Mallrats (1995)

Mallrats is a 1995 film written and directed by Kevin Smith. It is the second to be set in Smith's View Askewniverse series of interlocking films set mostly in New Jersey, although the movie was filmed in Eden Prairie Center and Osowski's Flea Market which are located in Minnesota. As in the other View Askewniverse movies, the characters Jay and Silent Bob figure prominently, and characters and events from other films are discussed. Several cast members, including Jason Lee, Ben Affleck, and Joey Lauren Adams, have gone on to work in several other Smith films. Comic book icon Stan Lee made a cameo appearance, as did Brian O'Halloran, the star of Smith's breakout feature Clerks.

The movie takes place a day before Clerks (April 14th, 1994). T.S. Quint (Jeremy London) is preparing for a trip to Universal Studios Florida with his girlfriend Brandi Svenning (Claire Forlani), during which he plans to propose to her; however, the two have an argument and break up after Brandi tells him she can't go because she's volunteered to fill in as a contestant on Truth or Date, her dad's "cheesy Dating Game rip-off" TV show. T.S. turns to his comic book-loving best friend Brodie Bruce (Jason Lee), who has also broken up with his girlfriend, Rene Mosier (Shannen Doherty), and Brodie suggests the two might find solace at the local mall. Brodie and T.S. discover Truth or Date is shooting at the same mall, and ask local drug dealers Jay and Silent Bob (Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith) to destroy the show's stage (which they admit they were going to do anyway), a task for which they devise elaborate but ultimately unsuccessful plans. Brodie also finds out Rene is being pursued by his nemesis Shannon Hamilton (Ben Affleck), a clothing store manager who hates Brodie because of his "lack of a shopping agenda," and has nefarious plans for Rene, intending to seduce her and then have sex with her "in a very uncomfortable place"; a running joke is that this is interpreted as the "back of a Volkswagen". Between seeking romantic advice from Stan Lee and debating such topics as the sexual proclivities of comic book characters and the status of a cookie stand located outside the official food court, the two run into various acquaintances, including Tricia Jones, a sex researcher who happens to be a minor, and Willam, who spends all day trying to see the hidden image of a sailboat in a Magic Eye autostereogram poster. They also run afoul of Brandi's father, Jared Svenning (Michael Rooker), who has the mall security guard La Fours (Sven-Ole Thorsen) plant marijuana on their persons so they can be arrested. In addition to helping them escape, Jay and Silent Bob get two of the game show contestants stoned, allowing T.S. and Brodie to replace them on Truth or Date and woo back their respective exes. As the police are coming to arrest T.S. and Brodie after the show is over, Silent Bob plays a sex tape of Shannon and Tricia, which lands Shannon in jail. In the end, T.S. marries Brandi, while the show's producers are so impressed with Brodie's stage banter that they offer him his own talk show, with Rene as his bandleader.