Mallrats
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Synopsis
THEY’RE NOT THERE TO SHOP. THEY’RE NOT THERE TO WORK. THEY’RE JUST THERE.
Following the smash success of his first feature, Clerks, Kevin Smith returned with Mallrats. Spawning a raft of characters and in-jokes that Smith would carry throughout his career, the film continued the one-of-a-kind comedic world known as the View Askewniverse.
Simultaneously dumped by their girlfriends, comic book obsessive Brodie (Jason Lee) and best friend TS (Jeremy London) plan to ease the pain of their losses by taking take a trip to the local mall. Amongst shoppers, they discover the mall is being used as the venue for a dating show, in which TS’s girlfriend Brandi is the star. Hatching a plan to win back their significant others, Brodie and TS enlist the help of professional delinquents Jay and Silent Bob to hijack the gameshow in a bid to win back Brandi. Meanwhile, Brodie carries out his own mission to make good his relationship with Rene (Shannen Doherty), who has attracted the attentions of his nemesis Shannon (Ben Affleck).
Featuring a cast including Joey Lauren Adams, Ben Affleck, who would go on to be recurring collaborators in Smith’s movies, Mallrats can now be rediscovered in this 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray edition boasting a beautiful restoration and hours of bonus content.
Picture 9/10
Arrow Video upgrades their previous Limited Edition Blu-ray to 4K UHD, presenting both the theatrical and extended cuts of the film on their own individual triple-layer discs in the original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with Dolby Vision. Arrow is using the same 4K restoration, which was taken from a scan of the 35mm original negative. A 35mm interpositive was used for the material exclusive to the extended version.
While watching Arrow's already impressive Blu-ray presentation, I remember thinking it was a real shame they didn't release it in 4K as, despite the film not being the most dynamic looking one, it would have popped. I'm happy to say I was mostly right.
The 4K upgrade isn't a significant one at its base since the Blu-ray was already pretty solid to begin with. It looks sharper, and the grain is rendered even cleaner, but these improvements are ultimately subtle. What the presentation does deliver are more vivid colors, better shadow detail (in some of the film's darker sequences), and added highlights, all thanks to HDR and Dolby Vision. There aren't any real bright moments outside of a few lights and signs (and even they're subtle), but the colors, especially the reds, the pinks, and the violets of that final set, beautifully pop, with better shading and delineation. The opening comic book titles also come out looking far more vivid.
The extended version looks about the same. The leap from negative to interpositive can show a minor degradation in quality, but not a large one. Shadow detail and grain still look great, and colors and black levels are still vibrant.
In all, no, not a significant improvement over the Blu-ray, but there's still a noticeable boost, and it is a lovely presentation for what it is.
Audio 8/10
As before, Arrow includes a lossless PCM 2.0 stereo soundtrack for the theatrical version and a DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround soundtrack for both versions.
It sounds to be the same soundtracks for both, though someone with a better sense for these things may say differently (though I doubt Arrow would redo the soundtrack, so it's safe to say they're the same). Again, the sound mix for the film (either version) is limited, with the film being dialogue heavy. Because of that, most of the attention is focused on the fronts. Still, music and some background effects expand to the other channels, and the soundtrack delivers excellent range and fidelity with no apparent damage present.
Extras 9/10
Arrow transitions most of the material from their previous Limited Edition Blu-ray, though oddly leaves out one fairly significant feature.
Presented yet again is the film's original audio commentary that was recorded back in 1998 or 1999 for Universal’s Collector’s Edition DVD and features director Kevin Smith, producer Scott Mosier, archivist Vincent Pereira, and then actors Jason Lee, Ben Affleck and Jason Mewes (the commentary was also to appear on a Signature Series LaserDisc, as mentioned in this track, though I don’t believe that ever got released). As an older track, there are some outdated references, and on a couple of occasions, a beeper goes off instead of a cell phone, but that doesn’t harm it much and adds a bit to the overall charm. The film was a bomb upon its initial release but was growing a bit of a fan base at the time of the recording (that fan base has gotten bigger since). Hence, the participants treat it as an opportunity to not only talk about the production but also reflect on some aspects that probably hurt the film. Some of it came down to this film being Smith’s first big Hollywood film and his unfamiliarity with how studios worked, along with executives more than likely building his expectations. Another reason could have been related to how he had to cut out an entire subplot after a poor test screening, giving the film a rougher edge than it probably should have. Poor reviews also didn’t help, and then there was the fact that Gramercy Pictures didn’t know how to market the film. All of this is touched upon with a good dose of self-deprecating humor from everyone, and in between this, they talk about how the production came together while also filling in on the more technical aspects.
As I mentioned, though, the participants do go off track, and it’s pretty often. Sadly, a lot of the time, it’s when a topic gets interesting, and then someone shoots in with something else, cutting that other person off. I felt Mosier probably took the brunt of this, and sometimes he’s able to get back on track, though he often states he forgets what he was even talking about. Sadly, Lee doesn’t speak a lot, but Affleck gets in there a good number of times, throwing in some shots when needed. Despite any of the track's shortcomings, it’s still incredibly entertaining, and there were plenty of moments where I found myself completely engaged with it, even bringing out my geeky side. For example, my nostalgia came to the forefront when Mewes tried to recall the name of the show that Sven Thorsen (the security guard in the film) was on. I found myself becoming irritated that no one else knew what he was talking about, even making fun of him, and it took everything I had not to scream out, “Captain Power, you dumbasses!!” in an empty room.
At any rate…
Arrow had recorded some video material for their previous edition, including several new interviews featuring Smith. Smith first offers a new 12-minute introduction for the film, which can be played optionally with the main feature. In it, Smith (who I must say is looking to be in good health) talks about his joy for how the film has found a new life after the devastating disappointment he experienced around its initial reception on release. The movie was trashed pretty mercilessly, as I recall, though I do remember it finding its fans on home video. I never saw the film until around 2000, but I remember my friends talking non-stop about this movie after renting it, and I can’t imagine they were the only ones to have been fans. Smith doesn’t get into how the film may have found an audience on video. However, the recent rise in popularity of superheroes and comic books has played some part since the film is wholly focused on comic book fans and pop culture geeks. Smith tends to ramble on and does so here, but it’s just out of excitement that the film is getting a second life and an Arrow edition on top of that.
Smith also sits for a new interview to discuss the film’s production with the 30-minute My Mallrat Memories. While it’s a discussion about the film’s origins and production, I was impressed that very little of the material here repeats anything mentioned anywhere else. If he does repeat something, he ends up expanding on the topic, like when he talks about how the studio did not want Jason Mewes (at all!) for the film. He also talks a lot about the casting process, which sounded a little insane, and he mentions a few surprise auditions (Reese Witherspoon??) and how Stan Lee came on board. The stuff around Stan Lee is also pretty endearing, especially in why Smith had to give Lee an additional scene.
Smith then offers an appreciation for producer Jim Jacks, who does get a lot of mention in the features. Here Smith talks about Jacks’ career, from discovering the Coen brothers to his success with The Mummy franchise, and what an impact the producer had on his life and career. Despite Mallrats bombing, Jacks always had faith in Smith, and he helped him work his way through the studio system, teaching him a lot. Smith also talks about the man’s love for movies, which included a passion for LaserDisc collecting. It’s a passionate 13-minute tribute that I think really comes from Smith’s heart (and bonus points to Smith for reminding me that the film Juwanna Mann exists).
I was also pleased to see that Arrow managed to get a new interview with Jason Mewes. Mewes—also looking to be doing well—sits for 10-minutes to talk about Clerks, which didn’t seem like a big deal to him at the time (he never quit his roofing job), and the bizarreness of not only landing a role in a Hollywood film but also around the fact he had to compete with other actors (in this case Breckin Meyer and Seth Green) to play himself. He also talks about the television version of the film, which found most of his dialogue dubbed over by someone else, and explains how he doesn’t remember why he didn’t do it, though he suggests drug use probably had something to do with it. It’s a shame he doesn’t sit for longer to discuss everything else he’s done, but it’s a decent reflection. There’s also a 6-minute audio interview with director of photography David Klein, who recounts his first experience on a Hollywood film and his other work with Smith, which was interrupted after getting thrown to the curb, along with Joey Lauren Adams, by Harvey Weinstein.
Arrow then provides a new 10-minute documentary on the making of the film, though presented unusually: Hollywood of the North is a 10-minute feature offering animated representations (in a comic book format naturally) of production assistant Mark Har, prop builder Gordon Smuder, location scout Bob Medcraft, and background actor Jessica Sibinski (whose back we get to see in the food court). The first three worked in the film industry in Minnesota, which saw an uptick in films being shot there thanks to a tax credit. We get some information about this and then details about the production from these cast and crew members. Medcraft, who had to deal with everything around the mall location (including the owners who did not like that Shannen Doherty walked her dog inside the mall), has some pretty interesting stories to share while explaining the complete job of a location scout.
The rest of the material on the first disc is previously produced features for other editions. There is a 62-minute feature around the film’s deleted scenes featuring Smith and Pereira. The two talk about the material and why it was cut, with the primary reason being the results of a poor test screening leading to a desire to get the 122-minute film down to something in the 90-minute range. To accomplish this, an entire subplot had to be removed; unfortunately, it was pretty entrenched in the film's narrative. This feature—which first appeared on the original Universal DVD—is a bit redundant because that extended version does appear on this edition (on disc 2). However, it’s still worthwhile because some material doesn’t appear in either version, and the two explain how many scenes had to be altered in the finished edit (primarily by looping dialogue) to cut out any reference to the abandoned subplot. At the very least, fast-forwarding through to watch the comments from the two may prove worthwhile.
Following this are about 8-minutes’ worth of outtakes (and behind-the-scenes footage), which consist of alternate takes and bloopers (usually someone laughing), with Affleck’s improvisations around his character’s run-in with the police being the funniest.
Arrow then includes about 9 minutes worth of cast interviews filmed on-set and featuring Smith, Mosier, and members of the cast, including Jason Lee, Jeremy London, Shannen Doherty, Claire Forlani, and Michael Rooker. These were recorded for advertising material and don’t offer too much.
A bit better from the archives is the 22-minute making-of Erection of an Epic, made for the 2005 DVD edition of the film. It’s a quick look at the film’s initial failure (with critics Kenneth Turan and Janet Maslin opening the feature with their harsh reviews for the film) and eventual cult status, and it does this all through interviews with the likes of Lee, London, Affleck, Smith, and others (even Stan Lee). Following this is a 9-minute Q&A with Kevin Smith, also made for that DVD, which features Smith answering questions about what it’s like to participate in a DVD for a film years after it was made. A lot of it is self-deprecating (at this point, Smith is still trying to play off the film's failure, more than likely a defense mechanism), but he mentions the cast reunion recorded for the 2005 DVD edition, which is oddly missing from this (and the previous) edition. I haven’t seen it, so I can’t explain why it has been excluded.
The disc then closes with a music video for The Goop’s cover of “Build Me Up Buttercup” —featuring Jay and Silent Bob showing how to make a music video if you can’t get Spike Jonze—and the film’s original trailer.
Disc 2, which I assume will be exclusive to this limited edition (as it was for the previous Blu-ray), then features the film's extended version. Recreated by Smith and team for the 2005 DVD edition of the film, this version (which Smith and Mosier explain was an experiment in the optional archival introduction that plays before the film) is the original version that Smith and gang talk about in the commentary. It's also the focus of the feature about the deleted scenes. Running over 120 minutes, this longer version has the added subplot around how London’s character was mistaken—through a series of unfortunate and contrived events—as a would-be assassin of the governor and adds an extra bit around a news crew. There are a few other additions, with the original dialogue being re-inserted (it was dubbed over in the theatrical cut).
This version does run on too long, and I can see why initial test screenings went south: the opening goes on for an eternity, taking up a quarter of the film before they get to the mall. It all ultimately adds very little. Still, this opening is less awkward than that tacked-on opening that replaced all of this, though I guess it appropriately sets up the mood.
Despite that, I thought the editing in this version was better, much to my surprise, with individual sequences feeling like they’ve been edited tighter. A professional editor had been brought in to help create the theatrical version, yet there was always this awkwardness that isn’t as prominent here, probably because the needed coverage wasn't filmed to make the theatrical version entirely work. I can’t say whether what helped was that Smith just used better takes, or that dropping the filler/alternate scenes helped, or trimming a split-second here or there did, or Smith actually picked up some things over the years when it came time to redo this version (despite him insisting he hasn’t learned anything), but whatever the reason the film manages to have a more polished feel at the very least.
Arrow then includes a few other features. There’s a rather cringe 4-minute soundtrack EPK featuring Smith and Mosier plugging all of the music that appears in the film, along with 2-hour’s (!) worth of dailies. I only sampled the dailies, which come from incredibly rough VHS footage (it’s near-impossible to see), but it’s filled with alternate takes. The most extensive collection seems to run around the sequence in the lingerie shop between Lee, London, and Joey Lauren Adams (who sadly does not appear in the supplements anywhere). Then there are alternate improvisations and some other random stuff, like multiple takes of the camera zooming in on the pin that Silent Bob is trying to pull out to collapse the set.
The disc then closes with a gallery featuring around 147 behind-the-scenes and production photos, along with all of the comic book art used in the film’s opening credits. This limited edition is to also come with a booklet (I didn't receive it, but it is supposed to replicate the previous Blu-ray's) featuring an essay by Philip Kemp, who questions whether the film should be considered a sophomore slump for Smith. A replication of the schematics created by Jay and Silent Bob outlining their plan to destroy the television show set is also to be included.
Disappointingly Arrow has chosen to leave out the "Television Version," a non-sensical cut made to be "family-friendly" by cutting out the "obscene" material that makes up for a good chunk of the film. This, in turn, cuts out some sub-plots or important details to them in the process. This leads to all sorts of confusing elements, but what was of most interest was how deleted material that doesn't appear in either the theatrical or extended version of the film was also edited in to pad the time.
I get into more detail about it in my review for the Blu-ray edition for those interested, but it shouldn't be a surprise when I say it's not a "good" version. That said, it is still a fun and "interesting" curio if only to see the power of editing and the futile attempts that some will go to to make a product easier to digest for mass consumption. Also missing is an introduction by Smith, who explains why it exists while also pointing out other absurd elements, like the obvious dubs over Jason Mewes. As to why this version wasn't included, I can't say. It could be a rights issue, or it could be that there wasn't enough room, though I doubt a 100GB disc wouldn't have been able to house it comfortably. I kind of suspect they didn't include it because they felt they would have had to have presented it in 4K, and though they did use the base 4K restoration in constructing most of it, they did have to insert video footage for the material exclusive to it, and the quality drops significantly. Honestly, I doubt it would have been a big deal, and I'm sure presenting it in standard 1080p would have been just fine. Still, whatever the reason, it's not here, and I found that a rather big selling point of the previous limited edition, so its exclusion here is a huge disappointment.
Despite that version missing, the rest of the material still holds up very well and should make fans happy. Hold on to that previous Blu-ray edition if you want to keep a copy of that TV version.
Closing
Arrow's new 4K edition delivers some nice subtle improvements over their previous Blu-ray edition, though sadly drops one of its more significant features: the Television Version. If one is upgrading, they may still want to hold on to their old Blu-ray.
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