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The Movie:
The Farrelly Brothers("There's Something About Mary")'s best film, in my humble opinion, centering around a former bowling champion, Roy Munson(Woody Harrelson) and his protoge, an Amish kid named Ishmael. Together, the two of them(along with Claudia, played by Vanessa Angel), head towards Reno, Nevada to compete in the national bowling championships. The three meet up in Nevada with Roy's former competition, a bowling champ that caused Roy to lose his bowling hand, Ernie McCracken(played wonderfully by Bill Murray).
I can remember when "Kingpin" came out in theaters a few Summers ago, ignored by most crowds(since MGM marketed the film quite poorly). It's been a long time since I laughed that hard(and certainly haven't laughed that hard at a film since). The Farrellys have crafted one of the great comedic films of the past few years, a film that is simply joke after joke that hit the mark fully and completely. Performances, especially by Murray, Harrelson and Randy Quaid, are fantastic and Harrelson and Quaid have incredible comic timing. If you liked "There's Something About Mary", I'm sure you'll like the Farrelly's previous project, this wildly funny and raunchy comedy that's now out on DVD in an special edition.
THE DVD:
VIDEO QUALITY: Not a very great transfer and a lot of it doesn't look much better than the laserdisc transfer does. The laserdisc was a very well-done transfer for that format, but this DVD really isn't much better looking than the laserdisc edition; in other words, in DVD terms it certainly isn't of the highest quality. There are quite a few artifacts throughout, especially present during some of the darker scenes. It's an anamorphic transfer, but it certainly doesn't look like it; some scenes aren't terribly in-focus, the before-mentioned artifacts, and colors that aren't quite as vibrant as I'd hoped they'd be make for a dissapointing 2.35:1 transfer(it was shot in Super 35 though, I believe). The widescreen version was added later in the production(originally it was going to be simply pan/scan), so possibly there were problems during the addition or transfer, I don't know, but this is certainly less than pleasing. There's nothing wrong with the print used, but there's a certain "hazy" quality to the image that really is dissapointing. Overall, I think this transfer would best be described as "average", although just barely.
SOUND: Nothing problematic, but there certainly isn't too much beyond the great soundtrack of tunes; dialogue sounds natural and clean. There really isn't that much in the way of surround use.
MENUS: Kinda nice goofy "bowling" menus that are nicely animated with a bowling "theme" when you make a selection.
EXTRAS: I'm really quite thankful to have a Farrelly Brothers commentary on this disc, but unfortunately it's not really that great a commentary. After listening to so many commentaries during the past six months I've realized that some people, given the opportunity, will just provide a phenomenal amount of information, talking non-stop, providing a solid mix of "stories" and actual technical informations. Other people are content to simply sit back and remark upon a scene when they feel like it. The Farrellys mostly fall into the second category, taking most of the commentary to point out all of their friends that make appearances in the film, or members of the cast and crew that took roles in the picture. Occasionally, the brothers will fall into some good stories or talks about the way they work with actors or direct, but for the most part, they're looking for friends in the film. As the film progresses, there are more and more instances of silence as well. Certainly not the worst commentary I've ever heard, but a little dissapointing considering I was looking forward to hearing the Farrellys. Hopefully their commentary on the "Something About Mary" DVD coming out in August will fare better. Also included are the film's theatrical trailer and an interesting booklet on the film as well as some facts about the history of bowling. Also included are 4 minutes of additional footage that have been added back into the film(bringing the rating from a PG-13 to an R). The added scenes don't make too much of difference though, unfortunately. The brothers talk about a lot of deleted scenes during the commentary beyond what has been added in and I wish that would have been added to at least the disc, if not the movie.
GRADES:
The Film: 94/A = (470/500 possible points)
Video: 81/B = (324/400 possible points)
Audio: 85/B = (340/400 possible points)
Extras: 89/B+= (267/300 possible points)
Menus: 87/B = (174/200 possible points)
Value: 89/B+ = (267/300 possible points)
Presentation:85.5/A- = (85.5/100 possible points)
TOTAL POINTS:1927.5/2200
Overall:87.61%/B
Final Thought: Not quite as pleasing a presentation as I'd hoped for from "Kingpin", but the film certainly isn't any less funny; it's an absolutely hilarious comedy that's one of the funniest films in the past few years. The Farrelly Brothers commentary is interesting at times, but I would have liked to have heard more details on the making of the film than how many people the brothers saw in the film that were friends of theirs.
