Post by StevePulaski on Nov 7, 2011 15:20:35 GMT -5
Scenes from a Mall (1991)
Directed by: Paul Mazursky
Directed by: Paul Mazursky
Woody Allen and Bette Midler are surrounded by a chain of awkward events in Scenes from a Mall.
Rating: ★★½ (after April 1, 2014 rewatch, formerly two stars when reviewed on November 7, 2011)
Amendment: Rewatched this on a total whim on April 1, 2014. I liked this much more the second time around, although I find it far from what I'd call a "great" film, or even a "good" one. The position the film puts the viewer in is rather unique, the banter between Bette Midler and Woody Allen is often funny, and thanks to the setting, the film offers lots of unpredictability as to where setups will go. However, I stand by my original criticism in that the film is way too pictorial, almost to the point of lacking confidence, incorporating senseless little devices such as a bright green surfboard and an incessant mime that find ways to disrupt the flow of the scene and distract from the conversational beauty Midler and Allen effortlessly conjure up. I also find the second half of the film still hard to sit through because of the fact that the film seems to kind of lose itself and just go for broke within the last thirty minutes.
With that being said, I still love the premise, adore the two leads, and find strong commentary behind what I assume Mazursky's message is, which is that marriage is a cycle between love, public affection, serious conversations, arguments, and personal arguments before the cycle repeats itself. I'm happy being single after watching this film again.
Here is my original two-star review of Scenes from a Mall, published on November 7, 2011.
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Scenes from a Mall is a hard film to describe. It has a great premise, two great leads that immediately click, a skilled director, and a setting that is one of my favorites. Why the low rating? It's hard to put my finger on what actually goes wrong. The best way is to pick and choose certain scenes and events to explain why the film becomes inferior to expectations.
The film is about Woody Allen and Bette Midler playing Nick and Deborah Fifer, a married couple with more baggage than you'd expect. He is a stressed out executive, and she is a marital psychotherapist. In honor of their sixteenth anniversary, they both agree to go to a trendy mall in order to pick up their anniversary gifts. She gets him a surfboard, with his name engraved on it, and he gets her a beautifully framed picture of the entire family.
Deborah then finds out Nick has took part in several acts of infidelity. Nick then finds out Deborah has took part in several acts of infidelity. Rather than doing the logical thing and leaving the mall, they continue to wonder around the setting, squabbling, and getting attention from innocent bystanders.
Does this sound like a film you'd truly like to see? No. But considering the remarkable talent involved most Woody fans would see it solely because he is in it. Right off the bat, the premise is tiresome. We hear many conversations, incorporating lengthy monologues and several fights. Only about a half a dozen truly interesting. Mostly because there is no zest. The couple is right, and so is the tone, but the true killer is the uninspired dialog.
It doesn't seem to have much confidence in itself either. Because it's in a mall, or a sound stage built to look like a real functioning mall, inevitably, you like to look at all the background events. The film is pictorial, in every sense of the word. It relies on goofy setups rather than its own material. Maybe because it feels inferior, boring, or just plan self-conscious. Truthfully, it is a little boring, but those pictorial backdrops don't do much justice.
When Deborah buys Nick the surfboard, what does he have to do? Carry the thing around the mall for most of the film. Rather than walking out to the car, he has to carry a big, yellow, protruding board while they walk around the mall aimlessly. At least the film doesn't have some ridiculous cartoon gag where Woody Allen's character hits people with it.
There's also a mime, played by Bill Irwin, and he has got to be one of the most annoying film characters of all time. The mime is put in the mall to entertain shoppers, and in the film to provide a failure of comic relief. He mimics the bickering couple in frequent points of the film, and never seems to stop miming or being a nuisance. He's an unnecessary, poorly conceived character who has no purpose in a film like this.
Some scenes work, some scenes don't. Some scenes are funny, some aren't. It's a mere gamble. Woody Allen and Bette Midler create some undeniably fantastic chemistry, but the rest of the film fumbles because that is truly the only thing it has to offer. Scene from a Mall is cute and often harmless, but it suffers from a dreary script and "too cute of a setting" syndrome.
Starring: Bette Midler, Woody Allen, and Bill Irwin. Directed by: Paul Mazursky.