5.8 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Leslie Wright, a straight-shooting physical therapist, gets the gig of a lifetime working with NBA All-Star Scott McKnight. Everything is going great until Leslie finds herself falling for Scott. Oblivious to her romantic overtures, McKnight is instead drawn to Leslie’s gorgeous childhood friend Morgan, who has her sights set on being an NBA trophy wife. Is Leslie destined to play the role of “best friend” forever or will Scott finally see that what he has always wanted is right in front of him?
Starring: Queen Latifah, Common, Paula Patton, Phylicia Rashad, Pam GrierComedy | 100% |
Romance | 65% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin (Traditional)
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Digital copy (on disc)
BD-Live
Region A (C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Actually, Just Wright—a basketball-centric romance starring rappers-turned-actors Queen Latifah and Common—is somewhere in between, like, say, going five for ten at the free-throw line. I was fully prepared for the film to join the league of truly awful rom-com duds I’ve seen this year— When in Rome, Our Family Wedding, How To Make Love To A Woman—but Just Wright is, if not a good film, at least surprisingly bearable and even occasionally smile-inducing. This is mostly due to Queen Latifah, a rare example in Hollywood of a beautiful plus-sized woman—confident in her appearance—who, to boot, has a grin so infectious the CDC should be keeping tabs on it.
More romance than comedy, it's no surprise that Just Wright forgoes the sanitary, over-lit look of most rom-coms for cinematography that's a little more lush and dramatic. 20th Century Fox's 1080p/AVC-encoded presentation—like the transfers of most of their contemporary films—is by and large excellent. Many rom-coms are going the HD video route these days, but Just Wright was shot on film and it shows, with a natural layer of grain that gives the picture a palpable cinematic texture. Clarity is very strong throughout—though never overly edgy—and you'll spot plenty of high definition detail, from the fine mesh of a basketball jersey and the threading of Queen Latifah's denim jacket, to the pores on Common's face, the beads of sweat on his head post-game, and the individual hairs of his extraordinarily tidy goatee. (Seriously, he could be on the front of one of those beard-dye boxes.) Skintones are rich and consistant, black levels are dense—while preserving relevant shadow detail—and contrast is lightly punched up, giving the image a pleasingly weighty appearance. Likewise, color is vivid—see the blue Orlando uniforms or the gold tone of Leslie's beat-up Mustang— and a warm cast covers most scenes. I didn't spot any errant compression problems or transfer-related mishaps.
The film arrives on Blu-ray with Fox's usual, a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track. The first thing you'll notice, from the opening credits, is that the music sounds great, with crisp snare hits, deep-but-defined bass, and a strong sense of separation and envelopment. This keeps up throughout —anytime there's a song playing, anyway. Like most romantic comedies, Just Wright is heavy on the dialogue and light on just about everything else—music excluded. The track makes what it can out of the film's limited opportunities for surround channel usage—cheering at Izod Center, chatter in a sushi restaurant, party ambience—but there's nothing here that will test the power of your home theater setup. And that's okay. It's enough for this kind of film that the dialogue is clean and clear—which it is—and anything else is just a bonus. I do particularly like the sound effect of the basketball being dribbled across the hardwood court—it has a nice, weighty thunk to it.
The One You Can't Live Without (1080p, 6:57)
Pretty typical EPK-style promo, with on-set footage, plenty of talking heads, and a synopsis of the film's plot and themes.
Common on the Fast Break (1080p, 5:04)
Common talks about his basketball history, which started with his father, who played for the ABA.
When Amazing Happens (1080p, 6:52)
A quick featurette about the use of the use of the NBA and real players like Dwight Howard, Bobby Simmons, and Dwayne Wade in the film.
Gag Reel (1080p, 2:39)
Theatrical Trailer (1080p, 2:26)
Better than I thought it would be isn't exactly a ringing endorsement, but it's the best I can give to Just Wright, a by-the-book romance that's short on surprises but filled with Queen Latifah's irrepressible exuberance. The film is at least better than some of the similar stuff that Tyler Perry has been putting out lately. Blu-ray specs are solid on this one as well. Bottom line? Just Wright is for rom-com regulars only.
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