Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.0

How to Frame a Figg Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman March 1, 2024

Look up the term "typecast" in the dictionary and there's a good chance it'll have a picture to Don Knotts next to it (or, if we want to get all modern, a link to his IMDB or Wikipedia page). He seems to always appear as the affable goofball, the person who means well, lives life with a big heart, but is always proverbially tripping over his own shoelaces, finding the goofiest way to wade through a situation or interact with the people, places, things, and the larger world around him. That is certainly true in How to Frame a Figg, a film in which the beloved and venerable actor plays a goofball who is the on the lowest rung of the office totem pole where he works. He's "Mr. Average" at best and a bumbling "dummy" (to use the film's verbiage) at worst, a man that the city's brass believes can be manipulated into either deliberately, or by sheer ignorance, overlooking a grafting scheme. It's a fun picture, maybe a bit too long and confined, but a solid little film in the larger Knotts canon that is sure to charm longtime fans and newcomers to the actor's work alike.

Hollis Figg (Knotts) is the perfect patsy. He's a "dummy" and known as such far and wide, including within the accounting office where he works. When local officials purchase a new computer with an eye of using it to disguise their graft, they fire everyone else in the office and leave Figg to be the sole man responsible for accounting. However, the "promotion" goes to Figg's head and might just spur him on to actually overcoming his inherent shortcomings to do his job and expose those who set the scheme in place.

There's a good reason that Knotts was so heavily typecast in these sorts of roles: because he was really good in them. This is certainly no exception. The film is a showcase for Knotts' uncanny physical talents and screen acumen, playing up goofy situations in a sincere comedic fashion, leaving behind any semblance of gross over-the-top humor in favor of a more grounded and approachable manner that still allows him free reign to ham it up and, yes, keep the attention on him, but not draw so much attention to the humor itself so as to distract from the rest of the film. Of course Knotts is a good enough actor to change up some of the peculiars in his persona in order to satisfy the specific confines, constraints, and demands of any given role, which he does here very well. Sadly, he's not given much to work with here, due in large part to what is a very forgettable script, but he is able to singlehandedly save the film by sheer force of will and talent alone, lending to the film the charm and physical antics that are both overtly demonstratable and covertly nuanced that keep the film interesting, at least so long as he's somewhere in the frame. Everything else is entirely forgettable.

Indeed, and unfortunately, the rest of the film just doesn't cut it, despite a solid enough premise. The core structure allows Knotts some great opportunity to stretch, but the film feels confined, sluggish, and not particularly memorable in terms of pure plot mechanics and maneuverings. Still, it's a decent enough time at the movies, of course primarily thanks to Knotts and a premise that gets just enough play and humor to work as a framework, but audiences should expect to keep their focus on Knotts rather than everything around him. He's the only reason to watch.

How to Frame a Figg Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Universal frames How to Frame a Figg on Blu-ray with an acceptable, but hardly noteworthy, 1080p transfer. The image appears to be the victim of some digital processing, tinkering with the natural grain structure and leaving behind a more digitized look. Fortunately, that does not mean that details have been wiped away, reduced to wax, or less than sharp. In fact, the picture is appreciably and, in many cases, satisfyingly sharp, but one gets the sense that a more faithfully film-like appearance would have resulted in an even better looking quality of detailing. Even so, the general vibe around the image is more or less positive, with nice definition to everything from attire to books lining a shelf as seen at the 39-minute mark. There's a good bit of visible information to facial definition, too, but again audiences can't help but to dream of a more faithfully filmic picture here. Color reproduction is decent enough. There's not a lot of tonal nuance at work, but the picture does boast a fairly hearty palette, including, of course, various neckties and bowties and other assorted clothes, cars, and period elements seen throughout the film. Natural greenery is fine, warm woods are healthy and relatively deep in color, and the palette exhibits a general satisfaction for overall color accuracy and quality. Black levels are decent enough, ditto whites, and skin tones look good overall. Note that there are also a few scattered pops and speckles apparent on the print as well. The overall score is probably more of a 3.25/5.00.

How to Frame a Figg Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Universal releases How to Frame a Figg to Blu-ray with a proficient DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless soundtrack, which is the only audio option on the disc (optional English SDH subtitles are included). The track is pretty basic, offering decent enough body and volume to a few of the rare prominent sound effects heard in the film, such as the blaring ambulance sirens heard in the opening moments, but even then such are both rare and not exactly sonic highlights and powerhouses. That is fine, however, because this is made to be a dialogue heavy comedy. The spoken word presents with a fine front-center imaged quality to it with very little sense of drift to the sides. Vocal clarity is quite good for the duration. Light music also enjoys satisfying detail and proper front-side engagement.

How to Frame a Figg Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of How to Frame a Figg contains no supplemental content. The release does not include a "top menu" screen. A pop-up menu is included which only offers users the option to toggle the optional English SDH subtitles on and off: the very definition of "bare-bones." No DVD or digital copies are included with purchase. This release does not ship with a slipcover.

How to Frame a Figg Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

How to Frame a Figg is really only worth watching for Don Knotts, but he's one of those rare actors that is worth watching even if the movie around him isn't, which is the case here. Knotts is solid in the part, playing with a familiar cadence, so audiences who enjoy his antics will find this is a decent enough watch, though to be sure the movie squanders a good idea for a movie with bland execution and sluggish pacing. Universal's Blu-ray is fairly disappointing, too, what with no extras on the menu. Video could be much better (yet at the same time, it could be much worse). I guess that from a technical perspective the forgettable yet still baseline effective 2.0 lossless soundtrack stands as the "highlight" of this release. Recommended only on a very steep sale; the disc is probably worth $5 new all things considered, so try and wait for it to drop there, if it ever does; at time of writing this is going for about $20 on Amazon, which is way too much for the value offered.