May 29, 2005
Review: The Longest Yard
I saw Adam Sandler's remake of The Longest Yard tonight at the drive-in in the rain. One might think that the adverse viewing conditions would negatively affect my opinion of the film. While that may be true with good films, the fact that the night was an interesting and satisfying experience was the only thing that allowed me walk away content; in a movie
theatre it would have been a much harsher reaction.
The villains are never threatening, the heroes never rise up to a point of real sympathy, and the character motivations never feel all that plausible. I'm sitting in my car and the movies playing out on the screen, and we're not really bothering each other all that much. It's not that it pushes out into reality like a Wes Anderson film does, it's that it never really makes any effort to draw you in. If this film were personified, it would be Shaun's fat best buddy in Shaun of the Dead. It's in no rush to do anything, and it's likeable enough that we don't so much mind when nothing serious ends up getting done.
It rises about movies like About Schmidt and Napoleon Dynamite in that it doesn't piss me off any. But that's probably because unlike those two, it never sets off to do anything all that intrusive in the first place. And having caught a whiff of a good movie in there somewhere, it has me inclined to see out the original. In that way, it has perhaps succeeded in something. (
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May 27, 2005
Review: Dodgeball on DVD
Dodgeball manages to pull off something completely unexpected; it's a great time at the movies that mostly avoids the gross out tactics without ever ceding its edge. Much like some of the great stupid comedies of our past, it features a likeable and good-natured set of quirky underdog protagonists against an incredibly stupid and often quite out-there villain who drops the IQ level of the room a few dozen points every time he opens his mouth.
It takes that classic setup and pushes it to the limits. You've never met underdogs quite so incapable, nor a villain so jaw-droppingly stupid. Every single sports cliché is either utilized or satirized over the course of the film and a wide variety of celebrity cameos provide almost snapshot punchlines.
It is also notable for featuring one of the great casts in modern comedy. Vince Vaughn (fresh of the success of Old School at the time) and Ben Still provide the star power in the leading roles, but the supporting cast is a veritable who's who of cult comedy. Alan Tudyk of "Firefly", 28 Days Later, and A Knight's Tale fame makes a show-stealing turn as Steve the Pirate. Steven Root (Jimmy James on "Newsradio", Bill on "King of the Hill", and of course Milton in Office Space), Jason Bateman ("Silver Spoons", Starsky & Hutch, and most currently and hilariously "Arrested Development"), Hank Azaria ("The Simpsons" and Mystery Men), Gary Cole (Office Space, the Brady Bunch movies, A Simple Plan, and "Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law") all create memorable characters that fuel this film's comedic spark. Each of their characters could go head to head with anything SNL has created in the last twenty years. But Rip Torn stands above them all by creating one of the most memorable performances of his career with Patches O''Houlihan, the dodgeball coach from hell.
And while there are times when the gags are dead in the water, when they do hit they provide some of the best laughs of 2004. And of course, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story will be forever immortalized for adding the line, "If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball!" to our cultural vocabulary.
Being a relatively low-budget sleeper hit, Dodgeball is not the kind of
film you'd expect a standout video presentation from. But the widescreen
version provides a better than expected anamorphic experience, with a clean
and sharp picture with vibrant colour, natural skin tones, and solid blacks
that never obscure detail. There was the occasional shot that was a tad on
the soft side, but each instance appeared to be a result of the original
print rather than any transfer-related defect. Any edge enhancement was
minimal, and never stood out on either my CRT or LCD displays.
The English Dolby Digital mix is pretty standard fare for a comedy. Since
the film is primarily dialog driven, the mix remains rooted in the front
speakers for the majority of the film. Some of the bigger sports scenes open
up the mix a little bit, but generally lack the power and creativity of
other sports films. Some of the commentator voiceover work stood out in mix
in a less than desirable fashion; otherwise, dialog and sound effects were
clear and undistorted. This isn't a DVD to turn to if you want to give your
system a workout, but it never detracts from the movie experience.
First the bad: This is one of the first Fox DVDs I've owned that has a
series of trailers and commercials before loading the main menu. Fortunately
all can be skipped via the next chapter button, providing minimal disruption
in accessing the features. Once you make it through, the extras are
surprisingly numerous for a single disc release.
Off the main menu, "First Look" provides another commercial in the form of a
featurette on Fox's "Elektra". Strangely, it's non-anamorphic widescreen
video window-boxed inside an anamorphic widescreen frame. This results in
black bars on all four sides of the picture regardless of your display
device. A rather ill-conceived feature, altogether.
From the special features menu, we have a variety of more interesting
options. The first (not including the hilarious easter egg) is a commentary
with the first time writer/director and his two stars. It's a relatively low
key track with the main running gag being all of the things Fox legal told
them they weren't supposed to say. The participants are often informational,
but the track falls into self-congratulatory territory a little bit more
often than I'd like. Not a bad listen, but I've heard plenty better.
The Deleted Scenes section provides a number of scenes either cut or trimmed
from their original length for the theatrical release. The director was
quite fond of them in the feature commentary, but I didn't see anything that
would have really added to the film.
The Alternate Ending plays off one of the film's red herrings in a truly
hilarious fashion. Quick to watch and highly recommended.
The four featurettes are mostly fluff, but they give a good idea of how much
preparation went into getting the cast trained and ready as believable
dodgeball champions.
The blooper reel is surprisingly lacklustre considering the geniuses of
comedy on this film's cast. The best ones play off one of the cameos'
previous roles, Alan Tudyk's pantomiming, and the gruff referee's increasing
irritation as the leads screw up take after take for his big scene.
Two of the film's trailers are provided along with a trailer for the Johnny
Knoxville vehicle The Ringer and one for "Arrested Development" ―
proving once again that Fox can't market that show for beans.
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story placed sixth on my list of the top ten
films of 2004 at the beginning of this year. It didn't hold up quite
as well on the repeat viewing, but it remains one of the most likeable and
enjoyable comedies in recent memory. This single disc DVD presentation
reminds me of exactly how thinly stretched most two-disc sets are these
days, providing me with every extra I'd really care about for this film
without ever affecting the picture quality. If you're a fan of the film,
this disc is a no-brainer. If you haven't seen it yet, chances are you'll
probably be a fan soon. Strongly recommended.
Critic Bio
Adam Lenhardt is a print journalist from Albany, NY. He currently
reviews films from Boston.
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