Do you remember indoor shopping malls? Back in the ’70s, these temples to consumerism popped up in all the major cities. The stores inside sold everything you could have wanted. Now you walk into a mall and it seems to be stores selling clothes, sneakers and bath bombs. Back in the 20th Century, you could get Dungeons and Dragons figures and polyhedral dice at the hobby shop. There were multiple record joints and bookstores. They even had a store that sold VHS tapes. We could even buy puppies and kittens right next to the Orange Julius. Plus the Asian import store sold num-chuks and Ninja throwing stars. You hung around the mall because it was fun and didn’t have to worry about being a shooting victim. Mallrats is a film that captured the joy of mall life in the mid-90s.
Kevin Smith had become an indie sensation in 1994 with Clerks. His black and white film about life in a convenience store won the Filmmakers Trophy at the Sundance Film festival and became an arthouse success. Universal was eager to have Smith as part of their “Dependie” Gramercy Pictures. With a bigger budget, Kevin Smith went huge as he went from the Quick Stop with unknown actors to an entire shopping mall and a cast of emerging stars. Mallrats was a huge film that fizzled on release. Yet the movie found an audience over the years thanks to home video. After coming out on VHS, Laserdisc, DVD, Special Edition DVD and Blu-ray, Mallrats is arriving on 4K UHD with two different cuts.
Theatrical Cut (94:45) is the version that opened in 1995. This tells the story of how Brodie (My Name Is Earl‘s Jason Lee) finds himself single when Rene (Beverly Hills 90210‘s Shannen Doherty) because all he wants to do is read comic books and play video games. She needs more from a relationship. His pal T.S. Quint (Party of Five’s Jeremy London) is also single since Brandi (Claire Forlani) is upset that a friend died while trying to lose weight before being on a dating game show. T.S. only cares about their trip to Florida since he plans of asking her to marry him at the Jaws ride. She is upset since Brodie freaked her friend out by saying how the camera adds ten pounds. Not only is Brandi not going, but she’s now the contestant on her dad’s dating show. Both newly single guys decide to head down to the mall to stop the show. They enlist Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith) to first trash the set and when that fails, they plot to get on the dating show as the bachelors to get T.S. back with Brandi. There’s a lot happening at the mall that day including a visit from Marvel comic books legend Stan Lee. Mallrats got us prepared for Stan Lee’s cameos in all the Marvel movies in the 21st Century. Brodie has to figure out how to win back his girlfriend since she’s hooking up with Shannon Hamilton (Jersey Girl‘s Ben Affleck) from the men’s fashion store.
Extended Cut (121:50) has a completely different set up and opening. Brandi is on a rooftop at college with a telescope. T.S. arrives as a revolutionary soldier with a rifle. She’s not wanting to see him perform in a school musical. During their debate, T.S. fires a blank from the rifle as down below the governor and his security detail freak out. The local media wants to more about the guy who nearly assassinated the governor. There’s still break ups, but T.S. and Broadie go to the mall to escape the news crews. Many of the scenes play out a touch longer. It feels like there’s more footage of Priscilla Barnes (License to Kill) as the topless fortune teller which is good. Barnes doesn’t get the credit she deserves for playing Terri on Three’s Company. This small part shows her comic chops. We also get to see more of Ben Affleck beating up Jason Lee. It’s a bit of a different film from the theatrical version so it’s more than just a cut with a few extra scenes. You’ll want to see both and maybe the TV safe version if you’re living in mom’s basement.
Mallrats is a glimpse at how it used to be extremely fun to hang out at an indoor Mall. The film has fun with the goofy things that would happen inside to attract more shoppers such as filming a lame dating show. Kevin Smith tapped into this element during what turned out to be the last great years before they were destroyed by strip malls with big box stores. The good part in having three different cuts is that you can shop for hours until you become an honorary Mallrat.
The Video is 1.85:1 anamorphic. The 4K (2016) restoration done on the Theatrical and Extended cuts of the film were approved by director Kevin Smith and cinematographer David Klein. This is what the film would have looked like if you made it the cineplex the weekend it came out and died. The Audio is DTS-HD MA 5.1 so you can hear shopping all around you. The movies are subtitled in English to keep up with the dialogue.
Audio commentary on the Theatrical version with director Kevin Smith, producer Scott Mosier, archivist Vincent Pereira, and actors Jason Lee, Ben Affleck, and Jason Mewes. There’s a bit of trash talking from Kevin Smith about Grammercy’s promotion department.
Introduction to the film by Kevin Smith (12:31) has the writer/director explain the experience of his sophomore film that did horrible on release and has aged better over the years. The film didn’t make a second weekend in release. But the film has been a steady seller on various home video formats since 1995. He mentions the sequel that’s under production.
My Mallrat Memories (29:58) is an interview with Kevin Smith from his office that’s covered in Mallrats stuff. He talks about his teenage years at the mall. He says that he basically nailed the Universal deal by saying to Jim Jacks that Mallrats was Clerks in a mall. Smith reminds us that at the time, Universal executives cared about creativity.
Tribute to producer Jim Jacks by Kevin Smith (12:57) is about a man who lived for movies. He tells stories about how Jacks operated.
Blunt Talk (9:59) gets actor Jason Mewes to talk about going from the pal’s film in New Jersey to a studio backed movie. He knew Kevin since he was 13. He was a roofer when Clerks came out.
When We Were Punks (6:08) talks with Cinematographer David Klein. He ended up at the same film program with Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier. He was asked to shoot Clerks. They shot in black and white because they couldn’t afford to change the lightbulbs at the Quickstop. He was brought onto Mallrats with a sense of fear that the studio could fire him at any minute. But he survived with a crew that supported him. He continued on with Chasing Amy. Harvey Weinstein screwed him over on Dogma. He reunited with Kevin Smith on Clerks II.
Hollywood of the North (10:13) is an animated making-of documentary with the local crew that worked on the Minnesota location. One guy gets compliments from the kids when says he works on Mallrats. Another guy worked on Mighty Ducks. The state had a big film rebate.
Deleted Scenes (62:48) lets Kevin Smith and Vincent Pereira discuss deleted scenes and sequences originally cut from the film. They show off the original opening that had another gameshow with T.S. losing it. He talks about the crane shot for the opening that was deleted, but found on the Extended version.
Outtakes and behind the scenes footage (8:12) are the bloopers and clips taken off the video used in editing.
Cast interviews from the original set (8:37) them talking about their time at the mall during the production. Shannen Doherty praises Jim Jacks as a guiding force.
Erection of an Epic: The making of Mallrats (22:09) is an archival retrospective made for the 10th anniversary DVD. The cast and crew are interviewed at the mall and swear the film can’t lose. LA Times critic Kenneth Turin defends his pan along with Janet Maslin of the NY Times. Ben Affleck turns up to talk about the film tanking. There’s a lot of people discussing the box office death and how it was the opposite of Clerks.
Q&A with Kevin Smith (9:01) is an archival Q&A filmed for the 10th anniversary. He talks about his love of DVDs.
‘Build Me Up Buttercup’ music video (3:38) was directed by Kevin Smith. Jay and Silent Bob dance around. The Goops don’t seem to be included in their own video.
Still galleries include 146 Behind the Scenes Stills, Comics has 13 spoof Marvel covers with the cast as superheroes,
Archival introduction to the extended cut by Kevin Smith and Scott Mossier (11:00) was recorded for the 10th anniversary release. He points out that the original film was cut by someone else. This was their chance to recut the film from scratch.
Soundtrack EPK (4:02) is a promo for the Mallrats soundtrack with Kevin Smith talking about the mall. He mentions the bands including Belly, Weezer, Thrush Hermit, The Goops, Wax, Elastica, Squirt Gun, Girls Against Boys, Sponge, Archers of Loaf, Silver Chair, Bush, Sublime and All. That’s not a bad mix of bands for the mid-90s.
Dailies (115:39) includes raw footage from the shoot except it’s the low res video dupe. This starts with Stan Lee showing up at the comic book store.
Theatrical trailer (2:23) focuses on Brodie’s break up.
Easter eggs are hidden away.
Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing by Philip Kemp
Fold out poster featuring replica blueprints for ‘Operation Drive-by’ and ‘Operation Dark Knight’
Arrow Video presents Mallrats. Directed by Kevin Smith. Screenplay by Kevin Smith. Starring Shannen Doherty, Jeremy London, Jason Lee, Claire Forlani, Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams, Renee Humphrey, Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith, Ethan Suplee, Stan Lee, Elizabeth Ashley, Priscilla Barnes & Michael Rooker. Boxset Contents: 3 version of movie on 2 4K UHD discs. Rating: Rated R. Release Date: June 27, 2023.
