Delivery Man Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Delivery Man Blu-ray Movie Review

Wozniak fathers way more kids than laughs...

A tired retread of director Ken Scott's own French-Canadian indie, Starbuck (2011), Delivery Man wanes, waffles and ultimately fails in its bid to make an unlikable man-child likable. Vince Vaughn's David Wozniak shows heart, and plenty of it, but this is as sugary and sentimental as arrested development comedies get, and a far cry from the delicately balanced late onset maturation dramedy Scott clearly believes he's delivering. It's Chris Pratt's Brett who steals the show; Brett the audience wants to follow, and Brett that we connect with. Wozniak is an abuser of the worst kind: the artificially lovable abuser who means well, he really does... he just needs a chance to prove himself! So give him a chance! No thanks. Delivery Man isn't without laughs, mind you. It's just prone to erratic pacing, hit or miss one-liners, playing heart strings as if they were puppet strings, and force-feeding Vaughn fans a feel-good message that neither suits the story or its potential. (Is it really so difficult to put together a riotous comedy about a loser who learns he's inadvertently fathered hundreds of sperm-bank children?)

To his credit, Vaughn tries. He puts in the time, jumps through the appropriate hoops and actually does something a bit different for once. But a sad-sack script, uneven direction, a horribly predictable third act and some truly god-awful dialogue can't save Delivery Man, even with Pratt, Cobie Smulders and a bright, talented young supporting cast doing their all to keep the film's head above the waves.

Delivery Man Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Delivery Man doesn't look all that great, high definition or no, although Disney's undoubtedly proficient 1080p/AVC-encoded video presentation is faithful to Scott and cinematographer Eric Edwards's intentions. Contrast is irritatingly hot, the film's palette and skintones are plagued by a green tint, primaries are strong but skewed, and crush is prevalent throughout. However, it's all in keeping with the original photography, making it best to focus on the transfer's finer qualities. Detail is quite striking, with crisp edge definition and nicely resolved textures, and the encode is free of artifacting, banding, aberrant noise and other eyesores. I noticed some ringing from time to time, but it was present in the film's theatrical presentation, which indicates another source-born anomaly rather than one that's suddenly cropping up now. Subjectively, there isn't anything here to get excited about. Objectively, it looks every bit as good as it should. Take that as you will.

Delivery Man Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Much the same could be said of Disney's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track. While it delivers Delivery Man's sound design as conceived, there isn't anything in the way of remarkable sonic prowess. Largely flat and front-heavy, the conversational comedy at least features clear, intelligible, well-prioritized dialogue and solid dynamics. LFE output is passable (although less than notable) and rear speaker activity is serviceable, with bars, crowded assemblies, city streets and busy parks offering up some welcome ambience and more immersive properties. Most scenes eek by, though, without much in the way of enveloping directionality or an involving soundscape. Delivery Man sounds fine, there's no mistaking it. But it also doesn't do anything to distinguish its lossless experience from a thousand other two-dimensional comedy tracks.

Delivery Man Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Building Family (HD, 16 minutes): This behind-the-scenes look at the film with the cast and crew is riddled with EPK-style annoyances but does serve up some choice reflections from the talking heads involved. What's missing, though, is any real insight into Scott's adaptation of his own 2011 French-Canadian film, the differences between the two, the tone and style of the remake, or anything remotely surprising. It's actors and filmmakers playing nice at the expense of a deeper exploration of the production.
• Vince Vaughn: Off the Cuff (HD, 5 minutes): Watch as Vaughn goes off script, amuses the cast and crew, and settles into his own groove between takes. Unfortunately, here's nothing special here either. It's a shallow "Highlight the Star" promo, nothing more.
• Bloopers (HD, 5 minutes): Share a few light chuckles with the giggling, gaffing cast and crew in this thankfully low-key outtake reel. There are even a few genuine laughs to be had, if you have the good will to accommodate them.
• Deleted Scene (HD, 2 minutes): A single deleted scene -- "You're Under Arrest" -- and one of very little confidence. Not to continue kicking a supplemental package when it's down, but one scene is all Scott could scrape together? As episodic as David's plight becomes, it seems there has to be a lot more material sitting around in a can somewhere.

Delivery Man Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Delivery Man is pure genre fluff. It invests little effort in exploiting or expanding its admittedly fun concept and invests even less effort into mining its potential for moving arrested development drama or comedy, or really anything resembling a belly laugh. You'll grin from time to time -- I'm sure Vaughn fans and apologists will be more than happy to mount a spirited defense of their snark-slinging captain -- but mainly when Pratt steals the film. (And he steals it wholesale.) The script just isn't there, the execution is lacking and the end result is an unwieldy, off-puttingly sentimental mess. Everyone involved deserves better material. All that being said, Disney's Blu-ray edition boasts a decent AV presentation that's faithful to the filmmakers' intentions, minus any special features willing to clue viewers in to what those intentions were. As is the case with any comedy, there will be those who nuzzle up to Vaughn and Scott and really enjoy Delivery Man. Sadly, though, most of you will only find disappointment waiting at the end of the tunnel. There's a good movie in there... somewhere. This just isn't it.