EssenceStory
Well Deserved Praise
Winifred
The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.
Staci Frederick
Blistering performances.
spencer10
I happened to rent Scenes From A Mall one time at a video store. The box made it look hilarious and I thought how could you beat a couple like Midler and Allen? But then I popped it into the VCR and was very disappointed. It dragged, it was incoherent, and an 87 minute movie made it seem like three hours. Midler and Allen go to a mall somewhere in L.A. for a wedding anniversary, while they are there Allen confesses to Midler that he has been having an affair with another woman. Midler then wants to file for a divorce but soon confesses to Allen that she has had an affair with another man. It is not a bad storyline but it just drags and leads to nowhere. The profanity level and sexual content is also unnecessary. I would say if you want to experience something like this go spend 87 minutes in a mall. But don't watch this because you will be very disappointed. It is a very unnecessary film.
Neopetking724
This movie was great, and to an earlier comment, the movie wasn't filmed in California, it was filmed in Stamford Connecticut. DUH. The movie made my sides split. What is the matter with you people? Woodie Alan is so funny in this! I am in an acting class in Palm Beach Atlantic University, and going by what my teacher has said, they did an awesome acting job, and I thought that the movie as a whole was hilarious. Some people are so caught up in critiquing movies that they don't know how to enjoy movies anymore, just for the pure enjoyment. Maybe it's just my personal judgement but this movie rocked my socks and made me wanna pee in my pants. Too bad no one else could see this.
Merwyn Grote
Some films make the viewer a participant. Others make the viewer, well, a viewer. Others make the viewer a voyeur. SCENES FROM A MALL makes the viewer a third wheel. A very uncomfortable position to be in.Like in real life, the third wheel is the poor schmuck who innocently accompanies a couple on a date or dinner or whatever and often ends up being less a companion than a witness, or worse, a referee, when a lovers' spat breaks out. In such a situation, all one can do is to keep looking at one's watch, pretend that there is nothing wrong and, above all else, don't get involved.When it was announced that SCENES FROM A MALL would pair Bette Midler and Woody Allen together as a bickering couple who spend the day at the mall, I couldn't help but smile. Bette and Woody married, what a great idea. They both seem so different, yet so perfect together. And to their credit, they do have great chemistry here. They click. And they are certainly convincing as a couple with a whole boat load of marital issues. Maybe too convincing. What could have been an amusing thread of a story if interwoven into a larger tapestry becomes instead a tiresome ordeal. Woody and Bette argue and bicker and insult and break up and kiss and make up and argue and bicker and insult some more. Their day-long excursion to the mall to do Christmas shopping becomes an extended primal therapy session. Despite the best efforts of the two stars, what begins as an amusing domestic comedy rapidly become just plain annoying. The fault lies with writer/director Paul Mazursky, whose films -- good, bad or indifferent -- seldom have a strong focus and tend to ramble shamelessly. It is a style of film-making that, in theory, tries to represent realism, but in practice it violates the conventions of what we accept as film reality -- reelity, so to speak. Mazursky's films always tend to look and feel like rehearsals, not a finished production.This film has it assets. Woody and Bette, of course. And the recreation of a California mall, mostly filmed on a New York soundstage is quite convincing (though how many malls feature ballroom dancing?). SCENES FROM A MALL looks right and is acted just right, but in the end, this trip to the mall wears you out, leaving you just wanting to go home.
mattymatt4ever
I'm a big Woody Allen fan, so naturally I got a sufficient amount of laughs from the film (though he didn't write the script). But the movie plays out like a stage play, and perhaps it would've worked better that way--like any movie that centers solely on 2 characters. Allen and Midler have a fine chemistry, and their banter is often amusing. But the infidelity thing seemed to have been thrown in as a simple way to develop some sort of plot and some sort of conflict. Are they gonna break up for good? Are they gonna decide to stay together? Those who've seen films like these won't have a tough time figuring the outcome. "Scenes from a Mall" is funny, harmless entertainment, but not exactly a must-see. My score: 7 (out of 10)
