Mallrats (2007, HD DVD)

This has seriously got to stop, people. It's an insult to a hard-working consumer like me, who loves watching movies on DVD and loves to write about movies he saw on DVD. I'm talking about Universal Home Entertainment's never-ending double-dipping blow-out, which has become such a nuisance that I feel like skeet shooting some shiny plastic just to let off steam.

For the past few years, nearly all of the movies Universal have already released on DVD have been trotted out for recent "upgrades" that have been met with mixed results. For instance, there are DVDs that improve upon what was seen in other "Collector's Editions," the best examples being the deluxe edition of Jaws and the anniversary re-release of Brian De Palma's Scarface, which bettered the original DVD release in virtually every aspect. There were some good titles well worth revisiting, especially Animal House and To Kill a Mockingbird, and their respective DVDs weren't quite as disappointing as I thought they'd be. But speak of the devil, most of these new upgrades have me putting out cigarettes on the discs out of sheer frustration.

I suppose that if you liked Half-Baked, the DVD double-dip was something you could appreciate on the bong, but even if I was, I would've thought the newly-produced special features were a humongous waste of time. Even the recent Blues Brothers: 25th Anniversary Edition package was a let-down in terms of providing long-term fans anything worthy in the realm of exclusive special features. The list goes on, with such titles as The Deer Hunter, Dazed and Confused, The Jerk, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and all three of John Hughes mid-1980s teen movies proving wasted efforts in trying to appeal to the digital world the second time around. I don't tend to use the word "slapdash" a lot, but whenever I think of Universal's track record, I'd rather use a much a harsher description.

Slapdash is a term more apt for something like MALLRATS (Universal/Gramercy Pictures; rated R for strong language, including sexual dialogue, and for some scenes of sexuality and drug content; 96 mins./123 mins.; released theatrically on Oct. 20, 1995), the latest entry in Universal's special edition packages. The original DVD release most likely introduced a whole new generation of View Askew-files to a movie that was heinously accepted by critics and audiences in America. That was mainly because director Kevin Smith had just come off his indie debut, the immortal black-and-white comedy Clerks, and he was lauded much the same way Tarantino and Rodriguez were when they released Reservoir Dogs and El Mariachi. Clerks was a vulgar masterpiece, a shoestring-budgeted guerilla project that had a successful laugh-per-minute ratio as well as an observational quality to it that retail representatives everywhere must have nodded their heads to. It was full of sexual dialogue and outrageous humor, and it was purely fun enough to visit multiple times on cable and DVD.

MALLRATS was Kevin Smith's first fully-financed, major label-supported feature film, which meant that Smith had to pull his punches. Shying away from the graphic NC-17 language of his first film and working with a fresh-faced young cast as well as a plotted script, this was Smith's stab at a teen comedy, R-rated and ribald, but still juvenile in spirit. And nobody cared when it came out, leaving Smith to bite his lip and soldier on with Chasing Amy, which was more in tone with the spirit of Clerks than MALLRATS. 10 years later, it's already time to provide a new "Collector's Edition" DVD to supplant the now out-of-print original DVD. But is it worth picking up with clean hands instead of a stink palm? I'll decide.

The movie is a simple premise: two young couples separate and the boys try to get the girls back by their side, all around the backdrop of the neighborhood shopping Mecca. T.S. Quint (Jeremy London, TV's Party of Five) is a directionless young man who has the hots for Brandi Svenning (Claire Forlani, The Medallion), but she would rather commit to demands of her bigwig producer father, Jared (Michael Rooker, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer), who wants her to appear on his dating game. T.S. and Brandi come undone, as do T.S.'s buddy Brodie Bruce (former Smith regular Jason Lee, in his film debut) and his lover Rene Mosier (Shannen Doherty, formerly on TV's Charmed). Brodie is a loser who lives in his mom's basement and plays Sega all day, which doesn't satisfy Rene all that much, thus she deep-sixes him for his arch enemy, Shannon Hamilton (Ben Affleck, Jersey Girl), who works at the "Fashionable Male" stop at the mall.

Deciding to get off their butts and go down to the mall, where they love to hang out and eat cookies and talk about sex between superheroes, T.S. and Brodie decide they should reconcile their problems with their girlfriends even if it means having to crash on Jared's taping of his daughter's match-making stint. Along the way, they encounter a bunch of colorful characters, including William Black (Ethan Suplee, currently starring with Jason Lee on TV's My Name is Earl), an obese fella with a preoccupation for those "Magic Eye" paintings; Tricia Jones (Renee Humphrey, French Kiss), a young sex researcher; a triple-nippled psychic named Miss Ivannah (Priscilla Barnes, The Devil's Rejects); comic book maven Stan Lee; and, of course, Jay and Silent Bob (Jason Mewes and Smith): one's an obnoxious white boy, the other's a fat mute in a trench coat. They figure more here than in Clerks, mainly because they decide to help T.S. by trying desperately sabotaging the TV show.

Many people have accepted MALLRATS ever since they've had the chance to rediscover it, mainly perhaps out of appreciation for Smith's "Jersey Trilogy" (although it has branched into five movies). In fact, I have read reviews where people have given this the highest ratings imaginable. Now to me, these constitute as "mercy criticisms," because even though I can find positive aspects about this film, it's not on the level of any of the other movies Smith has made, although it may be more on the level with Jersey Girl. This mainly arises from the fact that this movie was made when Kevin Smith was given a budget and a fan base, and was sent out to make something. Unfortunately, MALLRATS is far too jumbled to be consistent.

For one thing, we start off with the characters. In the first film, we had followed basically two characters, one a neurotic convenience store clerk with girl trouble and the other a snappy video store salesman who was the loudmouth sidekick to the straight man behind the market counter. Smith wrote his dialogue with some hilarious exchanges between all characters, and the performances, while amateurish, helped to flesh out Smith's blunt, pointed comic thoughts to perfection. Unfortunately, making a mainstream teen flick in which you try to have your characters come-of-age is an impossible task unless you just happened to be John Hughes in 1983. T.S. and Brodie, and even their girlfriends, are mainly plot props and stick figures, and the dialogue would seem to be out of a bad romantic comedy, were it not for Smith's blue touch-ups. When Brodie comments that T.S. and Brandi are "retarded for each other," it's true not just because they're in love, but also because they both seem to be vague caricatures of older, better-written characters.

Brodie is mainly the only character who seems to actually speak sense, but even then he seems to be the amalgam of Dante and Randall, a dope too slow to realize his relationship issues but yet gifted with a reckless attitude for p*ssing off everyone. And although a lot of people have said that Jason Lee is too irritating, I would think that would somewhat be the point of the character. He is a brash lowlife, and Lee has a nice way of dealing with Kevin Smith's dialogue that works as well as when Brian O'Halloran (in bold because of two major cameo appearances in this movie) and Jeff Anderson took on the roles. Jason Lee is one of the better actors who deserves to get a swear in nearly every line, although hearing him curse does somewhat tire as the film goes on. Still, he breaths life into his character, and it's a good performance for this type of flick. And the mall setting is a character in it's own right, and in a way, MALLRATS kind of reminds me of Fast Times at Ridgemont High had they shot the whole thing inside the mall.

The dialogue of Kevin Smith is also something that has dipped in quality compared to the last film. When compared to Clerks, the witty banter in MALLRATS is too Tarantino for me to fathom. Since this was released in 1995, it means that this was a step backwards for Smith. Hearing a couple of characters argue about whether or not Lois Lane has a strong enough womb to bear Superman's baby is fine enough, but to me it's too much like hearing what the meaning of "Like A Virgin" was in the opening scene of Reservoir Dogs. Smith's sexual talk in Clerks, including the moments with Dante and Veronica, most infamously when Dante learns he's #37, was largely honest and barbed, reflecting real life with surprising accuracy, but hearing the things that come out of these characters, sexual talk is limited mostly to funny but overtly plain taunts and one-liners, especially in the case of Rene's dismissal of Brodie's package. The movie itself sacrifices a lot of potential for nice dialogue sequences so that Smith can instead string along various comic set pieces, such as when Jay and Silent Bob try in Wile E. Coyote cartoon-fashion to ruin the set (complete with hilarious blueprints) to when the Easter Bunny gets assaulted to when Brodie tries to talk to Rene in an elevator away from the sleazy Shannon. Although Smith succeeds with a lot of the episodic humor, I know one thing about how this guy has gotten a reaction out of me: he's made me put off chocolate-covered pretzels for the rest of my life.

So MALLRATS in a way tries to be a youthful romantic comedy, a Pauly Shore comedy, and a crude Farrelly Brothers comedy all in one, all the while trying to keep Smith's credibility in check. You can't juggle all this without one ore more ingredients falling on your face. And the mall culture is more of a chance for throw-it-against-the-wall humor than as a plane for real satire or introspection, with cheap jokes such as a carpet store named "Rug Munchers" and the appearance of Joey Lauren Adams as a friend of Brodie's who constantly visits the changing room at the fashion store, with Silent Bob continually flying through the wall to get a peep. Kevin Smith isn't much of a maverick director, limited to pointing and shooting, and each shot looks like it could be easily cropped for full-frame, making this movie seem more like something made-for-TV or like a sitcom in its execution. Clerks got off on this type of stylish passiveness because it was so raw and original, whereas this movie is too stagy and common.

Aside from Jason Lee, the performances tend to be a mixed blessing. This was Shannen Doherty's first film role post-Beverly Hills 90210, but it's a mostly thankless appearance. Still, she at least seems up to the task and becomes a presence, which is less than I could say for both Jeremy London and Claire Forlani. London comes across as bland when paired with either Lee or Forlani, while British actress Forlani is a beautiful but vacant performer. We are meant to root for them simply because it's the law of formula, and thus attention is diverted to relationship between Brodie and Rene. Michael Rooker goes comic (and bald) in attempt at playing the comical villain throwing the wrench in her daughter's love affair, and Priscilla Barnes has a fleeting yet fine appearance as Miss Ivannah. Ben Affleck makes his first round in Kevin Smith's universe as the second antagonist, and judging from this role, he had potential that was better fulfilled in Chasing Amy. Stan Lee appears mainly to offer advice analogizing Brodie's troubles with those Spider-Man and Mary Jane, but the scene seems too dreary despite the in-joke. As for Jay and Silent Bob, Mewes and Smith present broad, amplified personifications of themselves that would carry on to Smith's other films. This is where they become acquired tastes.

MALLRATS is not, as you may probably hear, an epic nor a spiritual relative of Clerks. It's a harmless, mostly funny but often times strained and limp teen comedy that doesn't effectively and essentially translate what was so strong about Smith's talents in his first film into a more accessible mainstream offering. It's not a movie that should've been treated with the scorn and rancor that the film's makers insist was greeted upon them when the movie opened theatrically, and the appearance of a cult audience is a blessing to Smith and to his film, like a mother taking in a handicapped baby. Jay and Silent Bob were larger-than-life and went on to bigger and better movies, while newcomers such as Ben Affleck, Jason Lee and Joey Lauren Adams all went on to star in Smith's next film, Chasing Amy,thus proving most of those naysayers wrong. It s a movie that earns a little respect mainly because you have to accept the fact that when you re an indie darling, lightning doesn t strike twice...unless you re Tarantino. Snooch to the nooch!

Welcome to my 300th review, ladies and gentlemen. And thankfully, despite my reserves concerning the actual movie, the new DVD release of MALLRATS is a keeper, although not without its flaws, which can be sometimes ugly. With that said, let s get down to technical details, shall we?

This disc shares a lot in common with the one I reviewed for The Blues Brothers: it s a flipper disc which contains both the original theatrical cut as well as an extended version on separate sides, although side A has the theatrical version and the flipside is where you ll find the newer version. Kevin Smith and producer/buddy Scott Mosier hilariously provide reasons for the double-dipping as well as the making of the extended cut in an optional 11-minute introduction that you can find on the B-side. It was a complicated process initially proposed by Smith to the folks at Universal involving restoring material previously deleted (and featured as extras on the older DVD) back into the film to make the movie look more like the rough cut as scripted originally, eventually throwing in alternate takes and footage shot for the outrageously-censored TV version of the film in the mix (although they should've gotten more clips from that or the whole feature as a bonus extra). As a result, there s over an half-hour worth of new footage, including a pre-credit sequence that is actually an alternate version of the scene where T.S. and Brandi split.

The extended opening, in which T.S. and Brandi (dressed up like Revolutionary War soldiers) break up during a luncheon Jared is holding for the governor of New Jersey, is much better to me than the one seen in the finished version. Whereas the original was much too flat and slipshod, what we see here provides more of a reason to follow T.S. and Brandi s turmoil-laden love affair and includes some funny farcical comedy, too. Jason London and Claire Forlani deliver much more intensity and chemistry than as previously seen in the reshoot, and we also get to see more friction between T.S. and Brandi s father. Most of the additional bits and pieces in between reference this (although they do impede in the pacing when you consider how long it is until we see the mall), and the alternate takes are mostly funny, especially in the case of the Ben Affleck character. In a way, I actually think this is a more recommendable way to view MALLRATS than watching the final cut, much as the same way the longer version of The Blues Brothers appealed to me.

Both version of the films are presented in anamorphic widescreen preserving the 1.85:1 theatrical aspect ratio, although I did occasionally notice more top/bottom detail in the extended edition, presenting a similar case scenario to the picture comparison on the Blues Brothers disc. Sharpness is mostly spot-on clean and solid with the exception of some wide shots, and transfer flaws are limited to some slight shimmers and edge enhancement. The picture is only slightly marred by some print flaws such as blemishes, specks and grain. And the colors, whilst improved magnificently from the previous edition, are often too improved, which means boldness and fine saturation overall on every color, but also some instances where the hues glow too much and come across as dull. The only real technical gripe I have is with the extended cut, which has a problem with framing (some frames are missing) and cutting (some scenes jump rather abruptly) that isn t heavily distracting but is noticeable given that rough material that has been re-edited into the film.

Both versions come with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround mixes, as well as a 2.0 surround track for the theatrical cut. The expanded soundstage doesn t translate into constant activity, which is on par with how most comedies sound on DVD. Ambience does get separated into the various other channels, as do the grunge/alternative rock tunes featured throughout. But Kevin Smith s dialogue is the main anchor of the film, and it s rooted square in the center, where it can be heard with the utmost clarity and volume. The music and effects are considerably flat and don t employ much .1 LFE utilization, but they are audible. I don t think that anyone will find any drastic differences in picture and sound quality when they compare this to the original 1999 DVD release. There are chapter selections and fine animated menus. The front cover of the DVD contains a cropped, souped-up version of the original comically sketched artwork on the theatrical poster, although I would've liked Universal, if they weren't going to spring for an insert/liner notes, to at least give me a plastic chocolate-covered pretzel with butt smell for all the collectors everywhere.

The extras are a typical mix of old and new. First off, the original audio commentary track from the original release is brought back, although multi-angle video portions have been excluded. But it's still a treat to listen to those who are featured on this track, who are Smith, Mosier, Affleck, Lee, Mewes and View Askew historian Vincent Pereira. Smith dominates the piece fairly much, and he brings his usual bluntness and crackling with him all the way. Affleck and Lee, both of whom were poised to become stars (particularly future leading man/Oscar-winner/tabloid fixture Affleck), have a casual comic vibe that seems refreshing seeing how they were entering the new millennium with various degrees of success in Hollywood. It's got plenty of production details, anecdotes, notes on locations and casting, and the requisite praise, but the participants are all so lively and never congestive in their banter that the whole track goes down smooth. It's not the benchmark for me in terms of group commentaries (I can't wait to revisit the one for Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn), but it comes pretty damn close.

Also included from the previous disc is View Askew's Look Back At MALLRATS, with interviews mostly from the aforementioned commentary participants, with a couple of smaller supporting actors (including Walt Flannigan) and producer Jim Jacks thrown in. This is how you can get a successful featurette done without leaning on film footage, as this 21-minute piece is all interviews and no filler. It's got the requisite discussions about making the movie, from creation to execution to reactions, but the whole piece is done with candid insights from all involved. Everyone seems to have something fascinating to say particularly about their opinions on this film's negative acceptance, both concerning press reviews and box office receipts.

Perspective is also provided in the first of the new bonus features, another 22-minute documentary called The Erection of an Epic - The Making of MALLRATS. This packs in plenty of new interviews with cast and crew, including Affleck and Lee and even key player Jeremy London and guest star Stan Lee. People like Shannen Doherty and Claire Forlani are still MIA, but f*ck 'em (and who wouldn't?). This is similar to the previous documentary, as the focus of this piece is basically analyzing how a movie like this one could've bombed on a massive scale only to be resurrected as a cult fave. But the opinions here are just so frank, that you are attentive at all times. We even get appearances by noted film critics Kenneth Turan and Janet Maslin, who were in split parties when they rated the movie around its theatrical release (Turan was disappointed, Maslin wasn't). Although these two documentaries are great stand-alone, the best way to view these is to watch the old and then the new documentaries just to see how the attitudes of the participants have changed. They may not alter your thoughts on the film, but the insight does prove highly valuable.

Q&A with Kevin Smith is exactly what you'd expect it to be, a newly-produce 9-minute string of serious questions followed by some rather twisted answers from the man himself, with Smith leaving nothing sacred, from himself down to the cult fans/DVD geeks who gobble his stuff up. This isn't more of the same as seen in the commentary and the documentaries, as Smith is largely humorous and, well...large! Nooch!

Cast Interviews from the Original Set is also a brand-new feature, although this time the focus is on archival footage. We get exactly what this title offers: old-school chatter from the likes of Smith, Mosier and Lee, as well as comments from Doherty, Forlani and Michael Rooker. However, this is pure EPK flogging [Forlani declares Smith is the new Truffaut(!)] and a tedious change in pace from the critical tones prevalent in the main documentaries. Still, at least Universal provides us with other options as opposed to none at all.

The A-side of the disc rounds out with 8:13 worth of some fairly amusing outtakes, which include the usual flubs and broken takes as well as some alternate lines, a music video Kevin Smith directed for the cover of "Build Me Up Buttercup" by the Goops that was featured on the movie soundtrack (a typical Jay and Silent Bob vehicle that can be laugh-out loud funny), 100 slides of production photos, the theatrical trailer, three sneak previews (for the movie Cry Wolf as well as DVD re-releases of The Big Lebowski and The Blues Brothers), and a pair of Easter eggs, including one that you will either laugh at or feel guilty for discovering (if you had the previous disc, you know what I mean).

Flip the b*tch over to discover...nothing! Well, almost. Aside from the expanded cut and the introduction to it that I had previously mentioned, there's a new MALLRATS: The Reunion extra that runs approximately 50 minutes. It's a publicly-staged Q&A panel session hosted by Smith and featuring participants such as Jason Lee, Jeremy London, Jason Mewes, Ethan Suplee (he's gotten thinner!), Renee Humphrey, Scott Mosier, Jim Jacks, and Dave Klein, the film's cinematographer. The audience members fire off some rather fawning and often dopey questions (did any other Easter bunnies get assaulted in the wake of MALLRATS?), although the highlight is when one of the participants is a French girl starts rambling unintelligibly to the surprise of everyone on stage and in the crowd. Most of the material is exhausted over from what you've heard before (OK, we get it, the studio HATED Jason Mewes!), and it takes some time before the other participants get into gear, but it's always sort of fascinating to see reunions, especially ones where Kevin Smith shows up to emcee. Watch out for an amusing comment Smith makes about the afterlife of the movie that elicits a huge laugh from Mewes.

I'm not going to kid myself that MALLRATS is not a flawed film, and on a scale in which we judge everything Smith made pre-Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, that movie as is every other Smith title are all better than MALLRATS, thus making it my least-favorite of the bunch. It's still a three-star movie, and its DVD reincarnation is close to five stars, so all in all the general rating for the "10th Anniversary Edition" MALLRATS is four stars. It's worth considering for those who own the previous disc and a must-have for those who need a little more in their secret stash. In the immortal words of Jay: "Fly, fatass, fly!"