Scenes from a Mall

Like many viewers, I was underwhelmed by this film in 1991. Thirty-one years later, I'm pleasantly surprised how good it is. Maybe age has something to do with it, both mine and the film's. Bette Midler and Woody Allen turn in great performances. Suspend your disbelief and just enjoy the bright, quick-witted repartee.

Director Paul Mazursky is always at his best when satirizing trendy Southern California lifestyles, and he does so here from that most quintessential Southern California setting: the shopping mall, where Bette Midler and Woody Allen break up and reconcile over the afternoon of their 16th wedding anniversary. The windy script was obviously written with Allen in mind, but the New York comedian is just as clearly out of his element playing a nouveau-riche, pony-tailed attorney with a taste for sushi and frozen yogurt. The sheer novelty value of such unlikely miscasting is irresistible, especially with the typically neurotic Allen paired (for once) against a co-star as extroverted as Midler, more or less reprising her role from Mazursky's 'Down and Out in Beverly Hills' (1986). But the film never rises to the laugh-riot level expected from the talent involved: it's a claustrophobic, one-act, two-character comedy, no less thin and shallow than the LA culture it mocks, and often pointless except as a vehicle for its two bankable stars. Imagine the film with two unknown actors in the same roles, and it all but disappears off the screen.

In Annie Hall, Alvy Singer observes that the only cultural advantage of living in California is that you can make a left on a red light. Here. in the thick of it, Woody's character is a committed Los Angelean with designer suits, fast-talking business deals but still with that underlying angst. There's a lot to recommend this relatively stagey effort from Paul Mazursky - the screenplay, the leads and the unique setting - although Kevin Smith has done it better since in Mallrats. What is perhaps missing here is any new revelation or insight into the characters who remain pretty much two-dimensional throughout. It is alas predictable fare but still worth a look for a touch of Woody as he might have been if California had enticed him over.

Like a stale marriage, after about half an hour you might feel like retaking your vows with this one, because although it starts well enough, the fire soon dies down. The two leads are great, sparking off each other and generally giving all they've got to these two-dimensional characters. But there's only so many one-liners you can take before you realise that there isn't actually anything happening. It's an interesting idea, and worth a look, but with the credentials of those involved you'd expect to get more for your money.

I enjoyed this a lot, but more in the way you enjoy a play than a film. I can see how this would annoy some people, but I quite like it when film mimics theatre- for instance, by restricting virtually all the dialogue to two characters, and virtually all the action to one, claustrophobic, location. The plot is slow and unlikely, but the writing is good, and the acting superb. Particularly fine is Midler's murderous side-long glance at the word 'zombies'. Actually, I don't think I've ever seen Allen have better chemistry with his leading lady. So, not a film for laughing out loud at, but engrossing, well done, and fun to watch. Best thing about it: A mime gets punched. Worst thing: Woody Allen in a white jacket and- God help us- a pony-tail.