This Sundance comedy looks crisp and clean in its Blu-ray debut. Details stand out in this beautiful 1080p AVC transfer. Close-ups show the contours of the actors' faces (even wrinkles) and the fabrics on clothing. The colors are natural, but pop at appropriate times. The green of the wrestling team's gym and uniforms for an example. Black levels are solid as well. As for digital anomalies, I ran into none.
The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack is underutilized, but that can be expected from a dialogue driven comedy. The soundscape is very front loaded even in cases of ambiance. Dialogue is clear and balanced nicely with the score, music and sound effects. Directionality across the speakers is limited though.
The special features are the common promotional stuff one finds on the Net before a film's release. Two deleted scenes give viewers one look at another one of Paul Giamatti's character's clients and a scene where Giamatti's character and his family drive his client Leo to court.
Director/writer Tom McCarthy and his co-writer/childhood friend Joe Tiboni discuss the real life experiences they drew on to write the film. Apparently lawyer Tiboni is the basis of Giamatti's Mike. In another interview, McCarthy and Giamatti discuss the making of the film. Giamatti talks positively about the experience, saying it was more fun than any project he's done in awhile. "Family" is a featurette that looks into the story and characters and serves as the "behind-the-scenes" feature. At 2 ½ minutes it's not long enough.
David Thompson, one of film's young stars, takes viewers through a humorous tour of his Sundance experience. The disc also has the music video for The National's "Think You Can Wait."
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
