It didn't.

Who's to blame: Gramercy? The movie-going public?

Me?

Perhaps the blame should be laid evenly. Gramercy -

though they tried like hell - couldn't find a campaign that

spoke to more than one audience. The movie-goers chose

to embrace the really tepid 'Get Shorty' instead that week-

end, as well as the chick-flick-o-rama 'Now and Then'.

And as for me - well, I thought I could breathe life back

into a dead genre: the raunchy, R-rated teen comedy. Bad

idea? Perhaps. Necessary? Yes, and I'll tell you why.

See, I grew up on those movies; all through the eight-

ies, it was stuff like 'Porky's', all the John Landis flicks,

and the twisted classical tragicomedy 'The Last American

Virgin'.

And John Hughes movies.

Oh, those Hughes pictures: delicious teen angst, where

the biggest problem the protagonist had to face was wheth-

er or not they were going to the prom, or detention on a

Saturday afternoon. I can recall the day when I called out

sick from my afterschool gig as a busboy - just so I could

watch 'The Breakfast Club' the day it came out on video.


Those movies meant a lot to me. I was raised on them.

They were in my blood. So there I am - twenty four, in the

movie business, everyone asking what I want to do next,

offering me a five million dollar budget to bring it to life. I

knew sooner or later, I had to make a mainstream movie -

why not get it out of my system with the sophmore effort?

Was it irresponsible? Probably. Somebody gives you a

couple of million to make a movie, you shouldn't be think-

ing about indulging your teenage fantasies on their coin.

But regretful though I may be that it tanked, I'll never re-

gret making 'Mallrats'. The movie occupies a very spe-

cial place in my heart - and was a necessary flick to make

in order to get to 'Chasing Amy', in a weird psychological

way.

They say there's a special God for children. I'd like to

believe there's also a special God for movies with a big he-

art that perform poorly at the box office.

And to answer the obvious question - did it hurt when it

sank?

Well - duh.

For anyone interested, we've got some pix that never

really saw the light of day. They're behind-the-scenes pho-

tos, as well as just some cool looking images. You'll find

some press clippings on the movie (reviews and such), as

well as the rarely-seen music video (13.9 Megs) we did for

the soundtrack, for the band 'The Goops'. It may take time

to download, but it's worth it just to see the choreagraphed

antics of Jay and Silent Bob.