Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.5

Band Aid Blu-ray Movie Review

"What if we turned all our fights into songs?"

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson September 13, 2017

In her directorial debut, writer/producer/star Zoe Lister-Jones (Lola Versus) takes a stab at the marital dramedy with a well-meaning effort that yields mixed results. Lister-Jones plays Anna, an aspiring author whose book contract does not materialize the way she hoped. To support herself and her lackadaisical husband, Ben (Adam Pally), she works as an Uber driver, only to be the unfortunate recipient of misogynist insults from her primarily male passengers. Ben's career as an artist is also struggling to gain ascent. He works odd side jobs designing corporate logos but would rather be relegated to the couch playing his favorite video games. Lister-Jones employs the dirty dishes in the sink and a leaky ceiling as metaphors for the couple's marital struggles. Ben and Anna fight over who produced the most dirty dishes and who should clean up after the other. Anna also has trouble conceiving, which is magnified when Ben puts his mother Shirley (Susie Essman) on the car's speaker's phone for both to hear. Shirley wants her son and daughter-in-law to have kids, which is logically the next scene at the birthday party of Anna's godson. The spectacle of toddlers with their mothers is pretty unbearable for Anna, who tries to get through it high on weed. Ben and her retreat to their hosts' bathroom where they smoke pot to decompress. Feeling almost rejuvenated, they pick up some kids' musical toys and start improving a ballad together.

It dawns on Anna and Ben that perhaps they could create music together as a cathartic release from their marital frustrations. Having each played an instrument in high school, they begin rehearsing with garage band (with Ben on electric guitar and Anna on bass). They also coax Dave (Fred Armisen), an eccentric neighbor and recovering sex addict, to join them as a drummer. Armisen brings life and some electricity to a rather sluggish story. He lives with two attractive high-class prostitutes, Cassandra (Jamie Chung) and Crystal (Erinn Hayes), who try to teach Ben a therapeutic lesson in "snuggle therapy." Dave's influence on the couple works for a while as the band trio receives some live open mic performances.

Cassandra and Crystal try some snuggle therapy on Ben.

With Band Aid, Lister-Jones gives a noble attempt in dramatizing the marital difficulties of a thirty-something Jewish couple in their lower middle-class milieu. The movie's main impediment is Lister-Jones's screenplay, which packs too many of the same repetitive lines (or variations of them) between Anna and Ben as they jab back and forth. Band Aid seems to move in circular motions and it's a chore to get through the first hour. Lister-Jones includes a park scene where Anna and Ben stop to talk to a hippie band, who they decide isn't for them. It seems like this scene could have been developed further. Lister-Jones could have integrated this band in somewhere else but it reflects uncertainty upon her because they're not seen again. The grunge rock songs that Anna and Ben come up with express their feelings of anxiety but there's a sameness to the lyrics that make them blend together. (The notable exception is a song that Anna writes herself when she's considering going solo.) Lister-Jones bookends the film with a marriage counseling session with the couple (featuring Retta as the shrink Carol) and Shirley giving her son a lecture on man/woman relations. While not poorly delivered, the latter is a standard trope of the dysfunctional marriage genre and is didactically written. At an hour-and-a-half, Band Aid feels a bit too long because it seems to run through the same vicious circles. Lister-Jones is a multi-talented filmmaker but she needs more original material to channel her creativity.

Band Aid Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Band Aid makes its global debut on Blu-ray courtesy of Shout! Factory on this MPEG-4 AVC-encoded BD-50. The label presents the 91-minute feature in its original theatrical aspect of 2.40:1 and the transfer boasts a healthy average bitrate of 32187 kbps. The HD photography looks pristine with just a few minor video flaws. Skin tones haven't been tinkered with and appear consistent throughout the presentation. Both the brighter and darker colors show excellent definition and detail. There is maybe a tiny amount of chroma noise present. During the open mic performance scenes, ringing and edge halos crop up around the stage lights (see Screenshot #12). Authoring and compression are top notch.

Shout! has provided its standard dozen chapter breaks for scene access.

Band Aid Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Shout! has supplied two sound track options: a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround mix (2687 kbps, 24-bit) and a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo downsample (1609 kbps, 24-bit). Dialogue is plainly spoken and audible throughout. Volume and pitch levels can vary depending on the camera's distance between the characters. The outdoor birthday party has a nice ambience and comes across clear along the front speakers. Band Aid doesn't contain any action-oriented scenes so f/x doesn't really stand out. There are a dozen songs on the film's EP album. The numbers performed by Lister-Jones and Pally in front of audiences provide the most activity for the surround channels.

Shout! has made optional English SDH and Spanish subtitles available for the main feature. The SDH are complete and accurate.

Band Aid Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Deleted Scenes (10:00, 1080p) - seven excised scenes that either are different from what's in the theatrical cut or are extended/alternate versions of existing scenes. Most of the material deserved to be trimmed, although a scene with Anna and Ben meeting a record producer could have been left in (but even this goes on too long). It seems like they were all cut for pacing as well as story redundancies. In English, not subtitled.

• Outtakes (3:17) - several different outtakes and bloopers from the filming of Band Aid. In English, not subtitled.

• Music Video (6:43, 1080p) - this is more like a promotional making-of featurette with a music video packaged inside. There are some staged faux interviews with Zoe Lister-Jones and Adam Pally. In English, not subtitled.

• Trailer (2:33, 1080p) - an original theatrical trailer for Band Aid presented in 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen with DTA-HD MA 2.0 sound.

• Shout! Bonus Trailers - previews for other IFC Films titles that load after the disc's insertion: Queen of the Desert (2:32), Wakefield (2:04), and King Cobra (2:14).

Band Aid Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I trudged through most of the first hour of Band Aid but the last thirty minutes have some sparkle and energy. Shout! Factory delivers a near-reference transfer with a serviceable sound track. I appreciated the deleted scenes but the other extras are merely filler. A commentary track with Zoe Lister-Jones could have been a deal breaker if you're sitting on the fence with the film. As a dramedy, Band Aid executes everything decently but the material never really takes off in full flight. The movie is a misfire so I'd recommend a RENTAL FIRST before even considering a purchase.