DVD Review: Waking Ned Devine

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Waking Ned Devine
20th Century Fox
2.35:1/ Dolby Digital 2.0
91 Minutes
Subtitles:Spanish, English
Rated:PG
Region:1

The Movie:

"Waking Ned Divine" is an odd little comedy of friendship and loyalty. The film starts with the news that one of the locals in a small town of 52 has won the national lottery. Two of the men wonder who it could be. If they find out, they could be buddy-buddy with the winner and maybe be there when the winner redeems the ticket so they,too, can get a little bit of the cash for themselves. They comb the town, making lists and holding parties for the people in the town who regularly play the lotto. After the party breaks, they've figured they'll never find who pulled the winning ticket, until they check the list to see one Ned Divine not in attendance.

The two main characters, Jackie O' Shea and Michael O' Sullivan arrive at Ned's house to find that...well....Ned's dead. Dead from the shock of holding the winning lottery ticket, which is still in his hands when the two show up at his house.

The rest of the film is spent trying to decive the lottery official that Michael actually is the not-to-often-seen Ned Divine. Soon, the whole town is involved in the scheme to be able to split the money amongst themselves. There are many wonderful characters that populate the town, which makes the film so much fun to watch. A mean old woman on a battery powered chair, a smelly pig farmer and the girl he loves as well as the two main characters and many more.

The comedy that the film is closest to, I think, is "The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill But Came Down A Mountain", the charming, but not widely seen, Hugh Grant comedy from a few years back. Mix that film's wild populace with the spirit and humor and spark of last year's "The Full Monty" and you begin to get a sense of what "Waking Ned Divine" is quite like.

There are many very funny moments in "Waking Ned Divine"(especially its finale involving a telephone booth), and although I felt that there are moments in the film that are a little slow, there's always a bright spot around the corner in this charming, wonderful little film.

THE DVD:
VIDEO QUALITY: Although it has a couple of flaws, for the most part I thought this was a goregous looking transfer. Colors are rich and pure and the outdoor scenes in the bright light look especially crisp and clear. Even some of the darker shots during the night still retain good detail. There are some instances of very, very slight artfacts such as shimmering, but they aren't very distracting. For the most part, this is a clean, great looking transfer from Fox. There are no problems with the print used, either. Some of the outdoor scenes look especially stunning, with the greens of the trees and local scenery looking natural and beautiful throughout. Flesh tones look natural and accurate. Color saturation and contrast are nicely done as well. The scenery in the film is wonderful, and every shot of the countryside looks fantastic on this disc. This is a very "film-like" transfer and I think that Fox did a really nice job here.

SOUND: This is the only part of the disc that I occasionally had a little trouble with. The Shaun Davey score is rich and lovely sounding throughout, coming through clearly and very well. It's the dialogue that I occasionally had a problem with. I occasionally had a problem hearing it in the theater at points and I thought it was because everyone in the theater was laughing so hard. On this disc I found I still had the same problem in a couple of spots hearing it. It's not a major problem or anything, it's just at a few spots I found it less than clear.

MENUS: Colorful but still basic main menu that's non-animated and based around the poster art.

EXTRAS: Just the trailer.

OVERALL: Fox has certainly done a nice job on the transfer of this disc, but I think it's certainly not a lot for the amount of money. Fans of the film will enjoy the quality of the DVD, but I think that $34.95 is a lot to ask and I don't think that people will be eager to try this film for that price if they haven't seen it. It's a little independent movie; you want to get people interested on video and hopefully, find a whole new group of people who maybe couldn't find it in local theaters. Charging $34.95 for a basic, no-extras disc isn't a good way of going about finding a new audience.

GRADES:
The Film: 93/A = (465/500 possible points)
Video: 91/A = (364/400 possible points)
Audio: 82/B = (328/400 possible points)
Extras: 69/D+ = (207/300 possible points)
Menus: 72/C = (144/200 possible points)
Value: 70/C- = (210/300 possible points)
Presentation:77/C = (77/100 possible points)

TOTAL POINTS:1795/2200
Overall:81%/B-
Final Thoughts: Definitely recommended as a rental. If you've already seen it and are looking to purchase anyways, I think that Fox has done quite a nice job on the audio/video aspects.