6.4 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Two garbage men living in a beachside community dream of opening a surf shop, but can't seem to get their act together. When they discover a murdered politician in their load of trash one day, they attempt to sniff out the killer themselves -- a bad idea that quickly lands them in hot water with a greedy, murderous executive guilty of dumping toxic waste into the ocean.
Starring: Charlie Sheen, Emilio Estevez, Leslie Hope (I), Keith David, Dean CameronComedy | 100% |
Crime | Insignificant |
Action | 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
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Note: 'Men at Work' is currently only available in a two-film bundle with 'Easy Money.'
It's always interesting when movies take audiences into worlds that aren't everyday accessible or that exist on opposite ends of the spectrum. In
Men at Work, Writer/Director/Actor Emilio Estevez (The Public) plays alongside his real-life brother
Charlie Sheen as garbage men who wind up in possession of a whistleblowing politician's dead body. The film blends high stakes white collar murder
and political drama with blue collar trash slinging in mix-and-match entertainment that is not without potential but that can never
quite break free of Estevez's wishy-washy script which blends a couple of interesting ideas that ultimately converge into fairly generic material.
Men at Work's 1080p Blu-ray presentation begins inauspiciously with some opening title wobble but the image actually proves fairly steady and pleasing to the eye for the duration beyond. It displays a natural grain structure that shows no signs of unwarranted scrubbing. Rather than rob the image of its innate textural qualities, the grain accentuates the finer point elements, including the trash truck and the guys' ragged clothes in addition to other external city elements that reveal complex components with ease. Colors are neutral, certainly not featuring any kind of razzle-dazzle, even with the film's most would-be intensive tones. There's good essential tonal variance to trash and trash cans, city accents, and clothes of all varieties. Black levels show good balance and flesh tones appear true to actor complexion. The image does show the random splotch and speckle but no serious encode issues are apparent. This is a good looking catalogue transfer.
The two-channel lossless soundtrack delivers the film's modest sonic assets with good essential detail. The track is adequately spacious and produces good results to music, which plays with quality front end width and commendable clarity. There are a few good directional effects when Carl and James sling some trash across the front at a few points, as well as during a few of the more aggressive action-type scenes. Dialogue propels most of the track, though, and it images well to the center while producing good basic clarity. All of that said, a couple of minor issues are apparent. At reference volume the track is a bit shallow and quiet and there are a couple of brief lip sync issues, the most prominent of which occurs at the 15-minute mark.
As it ships as part of the double feature with Easy Money, Men at Work contains only the film's Trailer (1080i, 1:45).
Men at Work is a workmanlike film that flashes humorous potential in the area of trash collection but gets bogged down in an otherwise routine murder-chase component. The film is an agreeable escape but can't live up to what Estevez obviously saw in his own script. Shout! Factory's Blu-ray, as it ships one the same disc with Easy Money, delivers very good 1080p picture and more than adequate two-channel lossless audio. The only supplement is the film's trailer. Worth a look and recommended for fans.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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