Mallrats (DVD)

...on one disk as well. Mallrats has a deceptively simple plot, yes lots of things happen but really its just about both Brodie (Jason Lee) and T.S. (Jeremy London) being dumped by there girlfriends. Brodie (Jason Lee) is dumped because Rene (Shannon Doherty) gets bored with him constantly playing on his SEGA and T.S. is dumped by Brandi (Claire Forlani) after he inadvertently causes the death of a girl who is meant to be appearing on her father’s ...
...that many people think that Mallrats is Smith’s worst and it was universally panned by critics (Hell, Smith even apologised for), but its still miles ahead of any other comedies of the same era. Smith writes dialogue like no other director can, adding in pop culture references and foul language to make his characters more real than the usual teen comedy and making them very believable. The dialogue sometimes sounds scripted, but that’s ... more

Brodie: Listen, not a year goes by, not a year, that I don't hear about some escalator accident involving some b*****d kid which could have easily been avoided had some parent, I don't care which one, but some parent conditioned him to fear and respect that escalator!

Brodie: You f**kers think just because a guy reads comics he can't start some s**t!?

Barely do you get a disk that shows off the true power of DVD than Mallrats, Universal have made one of the best DVDs ever here and its all fits on one disk as well. Mallrats has a deceptively simple plot, yes lots of things happen but really its just about both Brodie (Jason Lee) and T.S. (Jeremy London) being dumped by there girlfriends. Brodie (Jason Lee) is dumped because Rene (Shannon Doherty) gets bored with him constantly playing on his SEGA and T.S. is dumped by Brandi (Claire Forlani) after he inadvertently causes the death of a girl who is meant to be appearing on her father’s game show and now she must take her place. This pleases Brandi’s father (Michael Rooker) a lot as he has never liked T.S.

To try and take their mind off their troubles Brodie suggests they take a trip to the mall, here they bump into a whole bunch of colourful and amusing characters, such as Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith). Others that they meet include Walt Flanagan and Steve Dave, two comic store owners, Trish the Dish, a 15-year old who is writing a book on sex with a $50,000 backing and Stan Lee, the Marvel Comics man himself. Once Brodie and T.S. realise that Rene and Brandi are in the mall as well, they set out to get their respective girlfriends back by enlisting the help of Jay and Silent Bob to help sabotage Mr. Svenning’s game show, which is being filmed from the mall.

While the plot is very linear and easy to follow, its Smiths skill of writing great and witty dialogue that pushes the film along, as well as the great chemistry between the stars, especially leads Lee and London. Its true that many people think that Mallrats is Smith’s worst and it was universally panned by critics (Hell, Smith even apologised for), but its still miles ahead of any other comedies of the same era. Smith writes dialogue like no other director can, adding in pop culture references and foul language to make his characters more real than the usual teen comedy and making them very believable. The dialogue sometimes sounds scripted, but that’s more down to Jeremy London stumbling on some of the more difficult dialogue scenes, but mostly what is said by the characters in Mallrats sounds realistic and reflect what most of us would say in the same situations (though I doubt many of us would ever get into these situations).

Mallrats was Smiths second film and many thought he had sold out with this studio-produced film with a budget much larger than both Clerks and Chasing Amy put together. It is also noted that while Clerks and Chasing Amy have there serious moments (especially Chasing Amy) there are no such moments in Mallrats, its basically all comedy, mostly silly but very fun. How many other films have the Easter bunny getting beaten up by two drug dealers, have one character doing little other than staring at a magic eye picture the entire film or have one character dressing up as Batman complete with the utility belt, while this is all silly, it was fun and that was obviously Smiths intention here. We can all work out that Brodie and TS are named after characters from Jaws and laugh when Silent Bob tries the Jedi mind trick.

Smith admits himself that his films lack visual style (Affleck quotes that there are more camera angles and trick used in the first 10 seconds of Armageddon than in all of Smiths movies combined), he tried to correct this with Dogma, but here in Mallrats we get a nice looking set with some good set pieces and camera work. In Mallrats we have some crane shots and a nice spinning 360-degree shot around Jason Lee when he first enters the mall. We also have very bright colours around the mall that are used to great effect in the film.

But a film is nothing, even with a great script, without good performance and that is what we get in Mallrats, great performances. If I could be any actor working today I would have to pick Jason Lee, his effortless cool and clam performances are superb, the way he perfectly delivers his dialogue and of course he way he explodes into anger in split seconds. This is Lee first major acting role, having been a professional skateboarder beforehand, owing his own clothes range and having a pair of airwalk trainers named after him. Its hard to believe he hasn’t acted before as he is so perfect in the role and after watching his film I bet every male would want him as their friend. Here he delivers a tour-de-force performance as Brodie, the ultimate slacker and delivers Smith’s rapid-fire dialogue like no one else can. He is also superb in other films such as Chasing Amy, A Better Place, The Drawing Files, Mumford, Almost Famous and Enemy of the State. Its just a pity that the lead twosome is let down slightly by Jeremy London, the ‘Star of TV’s Party of Five’ (as stated on the audio commentary) seems stiff and trips up on a lot of the dialogue, especially in the fast returns between him and Lee.

Shannon Doherty is surprisingly decent in her role as Rene, I didn’t like Beverly Hill 90210 and I have never been a fan of her, but here she gives a very competent performance and really shines when Rene needs to get bitchy with Brodie. Claire Forlani is good enough for the role of Brandi and does a good job but with the exception of Lee the real stars of the show are Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith as Jay and Silent Bob. This film was written with them as major plays and I’m looking forward to there star showing in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, which I meant to be the last in the New Jersey set of Films and sadly the last to feature Jay and Silent Bob, but as Jason Lee posted to the viewaskew newsgroup the other day, Kevin wont kill of Jay and Silent Bob, he loves them too much and they will be back. Michael Rooker is good as Brandi’s dad and is as far away from Henrey: Portrait of a Serial Killer its hard to believe it’s the same person. Ben Affleck has a small role in the film as the mall bully who is after Rene. In a cameo appearance, Stan Lee is very good, delivering his lines accurately and with true feeling. Granted, he’s playing himself, but he still does a better job than Jeremy London. There is also a neat cameo by Brian O’Halloran of Clerks, playing Gil Hicks, the cousin of his character from that movie. Im a big fan of Brian O’Halloran, even more so after watching the Clerks – Animtaed series in which he is amazingly funny in both the show and the audio commentary, kudos must also go to Jeff Anderson, who returns in the cartoon as Randal, and is also great.

Mallrats is presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio that is enhanced for 16x9 TVs, the picture quality is clear and crisp without any obvious scratches or grain. When the picture looks strong I found it excellent - colours are very strong, and this is a picture that contains some vivid colours that show up quite well and black level is definitely strong. Mallrats is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround, and the soundtrack is made up of a number of rock songs, which come across nicely, dialogue is always clear and natural. Some fairly nice animated menus that have either slight animation during the main menu, or scenes playing during one of the sub-menus and again, Universal adds their little odd logos during the menu to tell viewers what all the buttons do and even have a help menu to tell you what all the symbols mean.

As with all of Smiths films, the DVD comes feature packed (forgot that original Dogma release, the special edition is on the way). We have heard about the last minute changes that were made in Mallrats and how an entire sequence was dropped from the beginning to shorten the running time. At last, we can view that footage and much more in the nearly one hour of deleted scenes included on the disc. Included here is the 20 minute original opening which was dropped, and many smaller scenes which referred back to that opening which had to be replaced. The original opening was dropped due to a poor response at a test screening, and for once, I agree with the test audience. I think that the movie plays better as it was released. However, seeing these lost scenes and hearing Kevin Smith introduce them, gives us insight into the filmmaking process and how something can seem funny on paper and not work once it’s on the screen. It’s great to view these scenes and understand the evolution of Mallrats. These scenes are not as funny as the deleted scenes from Chasing Amy however, ‘Like my grandmother always said, if you cant beat them, throw a garbage can through their window’.

The original opening had T.S. taking part in a play dressing as a soldier with a gun, the play was taking part at a lunch organised by Brandi’s father for the governor of New Jersey so he can try and get her backing for the show. T.S. goes to find Brandi on the roof top where she is working with her telescope, the governors security guards mistake T.S. and his gun for a sniper and this leads to the Governor being taken to hospital and Brandi’s father not getting the money.

Another is Tricia Jones flirting and having sex with the security guard, La Fours. This explains the final segment in the 'where are they now' ending sequence, showing La Fours looking lovingly at Tricia during the book signing. Again the DVD also features an alternate take of the video of Tricia Jones (Rene Humphrey) and Shannen Hamilton (Ben Affleck) having sex shown after the game show. This version shows Ben Affleck in a dress

Along with the deleted scenes, there is a 20-minute making of, which is one of the best I’ve ever seen. Sure, there is the typical behind-the-scenes footage, but we also get Smith and the cast telling it like it is. Brutally honest and very raw, this group describes the making of the film, the problems with marketing, the critical backlash, and the ultimate box-office failure of the film. It’s nice to see filmmakers and actors being honest and having fun. Especially Ben Affleck’s comments are funny and we find out that Universal didn’t want Jason Mewes to be in the film and got Breckin Meyers and Seth Green to audition for the part, but Smith convinced them to go with Mewes, but they wouldn’t pay any of his expenses.

We also have the audio commentary with Smith, Ben Affleck, Jason Lee, Jason Mewes, Scott Mosier and Vincent Pereira. I can now officially inform you that the funniest audio commentaries are by William Lustig, Tom Savini, Sam Riami, Bruce Campbell and here at the viewaskew stable. As with the making of, the commentary is raw and honest, and also very funny, these guys never hold back when talking about problems and people they don’t like. The commentary is where we really get the full story on how Universal took control of the film and demanded a large number of changes. The commentary was video taped and at certain times during the film, you can watch the "live" commentary by using the DVD players angle function. While this is a neat feature, it’s odd that only certain parts can be watched. A Mallrats logo shows up in the bottom right corner of the screen to inform the viewer that the angle function can be used to watch them chatting away, eating and drinking and generally ripping it out of Affleck (star if Phantoms).

The DVD also contains cast and crew bios, detailed production notes, which are the exact same ones printed in the DVD booklet, and production photographs. There is also a music video by the band The Goops (build me up buttercup) that was directed by Smith. This video is funny, but weird, as it just features Jay and Silent Bob running around a totally white soundstage. It must be the cheapest music video ever, if not the funniest. There is also an easter eggs which is simply Kevin Smith telling you to get a life and stop looking for easter eggs.

So go on and buy the DVD and become part of the Dooyoo mass that I have converted. And once and for all Mallrats is good, damn you!!! (Chasing Amy audio commentary joke).  

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