Set in the same universe as “Clerks”, “Mallrats” is a disappointment as it seems far too content providing us with merely vulgar humour instead of witty vulgar humour. It has a few moments here and there but it lacks the realism of “Clerks”.

Brodie (Jason Lee “Vanilla Sky”) and T.S. (Jeremy London) are struggling with their love lives so they decide to hang out in the local shopping centre. They meet some very crazy characters and get into all sorts of trouble as they hope to find a way to win back their girlfriends (Shannen Doherty “Almost Dead”, Claire Forlani “Meet Joe Black”).

The Brodie and T.S. characters fail to have quite the same impact as the two leads in “Clerks” as they’re nowhere near as plausible and that’s a shame because they aren’t bad. Shannen Doherty is pretty good as Rene and Claire Forlani is decent as Brandi. Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith return as Jay and Silent Bob and they’re marginally amusing here. Ben Affleck (“Gone Girl”) and Michael Rooker (“Cliffhanger”) play the villains and they’re disappointing. The cameo by legendary comic book creator Stan Lee is underwhelming. The topless fortune teller is not remotely funny and relies solely on her anatomy to get a laugh.

“Mallrats” has a few good gags here and there but the sex jokes and the toilet humour are just too crude and too lacking in intelligence to make the movie work. Those that want a movie with dirty jokes and a bit of nudity then look no further than “Mallrats” but I think most people won’t need to bother with this. The movie is not as realistic as “Clerks” and not as ridiculous as “Dogma” but if you’re a big fan of Kevin Smith’s movies then you’ll probably want to check this one out anyway.