6.3 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 0.5 | |
Overall | 0.5 |
Career firefighter Cathkart (Danny DeVito) and his wife (Katey Sagal) are ready to embrace their golden years, but push comes to shove when the only way to reclaim the nest from their slacker sons Elliot (Ryan Hansen) and Quinn (Skyler Stone) is to move out first. Left holding the keys, the fumbling couch potatoes get a crash course in suburban reality as the bills multiply and their newly founded lemonade stand goes belly-up.
Starring: Danny DeVito, Katey Sagal, Skyler Stone, Caitlin Crosby, Ryan HansenComedy | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English SDH, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 0.5 | |
Video | 2.5 | |
Audio | 3.0 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 0.5 |
I’ve sat through some tedious dreck this year—soppy romantic comedies, brainless teen gross-out sex farces, scare-free, style over substance horror films—but nothing prepared me for the unremitting awfulness that is House Broken. Judging by the cover art, the film looks bad, but not bad bad, just, well, standard issue straight to home video schlock. You’ve got Danny DeVito positioned prominently beneath the title—okay, I can appreciate It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia—you’ve got a ditzy-looking cheerleader, a sexy-with-glasses type, and then you’ve got the two goofy-ass dudes on the couch. It looks like the kind of film that languishes on Blockbuster shelves, unrented, the kind of movie you’d pick out of a bargain bin and, after reading the synopsis on the back, toss it back in. But it doesn’t look eye-gougingly terrible, an irredeemable mess from start to finish. Oh, but it is. House Broken is the cinematic equivalent of a pick-ax lobotomy—it’s crude, ill-executed, and leaves you in a brain-dead stupor.
Two brothers, a couch, and a hock of ham.
House Broken looks every bit of its miniscule budget on Blu-ray, with a 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer that's soft, blandly colored, and generally unimpressive. I haven't been able to verify, but it looks to me as if the film was shot on 16mm, as the image has nowhere near the resolution you'd expect from 35mm. In tight close-ups you can make out some fine detail—see the screenshot of Danny Devito below—but the picture, while passable as high definition, rarely looks crisp or resolved. Color reproduction is unremarkable, exhibiting all the dimness and dullness that are the hallmarks of low-rent lighting. Black levels are somewhat inconsistent, occasionally crushing shadow detail and often taking on a hazy, deep grayish quality. The film definitely looks best during the outdoor scenes, as the darker indoor sequences are given to spikes of graininess and noise. There are also a few white specks on the print, but nothing overtly distracting. Overall, I can't fault the film for the limitations of its budget, but no one is going to be objectively impressed by the picture quality here.
A little better is the film's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track, which gets the job done admirably, all things considered. Like most comedies, the emphasis here is on the dialogue, which comes through cleanly despite a few instances of mild muffling and clipping. The surround channels are frequently filled with guitar-heavy music that packs the film's biggest sonic wallop, with decent low-end response and strong crunchy clarity. Seriously, this movie is set to non-stop riffing. There's also a surprising amount of ambience coming from the rears, with airy outdoorsy noises and other sounds, like crickets, traffic, a distant siren. It's not exactly immersive, but I definitely appreciate the sound designers' efforts.
Dance Rehearsal with Introduction by Director Sam Harper (SD, 2:31)
"It's mostly a broad comedy," says Sam Harper, who then goes on to explain that he wanted to have
one scene that a "celebration of life." Alright. After that we get to see the actors rehearse the
"STOMP" sequence.
Interviews (SD, 4:34 and 11:39)
We get two interviews here. In the first, director Sam Harper attempts to explain the film, and in the
second, actor Tom Wilson goofs off and tries to improvise some comedy.
Trailer (SD, 2:20)
House Broken joins some illustrious company—Crazy on the Outside, Freeway Killer, I Hate Valentine's Day, Serious Moonlight—on my shortlist for worst film of year. Crass, idiotic, and just plain irredeemably awful, this is the kind of movie I wouldn't wish on anyone. Stay away, stay far far away.
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