View Askew's Look Back at 'Mallrats'

View Askew's Look Back at 'Mallrats' (1999)

*** (out of 4)

Kevin Smith, Jason Lee, Ben Affleck, Jason Mewes and Scott Mosier are among the cast and crew who are interviewed as they look back on the making of MALLRATS. This DVD featurette was produced a couple years after the film's release so at this point the movie was still a "flop" so it's interesting getting to hear from people at this stage since it was still several years away from building its cult following. The most fascinating moments deal with Smith battling the studio to get Mewes into the film and of course the "flop" the film became is also discussed. This also includes Smith discussing when he knew the film was in trouble. If you're a fan of the picture then you'll obviously love getting to hear from most of the main people as they discuss various aspects of the production.

This 21 minute documentary on the making of the movie "Mallrats" can be found on the now out of print Collector's Edition of that aforementioned movie. Featuring interviews with various cast and crew members their's a lot of pathetic comments thrown around like how the film would be a "smart Porky's" which is sacrilege as far as I'm concerned as Porky's is and always will be a classic, whereas Mallrats isn't and never will be one. Kevin Smith also tells of how the "powers that be" screwed his movie up. Kevin, be a man, and live up to your mistakes. While we're at it take blame for your crappy "Jersey Girl". It didn't bomb because of some Bennifer thing. It bombed because you're a one-trick pony and you strayed from said one-trick of dick and fart jokes. Deflate your ego a tad bit, bro. Back to the documentary, I learned nothing from it.

My Grade: D-

This featurette happens to be on the Mallrats Collector's Edition and the 10th Anniversary edition DVDs.

The title of this documentary basically says it all, its a View Askew look back with most of the people who were involved with the movie.

Its broken up into about four Chapters: 1. They Wanted To Make a Smart Porky's, which explains the films origins.

2.Snootchie Bootchie Nootchies, which talks about how difficult it was to get Jason Mewes In Mallrats.

3. A Friend Who's Making A Movie, which is more or less a Kevin Smith love fest where most of the cast and crew talk about how great Kevin is.

And finally 4. Critic's Schmitics, which talks about the films Post Production and critical and box office crumble.

This is a pretty interesting doc where its just a sit down with some of the people from the cast and some of the crew, talking about how the film was made and how it fell apart upon release. Though along the line, this becomes a problem. There are way to many talking head interviews and very few of the subjects haven't been said to the public, most of the info that is being said in the documentary is stuff that we have already heard before. But still, if you're a fan of Kevin Smith (like I am) you'll like the featurette, and its a good way to kill 21 minutes.