dreams finally come true and our life becomes exactly what we want it to be.

But, the unfortunate part of our dreams is that in many ways there is no good time table as to when they finally come true, and really the best way to make that happen is to seize every opportunity and bust your hump every step of the way. Yet at times we feel lost in doing so and it is the central idea of the dream and what it looks like and how to achieve it that is the focal point of Kevin Smith's, Clerks II. 

It has been ten years since the events of Clerks and the good news is, Dante has finally moved on from the Quik Stop. The bad news is, he only left that job because the place burned down, and to make matters worse, he traded one service job for another, since now he’s working with his best friend Randal at Mooby's, but not all is lost. For Dante has finally found the woman of his dreams, and he’s engaged, and today is his last day before he leaves the only home, he has ever known to start his life anew.  

I have to admit that when I first heard about Clerks II, I was certainly skeptical, simply because I had no idea how on earth Kevin Smith would match or top the original film since it was something so unique and so special. But upon viewing it I was simply blown away. Not only is the story as incredible as the first film, but Mister Smith managed to top it after all. For this is a rich and hilarious comedy, all anchored by its endearing message of dreams, and what genuine friendship means to us. In between the laughs are some incredibly beautiful moments from the cast, anchored by Brian O'Halloran and Jeff Anderson as Dante and Randal respectively and it's the first time we see Randal for the man he really is, a true and loyal friend who sees Dante as his brother and the thought of losing Dante is ripping him apart. 

But Dante's journey is equally as important. For this the first time we see any character in the View Askewniverse enjoy quality and sustained growth and watching Dante come to the realization that what he’s been chasing after, has been in front of him all along is simply fascinating and fulfilling and beautiful in its own right since it reminds all of us, to appreciate what we have and to take inventory when we finally find what it is we are looking for. If anything, this is another must see from Kevin Smith, because it is an incredible comedy with heart that definitely leaves you thinking about your own life and what you really want and need, long after the movie has come to an end.  

​With the current Kevin Smith retrospective that we have been doing, please allow me a couple minutes to review Jersey Girl. Although this movie was overshadowed by Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez’s sparkling relationship, it can go down as one of the movies that is a must see for a single parent. Even though this does not keep with the dick and fart jokes that Jay and Silent Bob support in several of his movies, this movie has captured my heart.  

Ollie Trinke is one of most powerful publicists in New York and has fallen in love with the woman of his dreams. But when his new wife dies after delivering their daughter, Ollie is not willing to let his loss get in the way of his job and tries to perform his duties as normal. When Ollie’s father decides not to take care of young Gertie for a day, the pressure finally falls on to Ollie and he lashes out at a press conference to support his client’s breakthrough into movies.

After losing his job, Ollie is sent back to Jersey to live with his father. Not being able to find a new job doing what he was doing previously, Ollie works for the city with the help of his father. Ollie still continues to fight to get back to his old life and neglects his daughter while doing so as his father takes over all of the responsibilities of a father once again. Ollie is forced to become a father and with the help of his own dad, he does everything he can to make sure she is happy and taken care of.

Meeting a college student working in their local video store, Ollie finds that there may be something more to life than just his pursuit of getting back to his old life. When Maya offers to help Ollie get over his loss, Ollie comes to terms with the changes he has gone though in life and might be willing to change his focus in as well. But one day, Ollie is forced to talk to the town about closing down a street for a few days, he finds that he still has the knack for his prior career and wants once again to get back into it, but his family and new friends do not agree with this move and fight to keep things the way they are.

Jersey Girl is a coming of age move that has plenty of real-life jokes added in that seem to be underrated in a Kevin Smith movie. With a great cast attached and cameos from some of his faithful and a surprise one at the end that will blow your mind, it is a touching film. Single parents seem to have a hard time making things work, but if their family has their backs, there is nothing they are not able to accomplish. There are plenty of take-a-ways from this movie, but two of them that I will keep with me for all time are that Cats is an awful play and that Sweeney Todd proves that there is more to life than just death.  

It's a wonderful moment in cinema, when a secondary character manages to steal the show. You know what I’m talking about, where they are so funny, or so charming or heartbreaking that when you leave the theater, they are all that you can talk about. It's a credit to the actor who happened to portray that particular character, but those types characters often make rare appearances in cinema. Unless of course, we’re talking about a Kevin Smith movie.

I say that because there are two characters in a majority of his films that have always managed to steal the show, Jay and Silent Bob. In fact, they are a rare duo, managing to upstage the lead stars in every single one of Kevin’s movies and they garnered enough of a following that their roles grew in every successive film in Kevin’s stable, until the inevitable finally came to pass...they got their own movie, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. 

The good life has suddenly come to a screeching halt for Jay and Silent Bob. For not only has their favorite hangout spot at the Quick Stop been taken from them, it turns out the comic book that they lend their likeness to has been green-lit to become a major motion picture, and they won’t see a single dime from its release, and to make matters worse, their alter-egos are being dragged through the mud online. Knowing that they won’t see any of that fat cash for the movie rights come their way, and angry that the world has taken to the internet to rip on them, Jay and Silent Bob decide there is only one way to make everything just and fair, and now they’re headed to Hollywood to shut down production on Bluntman and Chronic.  ​

​This is the fun film by Kevin Smith, and I mean that in the best possible way. While the films that came before this one added incredible depth and meaning, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back goes right into flat out wild comedy territory, bringing in laugh after laugh after laugh. It really is one incredible joke after another in this film, so much in fact that my ribs were aching halfway through the movie.  

Not to mention, holy crap does this film feature a star-studded cast. You'll find incredible cameos from big name stars and Hollywood legends all here to get in on the fun. Yet, in many ways this film also served as a closing of a chapter for Kevin Smith's career. There are many moments in this film when you feel as though all the characters that interconnect in the aptly titled ‘View Askewniverse’ were saying goodbye and in many ways, they were, despite the fact that Kevin had a surprise up his sleeve years later.  

But that strange sense of farewell is overshadowed by the hilarity of this film, and the ludicrous plot that you never question because well...it's Jay and Silent Bob. And it's a movie that is worth viewing over and over again, because not only is it a dream come true for fans of the franchise since their two favorite characters finally received their comeuppance, it’s also worth that second or ninth look to catch the jokes you missed and other little plot nuggets that escaped your sight while you were laughing relentlessly

​Faith is a funny thing. It guides us, sometimes it binds us and most importantly every single one of us have it in some form or fashion. It doesn't necessarily mean we all believe in the exact same thing, since there are those who are all about believing in a God, while others believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster or they straight up only have faith in themselves.

But the fact of the matter is, we believe in something and there will come a day when what we believe in will be tested to its core and it is often a day we dread because when faith is tested, it evolves and we may not come out of our respective crisis the same when it comes to our beliefs. It is that challenge of faith, and the discovery of it that surrounds Kevin Smith's cerebral and controversial film...Dogma. 

Mankind may have brought about the end of everything without even knowing it. For a new campaign by a New Jersey Cardinal to reinvigorate the Catholic Church has created a loophole that two angels banished from Heaven can use to reenter paradise and, in the process, prove God wrong and destroy existence. Which means our salvation will rest upon the shoulders of a woman named Bethany, who just so happens to be without faith and is also carrying a special secret when it comes to her genetic heritage that will help to save the day, provided of course, Jay and Silent Bob can get her where she needs to go.
 
Upon its release in theaters back in 1999, Dogma was immediately branded a controversial film by many a church and church group. After all, it addressed religion, heaven and hell, and well...all of the controversy surrounding this film was and still is a waste of time. There is nothing here that is offensive in my opinion. Sure, Kevin Smith's biting humor and right kind of crude jokes are present here, but at this point, you know what you're getting when it comes to his movies so why be so surprised that he’s going to crack jokes that some might consider crude?

But, outside of his usual flawless brand of humor, this film actually offers up quite a thoughtful look at faith and what it means to people. There is no bashing of any religion in this film, or any moments when it says we as a people should abandon faith in general. If anything, the film truly challenges us with Bethany's story, because it doesn't actually ask us to believe in a particular faith, it just asks us, to believe in something, and that's a pretty magical message right there and that alone makes Dogma worth revisiting time and time again.  

Love is a terrifying venture, at just about any level. There are nerves involved when we ask someone out, jitters that hit us on that first date and if things gets far more serious over time, we ask them to outright accept our flaws, and all of this is terrifying due to the fact that the object of our affection can turn us down at any time. But if they pass that particular litmus test then we know this love is going to last a lifetime and we ask them to join us in the remainder of our journey and really, all anyone is looking for when they set out on this quest is the perfect relationship, one that is full of joy and is drama free.  

But the reality is rarely that. Few ever get to enjoy the fairy tale ending since love is a difficult venture that requires work and commitment and sometimes our heart doesn't know any better, allowing for us to fall head over heels in love with people who simply aren’t right for us. If anything, I think it is safe to say that really, love is driven here and there by one big emotion, fear. Because fear works well with love, since it is quite talented at having us second guess every decision in our relationships, and it always leaves us wondering if the person we care for is the right person for us and it is these complex themes that are explored in one of Kevin Smith's most cerebral and touching films...Chasing Amy. 

Holden is living the good life. He and his pal Banky are comic book artists that are successful enough to get by and one day while he is out and about promoting his new comic, Holden meets Alyssa, a gorgeous woman that he instantly falls for. But there’s quite the roadblock for Holden when it comes to starting a relationship with her in that, Alyssa is a lesbian. But knowing he must be near her, a friendship begins, one that eventually turns into something more. But there is more to this development than Holden knows, and this love will change him forever.  

This is by far, Kevin Smith's most beautiful and emotional film to date. It strips down the usual tropes of romantic comedies and leaves us with the two key elements I talked about before, love and fear. Holden's love for Alyssa is blinding, so much to the point that she becomes the perfect woman to him and that's where the fear comes into play. For as Banky uncovers Alyssa's past, the dream is shattered, and poor Holden must now figure out how to either forget about who she was or let it haunt him.  

If anything, this is a fascinating movie about how we love, what we expect of those we love and quite frankly, how we do anything and everything we can to be the perfect mate, despite how wrong or unimportant our actions are. It's a film that offers no easy answers on the subject, because let's be honest. No one has them and if by some odd chance you haven't seen Chasing Amy yet, get to it. You'll laugh for sure since comedy is Kevin's specialty, but you'll find yourself tearing up at the raw emotions that this movie brings to the surface, and you won't be able to look away.  

There was a time when the indoor mall, ruled the land. They drew people of all ages and walks of life to their sprawling locations back in the day, life in large part due to the fact that everything you ever needed was right at your fingertips in this place. The phrase ‘one stop shopping’ made so much sense in these incredible monuments to consumerism and I have many a fond memory of these places.  

After all, there was an arcade in my mall when I was growing up, and plenty to eat, toys to see, you were never bored because they were a special place, and when you spent enough time there on the weekends it truly had a sense of community. After all, it was rare to not see your friends there, or get to know some of the people that worked there, because well...everyone went to the mall and it is that sense of community and need to be at the mall that immediately attracted me to Kevin Smith's Mallrats. 

T.S. is in the middle of a crisis. Brandi Svenning, the love of his life, the girl he plans to propose to at Universal Studios when Jaws pops out of the water, has broken up with him. But he is not alone in his heartbreak. His best friend Brodie has just seen his relationship with Rene come to an end as well. With both men devastated and blindsided by their respective breakups, they decide there is only one action that can comfort them...a trip to the mall.  

Yes, the plot in a nutshell really is that simple and that's the beauty of Mallrats, because it tricks you. What seems like it should be a simple laugh a minute comedy becomes anything but as Writer/Director Kevin Smith does what he does best, by delivering unto us a surprisingly intelligent film that once again offers up a unique slice of life that we’ve all experienced at some point or another.

After all, we’ve all endured heartbreak and we’ve all been at the point after a breakup where we feel the need to get out into the world with our friends in order to feel better, but the film continues to dive deeper. It actually manages to take an incredibly in depth look into relationships and what we want out of love. Communication, or the lack thereof, the need to give and take and trust and even taking a moment to admit you were wrong are all explored in this film and it makes the motion picture touching on so many levels.  

But don't get me wrong, you're going to laugh and laugh plenty as well. Jay and Silent Bob return, so I really need not say more there. Not to mention, there's some top-notch performances in this film, and a few actors that steal the show. Ben Affleck and Michael Rooker come to mind...but perhaps the finest performance of them all comes from Jason Lee in his breakout role as Brodie. Regardless, while this film was not a box office darling, it's a cult classic for many reasons and also because, it's a damn good film and one worth watching over and over again since you'll find something new every time you pop it in.