The defence The Sentimental Softie
“Sincerity is not manipulation.”
The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.
Back to trending 
Mallrats
Romance · Comedy · 1995
Both dumped by their girlfriends, two best friends seek refuge in the local mall. Eventually, they decide to try and win back their significant others and take care of their respective nemeses.
Movie details
Mallrats
“They're not there to shop. They're not there to work. They're just there.”
1995 Romance · Comedy 1h 35m
Critical arithmetic
The consensus, allegedly.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
IMDb
7.0 / 10
130.5K votes
Rotten Tomatoes
58 %
Tomatometer
Metacritic
41 / 100
Metascore
TMDB
6.8 / 10
Community rating
External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.
Both dumped by their girlfriends, two best friends seek refuge in the local mall. Eventually, they decide to try and win back their significant others and take care of their respective nemeses.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Mallrats?
For the defence
The Sentimental Softie
“You came to feel something, and you will.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Cool Ironist
“Feeling things is a little embarrassing.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
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The Night Before
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The Lonely Guy
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Players
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Where it lives
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Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.
Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Kevin Smith
Written by
Kevin Smith
Jason Lee
Brodie
Jeremy London
T.S. Quint
Shannen Doherty
Rene
Claire Forlani
Brandi
Ben Affleck
Shannon
Joey Lauren Adams
Gwen
Renée Humphrey
Tricia
Court is in session
Put Mallrats on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Cool Ironist
“The strings are showing.”
Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.