听 After the bitingly funny, 眉ber low-budget Clerks, Kevin Smith brought us the far bigger budget and far less well received Mallrats. Years later, the film has gained fans and maybe "this sparky if flawed effort deserves re-evaluation". Especially when it turns up on an unusual big studio DVD with a suitably humbled Smith.
Deleted Movie!
Click on deleted scenes in the special features and you'll be hit with over an hour of material! Presented by View Askew mega fan Vincent Pereira, this unused footage is strictly for Kevin Smith devotees. Much of it is just rambling and, crucially, not very funny. But, as an insight to the project, it does say a lot.
How Do The Mallrats Run?
Very well, thanks to a clear, if slightly soft, picture transfer that's quite an improvement over the region 1 disc. The 5.1 sound options in both Dolby and DTS sound the same, though. Dialogue is delivered with precision, but there's a lack of surround effects (which is not unusual for a comedy).
Don't Give Me $6m
That's what Kevin Smith insists he kept saying to Universal, in the revealing View Askew's Look Back At Mallrats documentary. Smith picks ruefully over the problems of a film he felt was too expensive, and with expectations so high that he was near doomed to failure. He deals with all this with humour, though, which is rife in the audio commentary.
The track includes a very funny Ben Affleck and Jason Lee, plus a typically up front Jason Mewes, Scott Mosier, and Vincent Pereira. Affleck gets lots of digs but takes it all well, even wondering out loud why he allowed himself to be called Buttman in the opening comic credits. Still, he gets off lightly compared to Shannen Doherty... Actually, if you want to hear a good, barely restrained, bitch fest, you really need to listen to this commentary - it's hilarious, even if the movie isn't!
EXTRA FEATURES
This DVD was reviewed on a JVC XV-N5 DVD player.
