6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
A scientist builds a robot that looks exactly like him to go on a long-term space mission. A lovelorn female publicist, hired to promote the robot as a fundraising tool, "educates" him on human behavior -- with surprising results.
Starring: John Malkovich, Ann Magnuson, Glenne Headly, Ben Masters, Laurie MetcalfSci-Fi | Insignificant |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Romance | 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 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 2.5 | |
Audio | 2.5 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Director Susan Seidelman had a surprise hit with 1985's Desperately Seeking Susan, but none of
her films since then has achieved a similar success. Susan benefitted from the prescence (in a
supporting role) of an up-and-coming singer named Madonna, who, by the time the film hit
theaters, had exploded into a superstar. Filmmakers dream of such lucky timing, and Seidelman
may have been hoping for a similar boost when she cast performance artist Ann Magnuson as the
lead in her next film, Making Mr. Right. Like Madonna, Magnuson was well-known in
Manhattan's downtown club scene as a singer, songwriter and performance artist. She appeared
briefly in Susan as a cigarette girl, but her most visible role at the time was in Tony Scott's The Hunger, where she played one half of a couple seduced and ravaged by
Catherine Deneuve and
David Bowie.
Making Mr. Right features Magnuson's only leading role, and it's too bad the film isn't better
than it is. The script by Floyd Byars (Masterminds)
and Laurie Frank (an occasional director for SNL) posits the intriguing notion of an android becoming the perfect man, but then fails
to
explore the idea with the kind of ingenuity that would become a familiar theme on Star Trek: The Next Generation just a few years later. Seidelman seems content to skim the idea's surface,
relying on slapstick comedy and romantic cliches to carry the narrative. A talented cast led by
Magnuson and John Malkovich (in a dual role) do their best to lend substance to the film, but
they just don't have enough to work with.
Making Mr. Right was shot by Edward Lachmann, an East Coast indie specialist best known for
his collaborations with Todd Haynes (e.g., Mildred Pierce
and Carol). Both the production
design and Lachmann's lighting favor a candy-colored pastel palette designed both to reflect the
Miami locations and to create the sensation that the film is occurring in an alternate universe,
whether of science (at Chemtec) or PR spin (in Frankie's world). The transfer used by Olive
Films for this 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray does not appear to be recent. Blacks are washed out,
and detail is inconsistent. Both densities and color saturation are lacking, depriving the colors of
any "pop" and often rendering the locations dull. Although some of this effect is attributable to
the film's visual style, the consistently flat image doesn't do justice to either the production
design or the women's clothing, much of which has been deliberately chosen to look bizarre
(Frankie's wardrobe is memorably unbusinesslike). The visuals of Making Mr. Right should have
the hothouse artificiality that is the hallmark of its show-within-a-show, New Jersey, but Olive's
Blu-ray delivers something that more closely resembles an old TV sitcom.
With its usual barebones approach, Olive has saved all of the digital real estate for the feature,
resulting in an average bitrate of 27.98 Mbps. Compression has been capably performed.
According to its credits, Making Mr. Right was released in Dolby Stereo, but there's no separation to be heard in the lossless DTS-HD MA 2.0 track on Olive's Blu-ray. Played through a surround decoder, the track collapses to the center speaker, which typically indicates that the left and right tracks are identical. Within that caveat, however, the track features good fidelity, clear dialogue and an absence of noise, hiss or distortion. The light-hearted score by Chaz Jankel (Tales from the Darkside: The Movie) is effectively reproduced, as are various pop songs used for comic effect, notably "So Happy Together" by the Turtles.
The only extra is a trailer (1080p; 1.85:1; 2:00). MGM's 2003 DVD was similarly bare.
Since Making Mr. Right, Magnuson has played numerous supporting roles, including a Justice
Department secretary seduced for information in Clear
and Present Danger, Mel Gibson's ex-wife in Tequila Sunrise and a real estate agent in Panic
Room, but she was never cast in another
starring role. No director has ever figured out how to harness the diminutive redhead's unique
gifts, which have found their best expression in solo shows like Made for Television, part of the
PBS series Alive from Off-Center, which was subsequently picked up by HBO, or the
performance film Vandemonium Plus, shot before a live audience. On paper, Magnuson and
Seidelman should have been a good match, but the director's films since Desperately Seeking
Susan have consistently fallen short, even when Seidelman had the likes of Meryl Streep (in
1989's She-Devil). As a long-time Magnuson fan, I must
confess a lingering fondness for Making
Mr. Right, but I'm not blind to its flaws. Olive's treatment of the film isn't anything special, but
it's something of a miracle that the film has made it to Blu-ray at all. Recommended for fans.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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