Fugly! Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.0

Fugly! Blu-ray Movie Review

Truth in advertising?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 16, 2015

Perhaps somewhat amazingly, this 2014 John Leguizamo effort was not the only film to come out last year named Fugly. A kind of Bollywood take on a quasi-Friends scenario also utilized that title, and a cursory glance at IMDb also lists several other properties going back to 2001 that have used the name. The fact that Leguizamo (who co-wrote and co-produced as well as starring in the feature) decided to append an exclamation point to the end of the title, evidently to set it apart from all those other “Fugly”s, is perhaps just one admittedly minor sign of a certain sense of desperation attending this fitfully amusing film which according to its tag line is supposed to be an “anti- romantic comedy.” Leguizamo has always had a self-confessional side to both his comedy and some of his stage work, and one has to wonder if his portrayal of sad sack and lovelorn Jesse has at least some basis in his real life experiences. And some of Leguizamo’s dark, trenchant humor manages to peek through a formulaic and often haphazard presentation, with Jesse’s announced suicide on his vlog pushing the envelope of both taste and humor. The main arc of Fugly! concerns Jesse’s unrequited love for blonde bombshell Lara (Radha Mitchell), a girl he meets in college, quickly (and perhaps unexpectedly) beds (if you count the back of a car a bed) and then just as quickly loses. Attempting to move on with his life, he ends up with a harridan fellow actor named Zowie (recently jettisoned View host Rosie Perez), only to cross paths with Lara decades later.

While Fugly! has moments of wit, its aim is both too wide and too oddly specific at times to ever resonate fully. Leguizamo seems to want to take on everything from ethnically mismatched lovers to a wild and wooly internet culture, not to mention a few glancing blows at the egos of actors (courtesy of the Perez character), with some bits landing at least partially and a lot more just falling flat. The film is probably most notable for its interpolated animated elements by the iconic Bill Plympton. Unfortunately, they’re not the most cartoonish thing about Fugly!

Fugly! Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Fugly! is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Fugly! boasts a sharp but at times kind of drab and uninspiring looking image, one that probably helps to underline Jesse's emotional state. Outdoor footage fares best, with appealing detail and some good depth of field. Some interior footage, much of which is shot in low light, suffers from some typical murk. The supposed "web cam" elements (as in screenshot 3) are intentionally kind of ragged looking, as is much of Plympton's animation work. There are no compression artifacts to cause concern and the image is stable throughout the presentation.

Fugly! Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Fugly!'s lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track offers a reasonably wide soundstage for scenes that combine elements like the sounds of Manhattan, but this is by and large a dialogue driven film, and as such never really has overwhelming opportunities for immersion. Fidelity is fine throughout the film, and there are no issues of any kind to report.

Fugly! Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no supplements on this Blu-ray disc.

Fugly! Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Fugly! either needed to go for broke and play things at an intentionally hyperbolic level throughout, or alternatively have opted for a more restrained, quasi-realistic dramedy approach. Leguizamo seems to want to have it both ways here, and the result is a, well, pretty fugly casserole of half baked ideas. At least with that exclamation point appended, the material is already orthographically set to be adapted into a musical.