6.2 | / 10 |
Users | 3.8 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Jonathan Switcher, a young artist, constructs a mannequin so perfect that he falls in love with it. The mannequin ends up in the window of a big department store where Jonathan gets a job as stock boy. The mannequin comes to life as Emy, an ancient Egyptian girl from the year 2514 BC, but she can only do so when she is alone with Jonathan.
Starring: Andrew McCarthy, Kim Cattrall, Meshach Taylor, Estelle Getty, James SpaderComedy | 100% |
Romance | 59% |
Fantasy | 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 (locked)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Mannequin is a quintessential artifact of the Eighties, and not just because of the clothes, the
soundtrack and the musical sequences that cut neatly into the video for Starship's "Nothing
Gonna Stop Us Now", which MTV played on an endless loop throughout 1987. The film was
also a signature hit for the now-defunct Cannon Group, the low-budget specialists responsible for
the Missing in Action films, the
sequels to Death Wish, Lifeforce, Masters of the Universe and
numerous other fondly remembered hunks of Eighties cheese. Mannequin was Cannon's rare
offering for the young female demographic, and it was wildly successful despite a critical
drubbing. Roger Ebert pronounced it "dead", but at least he resisted the temptation to make bad
jokes out of the fact that the title character is a department store dummy.
What Ebert and most contemporary writers missed about Mannequin, however, is that its
silliness is built on a solid foundation. Romantic comedy is about couples who must overcome
obstacles to be together, and Mannequin provides a big one (the heroine isn't fully alive). The
farcical variety known as "screwball comedy" involves ridiculous situations and outsize
personalities behaving absurdly, and Mannequin is full of them. While the script by Michael
Gottlieb and Edward Rugoff (who would later write Mr. Nanny for Hulk
Hogan) can hardly be
compared to classics of screwball like Bringing Up
Baby—and Gottlieb as a director is no
Howard Hawks—Mannequin seems more alive today than it did 29 years ago simply because
rom-coms have deteriorated so badly in the intervening years. Sure, the film is dated, but it was
hardly realistic even when it was new. It was always a fairy tale from an alternate reality.
Mannequin was shot by Tim Suhrstedt (Office Space
and Sex Tape, among many others). Olive
Films has licensed the rights from MGM, which presumably provided the transfer for this 1080p,
AVC-encoded Blu-ray from well-preserved source material. The transfer is a capable effort with
a bright and colorful palette (except in the brief Egyptian opening), solid blacks and a fine and
natural grain pattern that does not appear to suffer from untoward digital manipulation. Since this
is an Eighties project originated on film, the image may appear "soft" to eyes accustomed to
digital sharpness, but this is not a fault of the transfer. Detail is plentiful in clothing, skin textures
and the many varied departments of Prince & Company.
Without any extras, Olive Films has used the entirety of a BD-25 to accommodate the 90-minute
film, resulting in an average bitrate of 31.50 Mbps, which is excellent. The compression appears
to have been capably performed.
Mannequin was released in Dolby Stereo and arrives in Blu-ray with a stereo track encoded in lossless DTS-HD MA 2.0. The track capably reproduces the dialogue and the essential sound effects (e.g., the power tools that Emy joyfully discovers when she first comes to life), but Mannquin's sound is primarily about music. The lively electronic score is by Sylvester Levay (Hot Shots!), and the soundtrack benefits enormously from Belinda Carlisle's "In My Wildest Dreams", which plays over the opening credits; Alisha's "Do You Dream About Me", which accompanies the multi-costumed dance number at Prince & Company; and Starship's "Nothing Gonna Stop Us Now", which plays over the conclusion. The lossless treatment provides a full, rich experience, and a surround decoder expands the stereo track into the full array.
The only extra is a trailer (1080p; 1.85:1;1:36).
Mannequin is a trifle, but it's a well-made one. The most likely purchasers of this Blu-ray are
those who remember the film fondly and are eager to revisit it. Those new to the experience need
to approach it with appropriate expectations, both for Mannequin's era and for its content. Either
way, Olive has done a creditable job of bringing the film to Blu-ray. Recommended.
1991
2006
1985
2006
25th Anniversary Edition | Remastered
1990
1986
1989
2012
2004
1990
2007
2019
2003
2004
Warner Archive Collection
1986
1988
1991
1967
2010
Totally Awesome Edition
1998