Touchstone and Beyond: "Scenes from a Mall"
Marquee Attraction: Scenes from a Mall
Release Date: February 22, 1991
Budget: $3 million
Domestic Box Office Gross: $9,563,393
Plot Synopsis
Nick and Deborah have just sent their kids off on a ski trip and are celebrating their 16th wedding anniversary. On a trip to the mall, the two get ready to have a party that night and start shopping in the mall.
Deborah has just released a book about the power of marriage, and while her career as a psychotherapist is in full swing, and Nick is a successful sports attorney, there are problems in their long union. Nick admits to multiple affairs, which forces the couple into a spiral of anger and discussion.
As the day progresses Nick learns that Deborah is currently having an affair, and that pushes him to want a divorce. They bicker and argue and spend the day venting sixteen years of biting their tongue and fibs that explode in an outpouring of emotion.
They seem to be the perfect couple, and they perfectly hate each other. The problem for Nick and Deborah is that they seem to like each other still, and don’t really want to end the marriage, despite the lies and cheating.
Standing Ovation
I like the fact that this story is meant to be played for laughs. There are no big moments of jokes, rather small non sequiturs about life between Midler and Allen that makes the film funny. It’s not funny in the sense of a Jim Carrey performance, or a classic Cary Grant comedy, but rather a comedy of the human side. This is what I would expect from real people.
It was a great flashback to the 90’s when people would congregate in the malls. I miss the lure of malls and Blockbuster.
The artwork for the film’s VHS copy is fantastic.
Time for the Hook
The ending! It must have some resolution, and this film doesn’t really give the audience an ending. We assume they are staying together, but that may not be true. I just wish we had a definitive answer to what was going to happen to poor old Nick and Deborah.
Bit Part Player
Anyone who grew up in the 1990s will recognize him. Fabio makes his first screen credit as the handsome man who gets on the elevator with Deborah and Nick. He doesn’t have any lines, but he makes his presence known.
Did You Know?
- The movie earned its budget back on its opening weekend, raking in almost $4 million.
- The exterior mall scenes were shot at the Beverly Center. Most of the mall interiors were shot at the Kaufman Astoria Studio in Queens, New York. The scenes with the elevators and escalators were shot at the Stamford Town Center in Stamford, Connecticut.
- Apparently, Woody Allen had never set foot in a mall before shooting the film.
- Bette Midler sings the credits song, “You Do Something to Me".
- This is the second Touchstone Pictures film that Midler made with director Mazursky. The first was the wonderfully amusing, Down and Out in Beverly Hills.
- This was the first movie since 1976 that Woody Allen only had a starring role in the picture.
- Bette Midler was offered the role of Annie Wilkes in Misery. She reportedly couldn’t get past the violence in the film and chose to do this film instead. Midler admits that her choice was the wrong one.
- Director Paul Mazursky plays Dr. Hans Clava. He promotes Deborah’s book on TV and is her lover.
- Critics did not have many kind things to say about this movie.
- Critic Gene Siskel said that the film was stunningly unfunny and both he and Roger Ebert listed it as one of the worst films of the year. Ouch!
Best Quotable Line
“You’re making a mountain out of a mole hill." This comes from Nick when he is trying to reduce the gravity of his affair on Deborah.
Bill’s Hot Take
Watching this movie now reminds me of how much streaming has ravaged the movie theater experience. Today, a movie like Scenes from a Mall would never have made it to the big screen and would be buried under hundreds of other films on a variety of streaming platforms.
Casting Call
- Bette Midler as Deborah
- Woody Allen as Nick
- Bill Irwin as Mime
Production Team:
Directed by Paul Mazursky
Produced by Touchstone Pictures / Silver Screen Partners IV
Written by Paul Mazursky / Roger L. Simon
My Critical Response
{Snub-Skip this Film, Lifeboat Award-Desperate for Something to Watch, Commuter Comforter-A Perfect Film for Any Device, Jaw Dropper- You Must Watch This Film on a Big Screen, Rosebud Award- This Film is Cinema.}
Scenes from a Mall is not the worst film of 1991, however, it could be better. I really enjoyed how Allen and Midler were able to take their characters and make them feel like real human beings.
The lack of characters allows us to focus on the two stars in such a crowded area. Scenes from a Mall is not groundbreaking but has funny moments and was enjoyable to watch. That’s why it gets my Commuter Comforter Award. It’s the perfect mindless movie to keep you entertained on a boring commute.
Coming Soon
Next week, a look back at Martin Scorsese’s Dalai Lama pic, Kundun.