7.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
When the breadwinner of a high-living couple loses his job, the couple resorts to armed robbery.
Starring: George Segal, Jane Fonda, Ed McMahon, Dick Gautier, John DehnerCrime | Insignificant |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH, French, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
It's always fun discovering or revisiting a comedy from the '60s, '70s or '80s. Will it hold up? Will it still earn laughs? Was it even funny in the first place? Has it aged poorly? Has it somehow grown better over the years? Or does it deserve to fade into memory? Fun with Dick and Jane is a film I always remember sitting on the video store shelf (first in VHS and BETA, later just on VHS), and one I always remember moving right on past. I think my instincts were right. Oh, there's some hilarity to be had, even some throwback joy in all the actors that pop up on screen, most of them clearly having a blast with one another. But there's an artificial whiff to the setup, stiltedness to the unfolding story, and a dated desperation to the performances that, laughs be damned, leave this quote-unquote classic feeling stiff and antiquated.
While contrast and vibrancy are a touch dim and diluted in several scenes, Sony's 1080p/AVC-encoded Fun with Dick and Jane video transfer is quite good. A full, proper restoration of the original elements would most likely produce a more vivid and playful image but the master the studio is working with here has a lot of things going for it. A consistent and filmic veneer of grain, for one. Excellent detailing, for another. Fine textures are nicely resolved on the whole -- there are a few softer shots inherent to the photography -- and edge definition is clean, sometimes crisp, and altogether uninhibited. Colors are fairly attractive, black levels are reasonably deep, and delineation is decent (barring some minor and infrequent crush here and there). Add to that a lack of any significant banding, blocking or other such nonsense and you have an above average catalog transfer that proves to be a looker more often than not.
There's never a lot to say about a mono mix, other than the obvious, and Fun with Dick and Jane's DTS-HD Master Audio mono track is faithful to the film's original sound design while giving it a bit of modern polish. Voices are precise and intelligible at all times, Ernest Gold's music fares well amidst the playfulness and hilarity of the movie's hijinks, and there isn't much in the way of wear, tear or muffled moments to the clarity of the track. There are instances of apparent ADR-like post-production re-recording of dialogue, but it's par for the course. Likewise, there are some inconsistencies in the loudness of crashing glass and what not (which sounds rather tinny, as canned effects of the era often do) but it's not something that will draw any ire.
The Blu-ray release of Fun with Dick and Jane doesn't include any special features beyond a theatrical trailer.
Fun with Dick and Jane is one of someone's parents' favorite comedies. It doesn't really hold up, although a handful of laughs and gags do, and it really only offers genuine fun when it comes to Segal and Fonda's screenwork and chemistry. Sony's Blu-ray release is decent, with a strong video presentation and solid DTS-HD Master Audio mono track. But more extras -- any really -- would have gone a long way to adding value.
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Warner Archive Collection
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Warner Archive Collection
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