"Mallrats" at 25: How Kevin Smith came to love his cult classic

Kevin Smith's "Mallrats" was initially perceived as a sophomore slump, and the writer/director/co-star even poked fun at his 1995 film. But later, as it grew popular on DVD, he came around to it.
Smith tells Yahoo Entertainment about meeting Ben Affleck for the first time, why he didn't cast Reese Witherspoon, and much more.
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[@Uchiha_Mako]

Mallrats was my first Kevin Smith film and still my favourite out of his entire catalogue.

[@KevinsPortal]

According to Kevin, Mallrats is no one's favorite Kevin Smith film. I've always disagreed too.

[@nicholashall3117]

Snoogans

[@dwightjohnson6674]

He side. Will. Mester of the Universe Revolution. Kevin said will. Mester of the Universe Revolution cool. God'buss okay love Dwight 👍

[@KevinsPortal]

@@dwightjohnson6674 wtf are you saying, dude?

[@Mamoswine-s]

@@KevinsPortalhe sending his regards relax zoomer he’s being himself, forgot you were the grammar police dork

[@DjHijinx1]

Mallrats was my first Kevin Smith movie. Me and my friend watched it and laughed so hard. It was a perfect movie that came out at a perfect time in my life. Plus Joey Lauren Adam's was so smoking hot.

[@Cindistephens]

Chasing Amy, Clerks, Jay & Silent Bob strike Back... total classics

[@WalterPidgeonsForge]

I saw it 4 times in the theater.. for me? Claire Freakin Forlani was and remains a stupifying beauty... but Joey got Nekkid....

[@andrewphippsphillips1455]

​@@WalterPidgeonsForgethat's fair about both. JLA does have a rather gorgeous voice, slight lisp, but oh indeed, those beautiful petit tiny teets 😊

[@Cindistephens]

Mallrats is one of my favorite movies. I saw it when it came out. It’s still just as hilarious now as it was then.❤️

[@Cindistephens]

And I do have my original DVD❤️

[@Diesel257]

You saw the sailboat too. Nice.

[@Psilocybin77]

I love Kevin Smith movies, podcasts, and interviews. I can listen to him speak for hours and often do. Kevin Smith's movies take me to different times in my life in ways unlike any other movie or even song. The guy receives a lot of hate online, because he's an easy target. His movies aren't for everyone, and most movies aren't meant to be. His movies are fun, silly, and lacking any sort of cynicism. From the way he treats his family, friends, and fans; Smith is an all round great human being. It's ok if some of you guyz don't care for his work. I do challenge people to see Red State for proof Kevin Smith can make a very well written, directed, and acted film, outside the view askew universe.

[@knowthycell]

I haven’t seen Red State but will check it out

[@EsteemedBeansTV]

@@knowthycell did you enjoy it, esteemed gentleman?

[@Jefff72]

When I found this interview, I thought, there's no way I can sit through an hour and half of this. An hour and half later, ok pauses to watch other things, I hit the end of the interview. Great job guys!

[@perpetualidiocy6622]

got a phone call from my daughter last week (she's at university) 'i watched Mall Rats for the first time the other day, did you used to have a poster of the stage blue prints on the wall?' 'lol yes, i had 2 actually, but the language was pretty bad so as you got older i had to take them down' ' haha i thought i recognised it'

[@omegaswiper]

This is an amazing video its nothing like the boring ones you see for most people doing interviews Kevin tells a true story that needs to be a movie one day. The making of Mallrats. MAKING MALLRATS. THE PIZZA PARTY.

[@chriscaldwell4482]

I saw it twice the first weekend. Still my favorite movie of all time.

[@PaulDozierZZoMBiE13]

How can one suggest that Brodie has no arc? Through Stan's example he learns to appreciate his lady rather than regard her as merely an extension of his own world. He even introduced her to his mother! He learns to do more than just pretending to play the role of the concerned guy. At least that's what I took from it.

[@citizensguard3433]

It’s clear Kevin Smith is just a fan who got super lucky. He isn’t the disillusioned, reluctant celebrity… he’s all of us who love film and comics and have written scripts knowing they will most likely never be anything but fun side hobbies, a guy like that who caught a huge break due mostly to luck but also some talent and determination, and doesn’t take anything for granted. It’s awesome to see.

[@NASA-Shill]

I love how at 44 min 35 sec in Kevin Smith throws down so many F-bombs that you just stop bleeping them.

[@LumenateTV]

yeh they fixed that...

[@pixelretroo]

Saw Clerks and then Mallrats on VHS in South Africa when I was in my late teens. Instantly became a massive fan of both. Still love them and have some great memories and strong nostalgia for those times. Thank you @kevinsmith

[@kevanoid]

Top 5 personal fav movies and deeply loved the captain marvel Stan lee cameo of him holding the script mall rats is a film I constantly rewatch!

[@brianeleighton]

Apparently that was a choice by Stan himself.

[@VBshredder]

This is a great interview - the guy really just let Kevin get into those details we may have not heard before

[@jasonmgomez]

I saw this movie in a theater when it was released. There were six! people in the theater. Fine, more for me. I loved it then and I love it now.

[@chriscaldwell4482]

Dude the one we saw was opening weekend Morristown New Jersey 6 people total in mine too.

[@pipermaru9487]

Great interview!!! Awesome movie.

[@andrewphippsphillips1455]

I happened to find it by accident, being shown late one Sunday night on BBC2 here in the UK. Friend of mine had mentioned about the J&SB characters from a film called "Clerks" & having since this, I began hunting the remaining films. Im keeping these even though Ive let go of a lot of my other DVDs. Glad I never got rid, as I am aware that Dogma hasnt been released again...

[@DkunPete]

I really love everything you do bro. My life has changed so much over the years, but your films are the voice of the 20 somethings of my generation. I was a Clerk, a Blockbuster Video Clerk. My wife .....not a fan lmao. But I my friend am greatful for Jay and Silent Bob. Snoochy Bootchies

[@trexelist]

Mallrats was the first Kevin Smith movie I saw. I was very young and my friend (same age as me) had it on VHS. The movie, as we all know, was hysterical and I’ve been a die hard Kevin Smith fan ever since.

[@Sidnfjdkdndfbd]

Same, I'll be honest I am a 2005 baby. My uncle owns Clerks, Clerks 2, Mall Rats, and I believe Chasing Amy. I got into those films because of the documantrys made on them, it inspired me. They are all great films. Anyway, I watched all of them, it was my transiton from child movies to more adult themed films. I just love the films, I love the fact you can make a really great film on a shoe string budget. Its great. Its inspired me to go on and make my own film one day, something of my own. (Sorry for saying "film" about 100 times 😂).

[@shutinalley]

Skateboarded to the local theater to watch Mallrats when i was 15. Movies a classic.

[@ChrisPuckett]

I’ve loved this movie since it came out. I was 20 when this movie came out. It spoke directly to me and it’s got some of the best actors of the period. Jay and Bob were exactly like the dudes I grew up with and hung with in suburban Ohio. I was a skater and of course having Jason Lee was insane. And of course, the entire cast of amazing actors.

[@stpierreorama]

I'm surprised to hear him say comics werent on anybody's mind in 1995. I was born in 1991 and always had an impression that comics culture was huge in the 90s because of all the great animated comics shows there was back then. Spiderman the animated series was my jam in the 90s and still great to watch to this day. I think that came out in 94'

[@boombapdoom493]

Born the same year but kinda gotta agree with him in at least how way more mainstream it is now thanks particularly to the MEU and DC films recently made in the last 12 years or so

[@knowthycell]

It had a huge subculture. But not quite pop culture yet. Edit: born 1980

[@stpierreorama]

@@knowthycell but the cartoons/animated shows these days suck compared to back then. Into the spider verse was ok. A bit of forced diversity but well done regardless but compared to X-men and spiderman TAS, Batman, Batman beyond etc. Today's shows are trash and ruined with lame CGI. And I have no idea what the data says but it seems like comic books were way more popular in the 60-90s then nowadays. I was never big into the movies Spider the animated series from 94' will always be the pinnacle for me.

[@knowthycell]

@@stpierreorama personally I think it’s the new CGI that made the marvelization of the movie industry possible. Yes, comics and superhero’s were popular back then and so were baseball cards. But it’s nothing compared to now with all the movies.

[@jpspitzersf]

Undoubtedly the 90s was a great decade creatively for comics, until Batman TAS, no cartoon came close to the quality of those of the 90s., but comic books, and everything related, graduated from something for kids to something for everyone in 1998 with the release of Blade but didn't become mainstream until 2000 with the first X-Men movie. I know, there were Batman movies before that, some very good ones, Tim Burton's for example, but it were movies created to sell toys, they were not taken seriously neither by the industry nor by the public. Remember, Tim Burton was replaced by Joel Schumacher to try to sell more toys, only in the early 2000s Burton's Batman films get the credit they deserved. Blade was the first movie based on comics created for adults, which wasn't intended to sell toys, but tickets. According to screenwriter David S. Goyer, from the first meeting the idea was to create a franchise and make it R as well. Mallrats was ahead of his time, luckily Captain Marvel and Stan Lee gave him new life.

[@alterennui3384]

Ben Affleck complaining about his "fans" pre celebrity status is hilarious! I never liked how much flack 🤔 Ben Affleck and Matt Damon would get back then. Cruelty for cruelty's sake was a big part of culture/comedy? for a long time. This was very informative and interesting. Kevin Smith is a great storyteller, very animated. Thank you for sharing!

[@TheCalkan]

Always loved Mallrats. I first bumped into Kevin through the Jay and Bob cameo in the music video for Afromans because I got high which I downloaded on a modem when I was 14. Years later I found Jay and Silent Bob strikes back in a video store and I was blown away by them "being real". After renting it I quickly went through the whole view askew catalogue.

[@MeltWithU]

I don’t think Kevin even realizes that he kind of wrote the first 80s style flick that centered around a mall. Look back to 90% of the movies that were made in the 80s and you’ll realize that only one or two we’re actually filmed in a mall, when mall culture was so huge back then. So I see the picture is kind of an ode to my childhood. When everybody hung out in malls. So I think it actually hits the people who grew up in those era’s, 90s kids and also the new generations that are into comic books and the culture surrounding them. It’s a pretty generational thing. Which very few films capture.

[@jat0005]

no one wants a sequel where Brody's life is miserable like the clerks 3 characters

[@ericbarnett9864]

I’ve always loved Mallrats, still my favorite.

[@LAVISHING]

Hey Kev I’m seeing it right now. Definitely going to be seeing Clerks 3 this year!

[@alvaroricomail]

I don't know if Mallrats is your best movie, but for me, as a kid, this movie rescue me from darkness

[@jasonnoble3971]

Fall, 1995. Skagit Valley College in Mt Vernon WA. My buddy and decide rather than go to class we want to rent a movie. Half hour later we're back at my dorm room with a Mallrats VHS. Watching it for the first time, we fell in love with it.... so much so that we went and got another friend of ours and said, "you have to come see this movie we rented." So he skips his afternoon classes and I see it for my second time. Now all three of us love it. So we go to baseball practice (fall-ball) and, all three of us being pitchers, when we take off to do our running around the campus we re recruit a few a more guys to watch the movie with us while we should be off running. So there I was, late in the afternoon/early evening watching Mallrats for the third time in what would become easily 100 times. To this day, literally any time I: A. Walk in to a mall I loudly exclaim "I LOVE THE SMELL OF COMMERCE IN THE MORNING" or B. See an escalator I go on and on about a kid needing to "FEAR AND RESPECT THAT ESCALATOR!!!" God Bless Mallrats! "...that kid..."

[@sleuthentertainment5872]

Damn, I am watching Mallrats right now (my first film of him too).......and this is Kevin Smith? My God, the time is our worst enemy

[@chriscaldwell4482]

It's 25 years later he looks younger than 50

[@angeldoll2718]

How!? That movie was hilarious and one of my all time favorites! That’s hard to believe.

[@jasonnn2284]

I saw it in the theatre! In a theatre that no longer exists.

[@acjjones2981]

This was great..

[@mitchellgillon2583]

Keep up the great work Kevin!!!!

[@yourfriendasmund1073]

Ah, there 25 years old! Happy birthday (:

[@kyradaniels3546]

Kevin smith is the best filmmaker of all time! I feel like he was one of many firsts in the film industry and his vision in all of his movies was truly him and the way he sees and expresses his vision truly spoke to me, it’s beautiful to see his ‘cult classics’ continuing to build in popularity ❤️

[@mage1439]

I've watched Mallrats with commentary more times than I've watched almost any other movie, period. And that says nothing about how many times I've watched it without commentary.

[@Hazard4Tactical]

Was the marketing push notched by the studio? Most people didn’t seem to know this was the follow up to Clerks. When they saw it on video six months later, they loved it.

[@EdPalmatier]

Is this the guy that got Ben and Kevin talking again?

[@briangarrett3668]

Personally it was my best friend who turned me onto Clerks and I fell in love. I saw Mallrats in the theatre. And to this day I can't decide which of the two I like better. Definitely my two favorite. I never was big on chasing amy or dogma. Yeah I know don't need to comment. Love the jay and silent bob movies as well. Nothing personal here but Kevin Smiths movies remind of the new hot band. First album is freaking gold. Second is an extension of the first. Then all of a sudden the corporate world steps in. They are huge now. You gotta music like this. You gotta dress like this now. And the band changes and is a shadow of who they were before they got big. That's just how I feel with KS.

[@martins2246]

Comic Con 95 was had a huge MallRats marketing footprint.

[@georgestetson5572]

The guy interviewing him asked him one question and then Kevin spent an hr and a half answering it lol I forgot there was even somebody interviewing him

[@ethansloan]

I wish he (and other screenwriters) would make the first draft scripts for their films available. Chasing Amy was set in a 90s high school? How the hell did that read?!

[@omegaswiper]

This needs to be a movie like wow. Mallrats was a good story to make it.

[@omegaswiper]

I would love to see a whole movie about Mallrats making it cool.

[@qbertq1]

Kevin Smith must be the easiest interview ever. Ask a few questions and let him talk for an hour.

[@kimmiemolluro]

when i saw stan lee practicing mallrats in captain marvel, i lost my sh!t and proceeded to pummel my teenaged daughter (a huge mcu fan) with kevin smith nostalgia and she got why she NEEDS watch all his movies!!

[@gr8fakeh8monger]

Every movie Kevin made was fantastic! Except red state...just kidding. Red state was good too. But its so far out of the wheelhouse that it didn't feel like a Kevin Smith flick

[@user-tr9nj6ki8u]

Red state was awesome. So was tusk.

[@carrottoponcrak]

@@user-tr9nj6ki8u Tusk is his only film I can't stand watching

[@danielosetromera2090]

I prefer Mallrats over Clerks, and by a wide margin.

[@Dr.MantisTobogganMD]

Why do you prefer Mallrats over Clerks? *I’m genuinely curious and agree in some ways.*

[@Mamoswine-s]

@@Dr.MantisTobogganMDi’ve never seem clerks but i’m sure it’s just want people wanted, sequels are usually and extremely more creative/take more risks which is why some and it’s an exclusive club i know and i’m sure they’re not related at all but clerks in short just seems more catered to casual

[@JohnnyRocketsish]

Brodie’s personality didn’t change but he definitely had an arc. He went from being a lazy mallrat to someone with his own show/career and his inner fear of his mother was squashed when he introduced Rene to his mother ( said only in the last words at the end on screen )

[@Jefff72]

The problem with the initial release is that I never heard about it and therefore never got a chance to go see it. So, later when I watched it on my friends VCR, I was laughing my ass off. Without Jay, no one would have given us "snootchie bootchies"

[@GullibleMcFly]

Mallrats was practically Jason Lee's audition tape for Fletch Won. Such a shame Smith & Lee never got that off the ground.

[@wlouisharris]

I remember seeing Mallrats not too long after it came out on VHS. I loved it immediately; more than Clerks. The cast was great; Claire Forlane was hot; Jay& Silent Bob were hilarious. I wish there were more directors like Kevin Smith with totally original and creative ideas.

[@snowrs1]

I have passed on my love of View Askew to the next generation, my daughter know the Jay and Silent Bob soundtrack forward and back. Along with quoting Mallrats and Clerks.

[@thatmrlanphear]

The bleeping is incredibly distracting.

[@davidk5093]

Only 131 likes for the man who came up with Clerks, Jay and silent Bob and mall rats. -Clerks should be the training video for 7-Eleven and gas station cashiers.

[@mikemc5221]

Kevin Smith is in good company. Keep in mind that John Carpenter thing flopped at the theater as well and it’s in my opinion one of the best horror movies ever made. It is now considered a classic much like this movie.

[@mikemc5221]

Mallrats was and is still great.

[@tinajeppesen5948]

I grew up hanging out at Eden prairie center the mall used in the movie, literally a mall rat. Then when I was older & didnt hang out at the mall as much (unless I was literally shopping) but before I did start “hanging out “ again with my kids (at the same mall lots of times:) there was a time in between my early- mid 20s I was an extra in this movie. $5 an hour brought sleeping bags overnite to stay in an empty store & be called in for scenes. Didn’t even realize who Kevin was at this time but saw him. Definitely remember seeing Shannen Dougherty tho! As this was around the time 90210 was the hottest thing on tv every week! She was tiny!

[@user-tr9nj6ki8u]

Interesting af to hear about what it was actually like to go from clerk to Clerks.

[@Craig_Montalbano]

Wish I was alive so I could have seen it in theaters

[@omegaswiper]

Snyder and Smith need to make the next two Justice League films.

[@MrGMovieReviews]

Who auditioned for Brody that just missed out?

[@knowthycell]

He says that everyone auditioned for TS and his girl, and they basically filled Brodys role from a Jason Lee TS audition.

[@MrGMovieReviews]

@@knowthycell I already know this, but he never specifically said who missed out on Brody, but he did explain in this video there WAS A GUY WHO NEARLY HAD IT

[@knowthycell]

Oh okay. I guess I’m less than zero help. Yeah that sucks he just skimmed over it.

[@MrGMovieReviews]

@@knowthycell didn't wanna embarrass the guy

[@kevinw712]

I don't remember from where exactly I got this, except to say I DO remember thinking for awhile a long time ago that I'd felt pretty confident that the info I was aware of was indeed the truth (it might've come from networking with various other production people, I worked in LA on a bunch of different shoots from 1998 to 2003). Anyway, so to the best of my recollection it was the one actor from the sitcom "Two Guys, A Girl & A Pizza Place" whose name ISN'T Ryan Reynolds. The second of the two titular guys.

[@RustyRagesRegularly]

Forgot to bleep out some F bombs lol

[@dwightjohnson6674]

He Man cool God bless love Dwight 👍

[@robzilla730]

Comic book culture was around in 95. Remember Wizard magazine?

[@mickmartin4681]

Make "MALLRATS 2: THE BIG F-U"

[@HerenowGoneforever]

That guy dont let anyone else talk

[@PozerAdultRacingTeam]

Jay and Silent Bob steal this movie.

[@AmerichCalhoun]

0:21 The last words the other guy will probably get to say. Kevin Smith is still entertaining to listen to though, so there’s that.

[@Murph_.]

I saw Mallrats in the theater. I loved the movie. The problem with the movie was that it was about comic book culture. Comic book people didn't like that you make fun of some things. It has Stan Lee, which will get comic book guys in. But, women won't like it, the majority of people won't like it when it came out. Comic book culture has become much more popular with Comic Cons, with anime and Japanese manga, and finally all the superhero movies and Marvel universe movies that came out. At the time, it wasn't a viable idea. Now, like Kevin says, it is. In my view, the movie is about other things as well and that is really what makes it great... but when it came out people thought comic culture first. When I first saw Joey, by the way, I thought she was Renee Zellweger, hahaha.

[@dwightjohnson6674]

Mester of the Universe Revolution days come on okay love Dwight 👍

[@LumenateTV]

did they have to make the bleeps so fuckin' loud?

[@MrGMovieReviews]

Zack Morris wanted to be Jay.

[@dwightjohnson6674]

Master. Of the Universe Revolution days be on l be nice about the mester of the Universe Revolution. Soo okay love Dwight 👍 God bless okay we. Have the power back. Love Dwiight 👍👍

[@dwightjohnson6674]

Yes I'm by okay love Dwight o

[@JoshBransonPhoto]

44:34 missed some.

[@omegaswiper]

He is going through what Snyders film did they are really good but the audience has yet to accept them and now they do. I am loving the Snyder films now in a way I didnt like back in 2012.

[@TonyFromSyracuse101]

Meh, it should have been a masterpiece like clerks because the concept seems like the natural progression....kids my age and Kevins, hanging out at the mall was a big part of our lives. hanging at the food courts, seeing movies, meeting girls, standing by the outside doors smoking and chatting, killing time on wintry days....so much gold there, and yet it just didnt connect.....for me at least. I knew right near the beginning when Jay sort of redid his dance routine it was going to be a lackluster ride.

[@myztik5716]

44:34 missed a couple :)

[@knowthycell]

Bleeping greenlight

[@johnkeating1497]

I liked that clown grape 🍇 movie lol do a sequel to that one dude from clerks getting grapes by clowns rules Dante was asking for it .. look at what he was wearing for Christ sakes 😂 I’m a church going man and even I couldn’t help from sinful thoughts of Dante in that movie

[@johnkeating1497]

Critics didn’t like it because they are nerds that didn’t understand the cool nerds

[@danielpratt237]

It’s kinda funny how there is no mention of Jeremy London, Claire Forlani, and Michael Rooker, the three of which were the characters driving the actual plot of the movie in the form of the game show.

[@omegaswiper]

Call the movie The Pizza Party

[@mrhippo2874]

~11:!5, Does that mean Mallrats is his Empire?

[@johnkeating1497]

Chasing Amy blows worst movie I ever fell asleep too lol 😂

[@omegaswiper]

Wow Something about Mary stole Mallrats splooge thing

[@PrecambrianLullaby]

1:09:53 . . . you are slipping, old man. heh. you should be MORE cussy.

[@dietcoke5628]

27:53

20:00

[@claycollins9852]

This guy has made a lot of crap. But Mallrats was not one of them. His best movie.

[@dietcoke5628]

38:13

[@Joker_JAK]

Mallrats is my favorite Viewaskewniverse film. I love them all, but Mallrats is my favorite.

[@johnkeating1497]

Mall rats I don’t need it Kevin but it is your best movie .. clerks the first movie second best and any movie you made after that sucked balls … ok Dogma third best give you the thumbs up on that … Jay and silent Bob strike back ok 4th best lol that movie was ahead of it’s time lol 😂

[@takerdust]

@ shows how Scientology connections helped Jason Lee get the role (which he did a good job) Ribisi family are longtime Scientologists, and Jason Lee was a member since he was a teen. She also got Ethan (Scientologist) in.

[@johnkeating1497]

I’m going to watch vulgar right now 5th best movie Kevin ever made lol 😂 and then I’ll watch mall rats right after Kevin kevo Kevin ting ton weighs a ton kevo kevster the kevanater ok that’s a 1990s Saturday night live joke Rob Sneider only funny thing he ever did toodles noodles

[@shawnmicheal8]

Should have stopped at clerks 2 !!! My god the new shit suuuuuuuuuuuukkkkkksssssss

[@robertlust6234]

#trailerparkboyz @kevinsmith and #jasonmewes is better at directing than you. Lee Pico Needs to be in Jail I want the Plaque. you should see the Snyder cut #snydercut

[@kevinnevada5342]

Snoogeens 🙄😬✊🤘🤘🤘