Mallrats

Summary

“You stink palm him…”

I remember that in the early Nineties every thing that Miramar touched seemed to turn to gold. Their poster children from the independent revolution were filmmakers Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, and a guy from New Jersey named Kevin Smith who made his debut film for Less than $30,000 in Black and White which turned a handsome profit by doing over $3 million at the box office. Seeing potential in the young filmmaker, Gramercy Pictures offered Kevin Smith the opportunity to make his first studio film on a budget of $5 million. The film was Mallrats. It managed to play for about a week before theaters dumped it and lost the studios a few million quickly. Critics hated the film and audiences shrugged as it quickly disappeared from cineplexes. Over the last twenty five years, the film’s status has been continuously reappraised as the film aired repeatedly on Cable and sold well on every format since VHS. Aided by the solid performance of both Chasing Amy and Dogma, Mallrats managed to be discovered by the generations that followed after and has become one of Kevin Smith’s best loved films. Arrow Video has given fans of the film a definitive Collector’s Edition.

As the movie begins, Brandy (Claire Forlani) gets into an argument with her boyfriend TS (Jeremy London) when she attempts to postpone their trip to Florida. Her father (Michael Rooker) hates TS and has a game show that is in need of a contestant. The original contestant has unexpectedly died. Brandy wants to stay in town for one extra day to help her father out, unaware that TS had planned to propose to her at the Jaws ride at Universal Studios. When TS is not understanding of the situation, she dumps him for being selfish. Across town, Rene (Shannon Doherty) dumps Brody because he has not taken the time to introduce her to his mother. TS comes over to see Brody, and they both decide the only thing to do is go to the local mall. Their former girlfriends are also at the mall. They find out that the game show is occurring there. Inside the mall they interact with Jay and Silent Bob (Jason Mewes) who agree to help them sabotage the game show. Meanwhile, Renee has started talking to the jerk from Fashionable Male (Ben Affleck.) Over the course of one crazy day at the mall, they try to win their girlfriends back.

Like many others, I was first enamored with Kevin Smith’s filmmaking when I saw Chasing Amy. I enjoyed that movie so I went back and watched Mallrats. At the time, I remember liking it but even then thinking that the film had some fundamental problems. Watching the film now, I think my original assessment was pretty close to what I feel now. Watching the film now, I remembered back to how I felt so excited that comic book culture was receiving some form of celebration on film. Growing up, I was an avid comic book reader. I loved all of the references Kevin Smith made to that culture. This was back in the days of Wizard Magazine and comic book cards. For me, this was a golden age. Revisiting the film, it is amazing that it is no longer strange to be a fan of comic books or know tons of information about Marvel Comics. As Kevin Smith mentions in his introduction to the film, the world eventually caught up to the world of Mallrats. This means that the special feeling of exclusivity I felt back then has been replaced by a feeling of warm nostalgia for those times. It’s a good feeling. The soundtrack features Silverchair, Sublime, Wax, Belly, and Weezer which also takes me back to those days. 

So – let’s get back to the issues with the film. As I felt back then, the writing of the film is looser than some of Smith’s best work. Some of the jokes simply fall flat. The script has some great stuff in it but it is not without some weak moments. The other gripe regards some of the acting in the film. Jason Lee is perfectly cast in the film as Brody, but it is obvious that he is still becoming comfortable as an actor. The performance is likable, but parts of it come off a little wooden. In fact, this is the single biggest issue with the film. Many of the performances come off as slightly wooden or unbelievable. I think that this is what hurt the film the most with critics when it was first released. I don’t want this to come off as overly harsh because the performances are still likable. Stan Lee’s cameo in the film is still amazing. It was also nice to see Joey Lauren Adams and Ben Affleck in small but important roles.

Where I land on Mallrats personally is that I like the movie but it wasn’t ever my favorite Kevin Smith film. I think it is wonderful that Arrow Video has given the fans of the film a truly spectacular set to celebrate its twenty fifth anniversary. As a nice nostalgic romp through simpler times, it has aged pretty well. Any film that ends with Weezer’s song “Suzanne” playing before the credits is going to gain my approval.

Video

Mallrats comes back to Blu-Ray with a brand new 4K transfer from Arrow Video that looks pretty great. From the liner notes:

“Mallrats has been exclusively restored by Arrow FIlms and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with 5.1 audio. The original 35mm camera negative was scanned in 4K resolution at NBC Universal’s Studio Post facility. A 35mm interpositive element was also scanned in 4K for the content unique to the Director’s Cut version. The film was graded and restored at R3Store Studios in London. This restoration has been approved by Director Kevin Smith and Director of Photography David Klein. All materials for this restoration were made available by NBC Universal.”

Honestly this title had me torn on whether or not to give it a perfect video rating, because this is a perfect presentation of the film. The movie’s cinematography is pretty flat so I was torn on giving a video presentation a perfect rating when it is not exactly a visually striking affair. For what Arrow is presenting, I can not think of any way the presentation could be better, so I decided to award it with a perfect video rating. Grain is incredibly fine and fine detail is excellent. Colors are true to the source and the print is in great shape.

Audio

Similar to the video, the audio presentation on Mallrats is very well done. The English DTS-HD MA 5.1 track sounds very good. The soundtrack featuring Silverchair, Sublime, Wax, Belly, and Weezer still sounds great. Dialogue is clear and I did not detect any noticeable drops in quality.

Supplements:

Disc One

• Theatrical Cut (1:34:45)
• Introduction by Kevin Smith – in this new introduction by the film’s director, Kevin Smith does an excellent job of discussing the failure and eventual rise of the film’s status. His argument that the world of today better reflects the ideas in the movie is a pretty solid argument.
• Cast and Crew Commentary – director Kevin Smith, producer Scott Mosier, archivist Vincent Pereira, and actors Jason Lee, Ben Affleck and Jason Mewes.
• My Mallrat Memories – Kevin Smith discusses at length working on the film and the ways in which the film has impacted his life. Fans of the film will love this piece.
• My Mallrats: A Tribute to Jim Jacks – Kevin Smith again gives a very sweet tribute to producer Jim Jacks.
• Blunt Talk – actor Jason Mewes discusses how Mallrats set up his career to become an actor and how working on the film was the most special project for him.
• Hollywood of the North – an animated special feature with Minnesota crew members who worked on the film.
• When We Were Punks – an interview with Director of Photography David Klein.
• Deleted Scenes 
• Outtakes and Behind the Scenes Footage
• Cast Interviews from the Original Set
• Erection of an Epic: The Making of Mallrats – an archival retrospective made for the 10th anniversary DVD set.
• Q & A with Kevin Smith – an archival Q & A done for the film’s 10th anniversary.
• Build Me Up Buttercup Music Video
• Trailer

Disc Two

• Extended Cut (2:01:50)
• Introduction by Kevin Smith – an archival introduction featuring producer Scott Mosier where they discuss how unnecessary it was to make an extended cut of the film and why they consider the definitive version the theatrical cut.
• TV Cut (1080p; 1:25:31)
• Introduction by Kevin Smith 
• Soundtrack EPK
• Dailies
• Stills Galleries

Overall Scores:

Video – 5/5

Audio – 4.5/5

Supplements – 5/5

Overall – 4.5/5

Mallrats was absolutely eviscerated critically and commercially when it was released in the theaters in 1995. While it was a failure at the time, after Kevin Smith’s successful films Chasing Amy and Dogma, Mallrats began to develop a cult following. It has become one of Kevin Smith’s most loved films. For myself, I liked it then and I like it now, but I don’t love it. The same problems that I recognized then are still apparent, but it did not stop me from enjoying the movie. The sense of nostalgia that the film gives me now is hard to describe, but kids who grew up into comic books will know what I am talking about. I applaud Arrow for their efforts here. The transfer looks fantastic and the incredibly robust selection of supplementary features are top notch. For newcomers to the film, they may want to consider renting the movie prior to a purchase. For fans, this Collector’s Edition is an essential purchase.