Gotta disagree with you there. While Brawl is a solid 7/10 game depending on my mood, and while you don't have to put a gun to my head to get me to say Melee is definitely the better game, one of Brawl's redeeming features is that it's still fun to play with other people.
One of the main reasons I'd rather play Brawl than Melee is the roster. Lucky me I don't give a flying fuck about the characters that got nerfed unless I'm playing joke 4x Falcon/Gan-O matches, so what I'm left with is a large assortment of unique movesets I find fun to play. Especially if I play online (unfortunately rare) I can choose a different character of the 15-18 I like to play and still have fun. As I said previously, I don't really play competitively so it's not cramping my style to change things up often.
If I'm able to play against people in the same room, I find Brawl a lot more fun than Melee. Not better, but more fun. You'd think "better" and "more fun" are one in the same, but keep in mind as someone that doesn't go to tourneys and enjoys both ordinary/serious matches as well as lulz matches, having Brawl's much wider array of options gives me more to have fun with.
That said, outside of lulz matches I play with all items turned off, and if we play online I'd prefer not using them then, either. I'd also want to reach a consensus on levels no one will pick.