Customer Reviews

Scenes from a Mall

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Listen, I'm impartial about any movie star, and I haven't sat through many movies in the last two decades, but this one made me laugh, and wait for the next nutty scene.

Why? I think because they caught the silliness of that Southern California bourgeois with Jewish overlay world very well. half the fun was watching Woody Allen's expressions.

I also though the damn mime scene was painfully funny!

Lets talk Scenes from a Mall. Starring Woody Allen and Bette Midler in this smart, talky, funny, challenging, heatwarming, sad, tear jerking, Christmas holiday fun! Nothing in this film is wrong except maybe the length, which in my opinion, could be extended some what with more laughs.

Starting out at home, leaving the kids to go on a holiday skiing trip, on their sixteenth aniversary they prepare for an all day Christmas shopping spree at the local mall. When they get there they are already confronted with the zany antics of a mime (played well by Bill Irwin from the GRINCH). They exchange aniversary gifts and then extramarital revelations. With this we see an aray of different emotional acts... crying, screaming, hitting, throwing, talking, etc etc. It all changes in a second, very unexpectedly. That is one of things that makes this movie so good, is that everything is so unexpected. Scenes from a Mall is very unpredictable. With beautiful holiday sequences, sharp laughs, very dry humor, happy thoughts of the past, SFAM will not let you down! Including the awesome adaptions of "You Do Something to Me" by Marc Shaiman and an unmatchable vocal by Marlene Dietrich. Thank you Paul Mazursky for giving me a favorite movie, SCENES FROM A MALL is just that.

This film is about a couple celebrating their wedding anniversary at a Los Angeles shopping mall. The celebration is bittersweet because the husband(Woody Allen) admits his affair to his wife(Bette Midler). The wife remains angry for a while but eventually forgives her husband. Allen and Midler have done better films than this. Midler's much better films include DOWN AND OUT IN BEVERLY HILLS,RUTHLESS PEOPLE and BIG BUSINESS(all made by Buena Vista like this one). Allen's subsequent film MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY from 1993 was much better than this.

I am not a Woody Allen fan. His neurotic persona never appealed to me. I watched this movie because I like Bette Midler. This film makes the viewer feel like a mensch schlep (third wheel, tag-a-long) who went to the mall with them, & has to suffer through their angst, make-ups, yelling matches, etc. because you need a ride home. In between the couple's dysfunction a lame mime is tossed in to try & add some comic relief. This movie could have been so much more.

I've never understood why this movie was so panned and disliked by moviegoers. I have to assume that most viewers just didn't have a great deal of sophistication. This movie does, however, and Midler is especially amazing. The dialogue just flows so naturally, and the couple's superficial life and marraige delves into its past to recall what brought them together and what keeps them together. Moving, funny and so well done.

My review is more about the Blu-Ray disc itself, more than the movie..which I do like, but it could of been much better.
I realize you get what you pay for, and this bargain Blu-Ray disc suffers from some major flaws..
1. The film was transferred in 1080i instead of the better 1080p. The image though a noticeable upgrade from the DVD disc from years ago, the colors are a tad less than expected for Hi-Def, and also it's loaded with digital enhancement, such as edge enhancement. You can tell this is most likely from the original DVD master, but as I said a noticeable improvement over the DVD.
This however isn't the major problem, the major problem is...
2. The DTS Master Audio 2.0 track, which is a surprise as the box lists the audio as a plain Dolby Digital track. Unfortunately, the the volume is so low on this track, I had to raise it up 60, when I usually always have my amp between 22 to 35 depending on time of day. I don't care if it's a cheap disc or not there is no excuse for this error. Other than that I like this movie, and matter of fact liked it more now than back when it first was released theatrically.
Just which the picture was 1080p and sound was recorded at a normal level.. yes it's under $5 and wasn't expecting a big remaster.. but i did expect to at least hear the film.

This DVD purchase was shipped to me so quickly I was not expecting such an immediate response. Very pleasing.

Yes, it's hard to believe that 'nervous' Woody Allen and 'brassy' Bette Middler would ever tie the knot but their characters have done here - to consistent comic effect! They play a yuppie couple who spend a day at an L.A mall preparing for their anniversary celebration. What works here is how quickly the tone of the couples relationship changes when either party reveal a secret. One minute it's "I adore you" and the next "I hope you die in hell!". There are plenty of laughs here and both stars are in top form. It's not a comedy with much depth or insight like Bette's "Beaches" or Woody's "Manhattan" but it scores well in a mainstream movies most important category - entertainment!

I am not a Woody Allen "Nut". I am not a Bette Midler "Nut". I can't stand Mimes ,however I love all three in this movie.

This is one of my all time favorite Woody Allen movies. But I think it's the kind of movie you will either love or hate - nothing in between! I am a big Woody Allen fan, but do not like a lot of his movies, so considering how picky I am, that says a lot. My favorite movies of his have been Play It Again Sam, Annie Hall, Manhattan, A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy, Zelig, New York Stories, Mighty Aphrodite, Vicky Cristina Barcelona and probably a few others I forgot. Least favorite (many!) but the worst ever was Curse of the Jade Scorpion... Anyway, if you like "Jewish-ness" you will like this film, I think it's a real sleeper!