Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

Blind Date Blu-ray Movie Review

Odd Couple

Reviewed by Michael Reuben January 10, 2014

Before he played John McClane, and before she won an Oscar, Bruce Willis and Kim Basinger studied at the Blake Edwards School of Slapstick that gave us Inspector Clouseau, 10, The Great Race, Victor Victoria and the underseen masterpiece, S.O.B. Originally intended for the then-married Madonna and Sean Penn, the script by Dale Launer (My Cousin Vinny) was so thoroughly rewritten by Edwards and others that Launer eventually disowned the film, and Mr. and Mrs. Penn quickly dropped out. (Given the results of their sole cinematic collaboration, Shanghai Surprise, that's probably for the best.) Edwards promptly cast Willis in his first credited feature film, giving him second billing to Basinger, an unlikely choice for a screwball comedy heroine, in light of her work to date as a Bond girl in Never Say Never Again, a closet masochist in 9½ Weeks and the prize possession of a Cajun gangster in No Mercy.

But Edwards had a gift for tapping the hidden lunacy in his actors, and no one was better at choreographing farcical mayhem. Blind Date requires the viewer to accept several dubious premises, but once the setup is in place, the proceedings unwind with clockwork precision. Even though the third act drags slightly, audiences laughed, and the box office defied critical drubbing.

Blind Date is a Sony catalog title being released on Blu-ray by Image Entertainment. The release is as plain as they come, but the presentation is quite good.

Walter Davis (Willis) is an aspiring account man at a financial management firm headed by Harry Gruen (George Coe). Walter works day and night crunching numbers, because he actually thinks it'll help him advance. Meanwhile, his slimy colleague, Denny Gordon (Mark Blum), dresses the part, schmoozes the boss and always has a ready excuse for his spreadsheets being late. In his spare time, Denny parties, while Walter can't get a date.

Walter's anemic social life becomes a work issue, when Gruen throws an official party for a major prospective client, Mr. Yakamoto (Sab Shimono), a traditional Japanese businessman with a geisha-like wife (Momo Yashima) and a stable of concubines. Stuck for a date, Walter reluctantly lets his brother, Ted (Phil Hartman), fix him up with Nadia Gates (Basinger), a beautiful, intelligent and sensitive woman with just two minor issues. Walter discovers the first problem when he and Nadia stop at an art exhibit by a friend of Nadia's on the way to dinner. (The painting and sculptures look like a cross between H.R. Giger and Hieronymous Bosch.) Her "psychotic ex-boyfriend", David (John Larroquette), appears, introduces himself and quickly turns violent. This is David's standard routine. Nadia and Walter spend the whole evening outrunning him and, in classic Blake Edwards fashion, David spends the whole night taking increasingly ludicrous pratfalls. (Larroquette, already well known from TV's Night Court, is brilliant at portraying David's mercurial shifts of mood.)

Nadia's other problem is alcohol. Walter's sister-in-law, Susie (Stephanie Faracy), has warned him not to let Nadia drink, but he naturally assumes this means not to drink to excess. Who couldn't manage a glass of champagne when they go to hear Walter's friend Stanley play the guitar (musician Stanley Jordan, making his first and only appearance in a film)? It turns out that Nadia is uniquely sensitive, such that even the taste of alcohol causes her to transform. By the time she and Walter reach the restaurant where the firm is holding the party for Yakamoto, she's a wild woman, laughing and falling down, saying anything to anybody (including the Yakamotos), baiting the pretentious waiter (Armin Shimerman, the future Quark on Star Trek: DS9) and generally thundering through the place with the destructive force of a Sherman tank. Basinger had never done anything like this before, and she's scarily convincing as the blind date from hell.

By the end of the night, Walter's life lies in ruins. One version of the film's poster featured a memorable quote, specially written for the poster: "Do you recognize me? I used to be a respectable citizen. I had a good job and a promising future. I made only one mistake—I went on a blind date. Anybody got $10,000 for bail?"

According to the ironclad laws of screwball comedy, however, the hero's life needs to be ruined, so that he can find his true self. After Walter and Nadia part on angry terms, they both realize they've fallen in love, and the film's third act is about getting them back together, or at least it should be. Edwards can't resist sight gags, and he spends an inordinate amount of time on the frustrations of Walter's futile attempts to see Nadia at the stately mansion where she is currently staying after returning to L.A. from visiting her mother (Joyce Van Patten) in Baton Rouge. The house is guarded by a vicious dog named Rambo, who will attack anything that moves, including his supposed master, Jordan the Butler (Graham Stark, a regular in Edwards' films). Even when Walter gets past Rambo, Edwards has him dodging the mansion's occupants in a flurry of slamming doors and emergency hiding places worthy of a French farce.

Blind Date benefits enormously from its supporting cast. In addition to those already mentioned, William Daniels provides tart delivery as the judge assigned to Walter's case; comic Barry Sobel plays a gas station attendant who behaves like he's preparing material for open mike night; stuntman Dick Durock is memorable as a disco bouncer who intimidates without saying a word; and Momo Yashima's Mrs. Yakamoto, though she purportedly doesn't speak English, ends up delivering my favorite line in the film.

Blind Date Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Harry Stradling, Jr. (The Way We Were) shot several films for Edwards, including Blind Date. Sony has provided RLJ/Image Entertainment with its usual reliable transfer from clean (or well restored) source material for this 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray. By the standards of the era, the image is sharp, and detail is excellent. Blacks are solid, and the colors vary according to the environment: muted at Walter's home and office, but growing more vibrant and varied as his evening with Nadia progresses. Edwards would sometimes try a stylized look (e.g., Victor Victoria), but Blind Date aims for visual realism, so that the wacky behavior of the characters seems to erupt even more forcefully from normal surroundings.

The film's natural grain pattern is fine and appears undisturbed by inappropriate digital tampering. The average bitrate of 28.83 is more than enough to avoid compression issues.

Blind Date Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Blind Date's original Dolby Stereo mix has been reproduced in lossless DTS-HD MA 2.0. It's an effective mix with clear dialogue, exaggerated sound effects to punctuate various jokes (the loud sound of ripping cloth is a recurring touch), and a cleverly contrasting musical accompaniment that alternates Henry Mancini's score, Stanley Jordan's guitar and songs by Billy Vera and the Beaters (who are seen playing during the disco sequence) to keep the mood of the film shifting back and forth faster than Walter Davis can possibly follow.

Blind Date Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The disc contains no extras. Sony's 2002 DVD release was similarly bare.

Blind Date Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

After Blind Date, Willis made another film with Edwards called Sunset, in which he played actor Tom Mix opposite James Garner's Wyatt Earp. Sunset was released in 1988, the same year that the first Die Hard made Willis a movie star. It isn't hard to spot in his portrayal of Walter Davis the same wild streak that would give John McClane such credibility as an ordinary guy who did extraordinary things when pushed too far. Basinger may have had top billing, but it was clear who the star of Blind Date was. It's a minor film and a bare-bones disc, but Blind Date holds up. Recommended.