6.7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
After his first date at age 15 ended with the girl making out with another man at a party, aspiring writer Lester Grimm (Eric Stoltz) has treated all his girlfriends with jealousy and suspicion. While dating Ramona Ray (Annabella Sciorra), paranoia gets the best of him when he discovers that her most recent ex is successful novelist Dashiell Frank (Chris Eigeman). Lester begins attending the same group therapy sessions as Dashiell to learn about Ramona's past with him.
Starring: Eric Stoltz, Annabella Sciorra, Chris Eigeman, Carlos Jacott, Marianne Jean-BaptisteComedy | Insignificant |
Romance | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: LPCM 2.0
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
There's a kind of curious throwaway line in the trailer for Mr. Jealousy (which is included on this disc as a "supplement") where writer and director Noah Baumbach provides the same kind of "narration" he does for the actual film, and where he encourages prospective ticket buyers to "skip the multiplex and head straight for the art house" in order to be able to see "the real green eyed monster". That slightly odd allusion (?) made me wonder if there had been a movie featuring a certain Marvel Comics character that came out circa 1997 - 1998, but, no, the only thing I could find was The Incredible Hulk, an animated series that was airing around that time. Could Baumbach have been referencing a "mere" cartoon in his obviously joking voiceover? Baumbach is on hand in some archival interviews also included on this disc, and if he doesn't address this obviously pressing issue (that's a joke, folks), he does get into some of his tribulations making Mr. Jealousy, and how he perhaps feels a bit ambiguous about the results. Mr. Jealousy kind of unavoidably is a rather peculiar film, at least from a tonal perspective, at it kind of flirts (no pun intended) with supposed "rom com" territory while also having a somewhat darker, maybe even sinister, subtext. That comes courtesy of a plot conceit that posits focal character Lester (Eric Stoltz) as suffering from almost debilitating jealousy which was sparked by him seeing his first girlfriend kiss another guy at a party when Lester was still a teenaged kid. That supposedly traumatizing event turned Lester into, well, a green eyed monster, and as voiceover describes, all subsequent relationships have been destroyed by Lester's unending suspicions and questioning of his prospective partners. Enter Ramona (Anabella Sciorra).
Mr. Jealousy is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of the MVD Marquee Collection, an imprint of MVD Visual, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. As usual with MVD's releases, there isn't any technical information imparted on the back cover. I wouldn't be surprised if this were an older master, though all things considered, there's really very little noticeable damage to report, and detail levels are generally quite good. The palette is reasonably well suffused but can have a slightly blue cast at times which can marginally affect "naturalness". Some of the outdoor material, while seemingly autumnal or wintry at times, pops quite well. Fine detail on objects like herringbone suit jackets can be appealing. Grain resolves naturally throughout.
Mr. Jealousy features an LPCM 2.0 track that offers good support for what is often a pretty dialogue heavy film, with many scenes playing out either between two or three characters (the group therapy sessions are a seeming exception, except even there scenes are often edited so that just one or two participants may be featured). Some scattered source cues and underscore sound nicely full bodied and all dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.
Annabella Sciorra is rather lovely in this film, but I personally found Stoltz to be miscast. The supporting cast does its best with sometimes iffy writing, but there's probably enough here for fans of any individual cast member (including Stoltz) to find at least occasional enjoyment. The retrospective featurette is really interesting with tons of both text and subtext. Technical merits are decent (video) to very good (audio), and with caveats noted, Mr. Jealousy comes Recommended.
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