Viewers have been accustomed to Woody Allen all but exclusively appearing in films directed by himself and being set in New York City. So, any time when he appears in a film directed by someone else and set elsewhere, that brings attention, at least among cinephiles and his fans. Scenes from a Mall, 1991 comedy produced and directed by Paul Mazursky, brought such attention, but also created a disappointment.
The film is set in Beverly Hills. Allen plays Nick Fifer, successful sports lawyer who has been married to psychotherapist and book author Deborah (played by Bette Midler) for sixteen years. On the surface, the marriage seems perfect – they have two teen children they have sent to ski resort for holiday, circle of wealthy friends they invite for a party and enough money to indulge in shopping spree at the mall. There Nick casually admits that he was having an affair with 25-year old wife of his client, which makes Deborah furious and determined to seek divorce. With Nick’s car mysteriously disappearing from parking lot and Deborah apparently unable to call for a taxi, they are forced to spend next few hours within mall and try to discuss the matter of divorce or even attempt to reconcile. Things gets further complicated when Deborah admits her own adulterous affair.
Scenes from a Mall is the most interesting in the beginning, when the audience will have a lot of fun trying to compare Allen’s familiar screen persona with very non-Allen character he plays – brash, materialistic and arrogant Californian who, among other things, wears a ponytail and symbolises everything snobbish New York intellectuals despise. Allen is also paired with Bette Midler, singer and comedienne who had built career on playing outrageously extrovert characters. Here she embodies character of much more subdued professional. At the beginning she has something of chemistry with Allen who bravely takes part in love scene that clearly points to differences in both character sizes. However, all that begins to become less interesting when two characters come to a mall. Script by Mazursky and Roger L. Simon, obviously inspired by Ingmar Bergman’s Scenes from a Marriage, quickly succumbs into cliches and tries to keep the plot going with unconvincing surprise revelations and twists. In the end, both characters become quite dislikeable and the audience, especially those who lack Nick and Deborah’s material wealth, would lose interest in their woes. Apparently aware of the problem, Mazursky tries to compensate insufficiency of the plot by interesting details. Cinematography by Frank Murphy tries to put various mall locations - shops, restaurants and lounge bars – to good use. Mall is also filled with rap bands, barbershop quartet and mariachi band that supplement musical score by Marc Shaiman. But the most interesting, although at times obnoxious, addition is character of mime played by Bill Irwin, who often works as some sort of Greek chorus. There is even lame attempt of social commentary, like the scene when Nick and Deborah go to multiplex to watch Saalam Bombay, critically renowned Indian social drama that depicts the world completely opposite of their materialistic surroundings. In the end, the scene leaves impression of authors’ cinephiliac snobbery that doesn’t add much to the film. Poor quality of jokes would make this film challenging for less patient viewers, even with its relatively short running time. Scenes from a Mall, despite being mild success at the box office (mostly due to its low budget), represents disappointment for fans of Allen and Midler, great comedians whose dream pairing left too much to be desired.
RATING: 4/10 (+)
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