Mallrats

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What was your local shopping centre when you were a teen? Maybe it’s the same shopping centre now? Not for me. I’ve moved up in the world. Or rather, I should say I escaped my old hometown of Dandenong. Sure it gets a bad rep and it has its problems, but I spent seventeen years of my life there and had no problems. But I guess it’s different when you live in the place. Still, I consider it my true hometown, and lived in close proximity to two key locations during my teenage years. Firstly, my high school was literally a two minute walk around the corner from my house. That made sleeping in till after 8am easy, and only having to leave for school when I heard the first bell ring, arriving in homeroom less than ten minutes later. And then a five minute walk the other way and up my street, was the Dandenong Plaza Shopping Centre.

Originally called the Capital Centre in the 80’s and early 90’s, when it was just a handful of shops and the local cinema. Back then, Dandenong was booming as a cultural, commercial hub, with many bustling shops and businesses lining its streets. Then in a plan to revitalise the central business district of Dandy, they expanded the Capital Centre to a much larger shopping centre, thus becoming The Plaza, or my mall I guess. The businesses on the town’s main streets went bust, as everyone migrated indoors to the comfort and safety of the shopping centre. This was the place that housed my cinema and where I would also get my first job, as the cleaner for the local fish and seafood deli. But long before that, it was just my place to hang out. As well as the destination for every other student from my high school, as it was just a five minute walk there, conveniently going right past my house on Ronald Street. 

The Malls of America are quite different of course, as the Dandenong Plaza was in a league all of its own. Like any mall, it had its regulars (including me), and on any Tuesday or Friday morning when the Dandenong Market was open, all the old Greek and Italian men of Dandenong would hang out in the food court (while their wives shopped at the market no doubt). It was quite a sight to behold, seeing all these old Don’s sitting around tables, sipping short blacks and chewing on tooth pics. I aptly called them “The Dandenong Mafia”, which was probably not so far from the truth.

I share this background on my “mall” in relation to this review on the film “Mallrats”. There is something alluring about gathering in a central, consumerist community with people from all walks of life, where you would often see the people you know and could walk from one end of the shopping centre to the other with your eyes closed, because you just knew the place so well. That’s the basic concept of this film. Directed by Kevin Smith, who I was introduced to firstly with the film “Chasing Amy” (one of my all time favourites), which then sent me to discover “Clerks” his directorial debut, then once I got the flavour and fun of Kevin Smith’s films, I tracked down Mallrats on video at Blockbuster and gave it a go.

The film wasn’t as well reviewed or received as Clerks was, but it’s a fun time. Our two heroes this time are Brodie and T.S., two life long buddies who both get dumped by their girlfriends on the same day. In order to recuperate, they head to their local mall, and run into an assortment of characters along the way. T.S. will do anything to win back his girlfriend Brandy, so Brodie hatches a plan to help. Turns out, Brandi’s father hates T.S. and was behind their break-up. And his grand plan involved putting his daughter on his game show “Truth or Date” which will be filmed live at the mall that evening. To stop this from happening, Brodie charges Jay and Silent Bob with the mission of sabotaging the game show anyway they can. But they will face the malls security guard LaFours, a behemoth of a man with hundreds of arrests and even two kills. 

That’s about it in terms of plot, as Mallrats focuses on exactly what it is; a bunch of teens and young adults, hanging out at a mall for no particular reason. They’re not there to work, or shop. They’re just…there. Sure, it sounds stupid, but who didn’t just go to a shopping centre as a teen to do…nothing? I sure did, until I started working there at age seventeen. Then I saw a whole new side of the mall; after hours, as I cleaned up the fish shop after closing time. With most of the lights off, except for a few dim ones, and just a couple of security guards walking around, there was something both comforting and creepy about being the only person on an entire level of a shopping centre. I saw the Dandenong Plaza at its busiest and quietest times, so I guess I was a Mallrat myself.

I have grown up with the films of Kevin Smith and still continue to watch his films today. He’s a creative filmmaker, and has told stories that matched the time of life he was in, hence the time of life his fans were in. Chasing Amy was the film I discovered when I was learning about relationships and what it meant to be a young adult. Then “Dogma” came along to challenge my own beliefs about God and religion, which was a nice contrast from the black and white teachings of the Catholic school I went to. Then “Jersey Girl”, which told the story of a businesses exec dropping his career to become a dad was a nice preview of what parenthood might be like. But Mallrats sits firmly in my teenage years. I don’t watch this one as often as other Kevin Smith movies, simply because I don’t walk away a changed person or even a very entertained person after watching it. I suppose that’s my standard for most movies now; entertain the shit out of me or change the way I think and see life. Mallrats doesn’t fit into either of those categories as you can imagine. It’s just a day in the life of some young people with nothing better to do then flock to their mall, hang out, talk and kill some time. And really, isn’t that what being a teenager was all about? 


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