I've been on a View Askew kick lately and am in the process of rewatching all of the View Askewniverse films. I watched Mallrats again recently and feel it's Kevin Smith's most underrated film.Among Indie film fans people assumed that Kevin Smith would release his "Pulp Fiction" or his "Desperado" as a follow up to Clerks. Instead what was released was more of a 90's "Porkies" rather than a Gen-X "Dr. Strangelove."That being said I feel that Mallrats is a better movie than a some people give it credit for. I'm not sure if anyone hates Mallrats (it's IMDB rating is 7.2) but I've meet people over the years that didn't enjoy it as much as Clerks, Chasing Amy, Dogma, JSBSB or even Clerks II.Clerks is the story of two slacker twenty somethings. One who fears that life is going to pass him by but is to lazy and lacks ambition to do anything about it. The other is perfectly content at living his slacker life and is a bit of a slacker sage.If Clerks is the story about fearing that life is going to pass you by. Mallrats is the story about the fear of growing up.Brodie (played by Proskater turned actor Jason Lee) is a twenty something year old slacker who's life consists of collecting comics, playing Sega and having his secret relationship with his girlfriend Rene.Brodie has no job and he lives in his mom's attic and basement. He has never introduced Rene to his mom. He claims it's because she won't like her but in reality he knows his mom will love Rene! He knows that this means Rene will want to take the relationship more seriously and will want to settle down with Brodie. He fears this because this means he has to grow up and get a real job (instead of donating to sperm banks, blood banks, etc).The other reason I believe Brodie fears growing up is not because he fears getting a job but a job he will be unhappy with. Brodie needs to do something fulfilling and something he is passionate about. He knows he would never be happy working a sales job or as an insurance claims adjuster so he doesn't even try. Instead he waits until he can find away to make money doing something he is passionate about. Which is comics. As we learn in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Brodie used the money from his stint as the host of the Tonight Show to open his secret stash.The fear of growing up almost goes hand in hand with the fear of life passing you by. I almost feel at times they are synoymous with eachother. I feel that when Kevin Smith created Brodie he probably remembered a time that he feared growing up. During his early twenty's while working at the QuickStop he probably had a mix of emotions that he was able to tell through his films.I feel that TS Quint is one of the most underrated characters in the Askewniverse. He's everything Dante should be but since Dante lacks ambition he isn't. He never dropped out of college and is about to finish, he likely has a stable job and he's going to propose to his long term girlfriend Brandi. He's nothing like any other main character in the Askewniverse. Him and Brodie have the second best "bromance" behind Dante and Randal in my opinion. TS and Brodie are polar opposites but they play off each other so well. I do believe they have been real life friends since they were kids.Of course lastly Mallrats gave Jay and Silent Bob more screen time and made them main characters. I love their Willie Coyote inspired antics and we learn about Silent Bob's gadets (which I'm disappointed were largely absent in JSBSB).I thought Rene was a great character and much prefer as a lead love interest over Alyssa Jones in Chasing Amy. I thought Rene was sweet and charming.Thought we don't seem much of her, I thought Brandi was cute too.Anyway I'm rambling.TLDR: I love Mallrats and feel it's Kevin Smith most underrated Askewniverse film via /r/movies http://bit.ly/2wbWvNz
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