Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		2.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.0

Big Night Blu-ray Movie Review

"If you give people time, they learn."

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown February 7, 2024

A hallowed collection exists within my movie collection: near-perfect films. I don't know if there's actually any such thing as the "perfect" film, at least objectively, but a near-perfect film offers everything you needed and more, while immersing you in a world, time or place that transports you, allows you to escape your life, even if for two hours, to experience a story so powerful, with performances so compelling, that you forget you're watching a movie. You're never quite sure exactly when it happens, that moment when you forget. But it happens all the same. And it's more powerful when the film that pulls off that neat little magic trick is a low-budget, character-forward period piece that should be on everyone's shelf. Big Night is that film, and good God, do I love Big Night. It's not my slice-of-heaven genre, or a flick I expected to adore. It simply won me over, pulled me and refused to let go. Since watching it in my senior year of high school (of all things), and growing irritated with the friends who "didn't get it", I've returned to Primo and Secondo's Paradise more times than I care to count. It's comfort food, through and through, and I discover a new taste, a new pleasure, a new laugh, or a new bit of sentiment each time. It's a shame, then, that I can't recommend this Blu-ray outright. Technically, its AV presentation is a mess; a DVD-esque disc of yesteryear. You should still buy it. Watch it. Love it. But don't for a second think this is a film that doesn't fully deserve a proper remaster and reintroduction to the many, many foodies it indirectly spawned who don't realize Big Night was as crucial a culturally influential inspiration to our 21st century fascination with restauranteering and amateur cuisine creation that it was.

Come with me back to the 1950s. Jersey Shore, New Jersey. Meticulous, no-nonsense chef Primo (Tony Shalhoub) and his brother, businessman Secondo (Stanley Tucci), are immigrants from Italy who, after working tirelessly and risking everything, open their dream restaurant, "Paradise". However, Primo's authentic food is too unfamiliar for the local tastes, and the restaurant quickly begins to struggle. Moreover, personal problems press in from all sides. Secondo attempts to juggle dual relationships with his girlfriend Phylis (Minnie Driver) and the wife (Isabella Rossellini) of competing restaurant owner Pascal (Ian Holm), Primo's ego and temper threaten to upend everything (including the brothers' trust for one another), and Secondo finds himself in the unenviable position of turning to Pascal, of all people, for financial help. Pascal, in turn, arranges for famous Italian-American bandleader Louis Prima to appear at Paradise in attempt to right Secondo's ship, and the two brothers put all of their energy and effort into the single most important meal of their careers, which will likely decide the fate of their restaurant. Co-directed by Tucci and Campbell Scott and co-written by Tucci and Joseph Tropiano, Big Night also stars Allison Janney, Marc Anthony, Susan Floyd, Pasquale Cajano, Robert Castle, Andre Belgrader, Gene Canfield and Liev Schreiber.

Tucci and Shalhoub deliver some of their best work in Big Night, and that's before you bring in Holm (a delight), Driver (adorable), Rossellini (killing it), Janney (so much fun), Anthony (showing his chops) and a lesser known supporting cast that makes it that much easier to forget you're watching a movie. Though set in the 1950s, the film's take on the plight of immigrants is both moving and real, and the relationship between its brothers is so well written and executed that you wouldn't be a fool for thinking Tucci and Shalhoub are true siblings. Big Night also strikes the balance between drama and comedy masterfully, earning laughs and tears with an effortlessness that's all at once disarming and infectious. Even if you have a difficult time responding to films steeped in food and chef culture, you'll be pleased to find this genre gem isn't really about either; it's family, idealism, hard work, mental health, pride, cultural loyalty, and desperation that take center stage, with very little in the way of manufactured or overly produced plotting. Big Night feels like a, well, big night in the lives of two immigrants. It isn't a movie, though it bears the hallmarks of a great movie; it's a night out with friends at a restaurant you know and love, and one you hope will find a way to survive the tides of business, the economy and its owners' shortcomings and tribulations.

How Big Night isn't better known than it is? No clue. It's a mystery. Lost in a deluge of late '90s standout films, it earned a number of awards and accolades -- nominated for top prizes at Sundance and Deauville, scoring Scott and Tucci the New York Film Critics Circle and Boston Society of Film Critics awards for best new director, and Tucci and Tropiano Independent Spirit honors for Best First Screenplay -- but was all but forgotten come Globes and Oscar season. It hasn't graced Blu-ray until now, hasn't inspired a special edition release befitting its critical acclaim, and has fallen out of the cultural zeitgeist in favor of more volatile restaurant dramas (a la The Bear). Perhaps it's too sweet for its own good, though nothing about it registers as trite or sentimental. The film's parting scenes are some of the best in recent memory; climaxing not with a grand dinner but rather the quaint, quiet meal three professionals, exhausted after a long evening, prepare food for themselves and find a moment of much-deserved rest in the kitchen. Each time the credits roll, I find myself loving Big Night more than ever before, and it sits proudly among my favorite films. Will you enjoy it as much as I do? It's hard to say. Being set in the '50s prevents the onset of age, though it still doesn't have the modern verve some crave. It's worth a chance, though. So long as you're able to stomach the Blu-ray release's lesser qualities. Read on...

Big Night Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Colors are relatively lifelike. Black levels are nice and inky. Contrast is vibrant and consistent. That's... about it. Unfortunately, Paramount's 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer is a complete train wreck of a presentation. Featuring the video quality of an upscaled DVD, Big Night looks like a first generation Blu-ray release, and a bad one at that. Detail is subpar, despite an aggressive layer of artificial sharpening (complete with edge halos) that creates the illusion of a crisp image but fails to offer the traits of one. It curses the film with a hyper-digitized appearance, smearing away fine textures and leaving all but the best of close-ups looking decidedly pudgy, soft and plasticized. Grain is present but all over the map, often drifting into soupy, swarming or blotted territory. Similarly, crush and artifacting creep into the image, which certainly doesn't help matters. (Click on the screenshots accompanying this review to see the many, many problems mentioned above.) There's also a bit of a sepia tone to the entire palette, which may trace back to the original cinematography (a solid possibility), or may actually be a color timing issue (a solid possibility). I'm not entirely sure, but felt it worth mentioning all the same. The end result is an extremely disappointing high definition presentation that -- again, I can't stress it enough -- bears a striking resemblance to an upscaled DVD. Big Night deserves better.

Big Night Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are times that I'm reminded that all "lossless" really means is uncompressed. If the underlying audio mix is DVD quality, the resulting track will suffer. Such is the case with Big Night's Dolby TrueHD stereo mix. First, no 5.1 surround? Second, even a two-channel track shouldn't sound this flat and unengaging. Dialogue is clear and intelligible and music fares well I suppose. Effects, however, lack punch, crowded dinner scenes lack the feeling of "being there", and the sound design is decidedly '90s. Presumably a video remaster would come with an audio redo as well, which Big Night not only deserves, but genuinely needs.

Big Night Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Nothing beyond the film's trailer is included.

Big Night Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Big Night is a lovely film that warrants your attention. Alas, its Blu-ray release is a distraction that will deprive you of the ability to fully relax and enjoy the experience. With a terrible DVD-era video presentation, a decent but problematic Dolby TrueHD stereo track, and a complete lack of extras, Big Night flounders in its high definition debut. If only Paramount remembered how wonderful a film it is. Perhaps then they'd deliver a remastered special edition, complete with newly produced supplements, that allows Big Night to be savored by new and old fans alike.