6.3 | / 10 |
Users | 4.5 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.6 |
Lauren and Katie move in together after a loss of a relationship and a loss of a rent controlled home, respectively. When Lauren learns what Katie does for a living the two enter into a wildly unconventional business venture.
Starring: Ari Graynor, Lauren Miller Rogen, James Wolk, Nia Vardalos, Mimi RogersComedy | 100% |
Romance | 53% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English SDH, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
UV digital copy
DVD copy
BD-Live
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Predicting the hits or misses of any given comedy is a fool's errand. One man's laughs are another man's groans, which stands true even for the greatest of comedies. For a Good Time, Call... isn't a great comedy. I wouldn't even call it a particularly good comedy, although I have no doubt a select forgiving few will laugh themselves into a coma. First time feature film director Jamie Travis never quite nails the rhythm a more seasoned filmmaker might have hit with the material, co-writers Lauren Miller and Katie Anne Naylon swing suddenly, almost violently into conventional rom-com territory, and it's the guys, not the girls -- the cameos, not the leading ladies -- who walk away with Call's laugh-out-loud bits and funniest one-gag-wonders.
"You ladies are living some f'd up version of the American Dream!"
Clean and colorful, For a Good Time, Call... features a lovely little 1080p/AVC-encoded presentation free of serious flaws. James Laxton's perky palette is brimming with bright splashes of color -- pinks, golds and blues -- and loaded with playful primaries. Contrast remains consistent throughout as well, with warm, smartly saturated skintones, deep blacks and an abundance of not-too-crisp, not-too-soft detail. Edge definition is honed to near-perfection (near because minor ringing still crops up in a handful of shots), fine textures are natural and fairly revealing, and delineation isn't the least bit problematic. There also isn't any significant artifacting, banding, aliasing or crush to speak of, and only a handful of anomalies -- a brief burst of noise here, a negligible blip on the compression radar there -- will catch an easily distracted videophile's eye. (Guilty!) At the end of the day, Universal's transfer isn't exactly stunning, but then neither is the film's photography. It gets the job done, though, which is more than I can say for the comedy.
Call's sound design and, by extension, Universal's faithful DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track doesn't stray all that far from the rom-com fold, heaping front-heavy conversation on top of more front-heavy conversation. But the rear speakers go above and beyond, grabbing hold of the film's perky soundtrack, the bustling city, the busy streets, the crowded locales, the voices bleeding through the walls of the small apartments, and every moan and scream that echoes over the girls' phone lines. I wouldn't call the resulting soundfield immersive per se, but it is suitably full and engaging, which is more than I can say for most romantic comedies. No, the LFE channel doesn't get much of a workout, and no, dynamics aren't all that impressive. No surprises here. Even so, low-end output is more than serviceable, and lends weight as needed. Dialogue, thankfully, is clear, convincingly grounded in the mix and perfectly prioritized, making Lauren and Katie's apartment a realized, lived-in space. Lines are never lost, voices never falter and there isn't an effect out of place. This one doesn't disappoint.
For a Good Time, Call... tries. Oh, how it tries. Shot in just sixteen days on a budget of $1.3 million, it's almost easy to forgive the film its trespasses. But no amount of weeks and no influx of cash can grant a movie the comedy fundamentals it sorely needs -- rhythm, timing and a payoff to a clever premise -- and Call comes up short in every regard. Universal, though, does not. With an excellent video transfer, a solid DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track and a decent supplemental package, For a Good Time, Call... at least delivers on a few fronts. I'd recommend sticking with a rental, but if raunchy, R-rated femme comedies are your thing, you could do worse that this one. Of course, you could also do better...
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Director's Cut | Special Edition
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