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Feb 13, 2021

"Mall Rats": Not as Homophobic as You Think



 

For movie night this week, we saw Mallrats (1995), the second movie set in Kevin Smith's View Askew universe.  I wasn't pleased with it -- too many gross-out moments, not enough beefcake, a nonsensical plotline.  But at least there was a gay connection.

The plot:

College student T.S. Quint (former teen idol Jeremy London) gets angry because his girlfriend Brandi has agreed to appear on her father's dating program (Dad, played by Michael Rooker, gives us some nice chest and butt shots, but I think they are supposed to be gross-out moments).  So they break up.

Meanwhile, slacker Brodie (Jason Lee, about ten years before My Name is Earl) gets dumped by his girlfriend Rene because...well, he's a slacker. 




She immediately starts dating Shannon (Ben Affleck), who works at a high-end men's clothing store at the mall.

The duo descend upon the mall for a day of set-pieces and interactions with mall regulars, including Jay and Silent Bob, the dimwitted Willem, and Stan Lee of comic book fame.  Their main goal is to sabotage the dating program, which will be filmed live at the mall, by causing the stage to collapse.  Instead they compete on the dating game and convince their respective girlfriends to take them back.

The gross-outs:

Fast-forward past the opening credits -- five minutes of boobs! boobs! boobs! 

A five minute scene with a "topless psychic." Otherwise the women in this movie are tastefully clothed.

Scenes involving farting, sticking your hand up your butt and then shaking hands with someone else, and impled coprophagia.

A fifteen-year old girl is doing a research project where she has sex with a lot of guys, aged 14 to 30, and evaluates their prowess.


The gay connections:

Male duos are told "You like each other so much, why don't you date?"  Twice.  As a joke, but still...

Jay and Silent Bob hug, and I think there's a kiss on the cheek.

During the dating game, a question comes up about kissing.  Contestant 2 (Brodie) tells Contestant 3 (played by Brian O'Halloran), "I've seen you kiss.  Some dude backstage.  He seemed to be into it."  

Contestant 3 protests that he is not gay.  Brodie responds: "See how upset he got?  He's homophobic!"  

Contestant 3 protests again: "I don't hate gay people."  Brodie counters: "Ok, so you love gay people." It goes on like that for awhile.

Jay and Silent Bob are known for their homophobia, but in this movie they are "silent."  However, there's a final homophobic joke: Shannon sent to prison for having sex with the15-year old girl ("she told me she was 31!"), gets a "boyfriend."

See also: Jay and Silent Bob are Gay-PositiveMy Name is Earl

4 comments:

  1. Never really understood what others see in/on Zac Efron... 😏

    I don't remember he ever really acted well or looked good (but, guess that's just a matter of taste) 🤷‍♂️

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  2. Smith's gayest movie is "Chasing Amy" which hints at a possible bisexual threeway...isn't this the one which ends with Ben getting a boyfriend in prison?

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    Replies
    1. Yes, Shannon is played by Ben Affleck. But it's actually a rape, presented humorously with his hand on the bars of a prison cell, and another hand closes over it.

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    2. Yeah. "Hints". (The resolution proposes a bisexual threesome, which the girl who is not Amy rejects because she's done with the spicy life and just wants vanilla.)

      Man, this feels overly 90s. I was actually just thinking about how terfs really are all of this same generation. (Not trans, just something I've noticed.)

      Delete

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