6.4 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
An all-too-uptight FBI agent must protect a larger-than-life New York mobster, currently under witness protection in the suburbs of Southern California. Loosely based on the life of Henry Hill, whose criminal history is portrayed in "Goodfellas".
Starring: Steve Martin, Rick Moranis, Joan Cusack, Melanie Mayron, Bill IrwinComedy | 100% |
Crime | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
My Blue Heaven was released in the same year as Goodfellas, and both films sprang from the same
source (unlikely as that may seem). Screenwriter Nora Ephron was married to author Nicholas
Pileggi, and while Pileggi was adapting his book about mobster Henry Hill for Martin Scorsese,
Ephron was writing a comedy about Hill's life in witness protection after the explosive cut to
credits with which Scorsese concluded his gangster epic. Henry Hill's lament at the end of
Goodfellas that he's become an average "schnook" feeds directly into Ephron's fantasy about a
gangster who rebels against the bland surroundings of his new identity and sets about remodeling
suburbia to suit his wiseguy tastes.
My Blue Heaven had a lot going for it, including a well-crafted script by Ephron (When Harry
Met Sally . . .), sure-handed direction by Herb Ross (The Sunshine Boys) and a cast filled with
comedy veterans led by Steve Martin, who was initially cast in the role of a strait-laced FBI agent. But a last-minute
casting change altered the film's trajectory. The character of the turncoat mobster—rechristened
"Vinnie Antonelli" for Ephron's tale—was originally set to be played by Arnold
Schwarzenegger, and we can only imagine how the Terminator's signature accent would have
adapted to the role of a Brooklyn-born son of Sicily. But Arnold dropped out at the last minute,
and Martin stepped into the role to save the project. While Martin is a gifted performer of both
comedy (The Jerk) and drama (Leap of Faith), he's woefully miscast as a character for whom
flamboyant Italian ethnicity is the core of his identity. The late Robert Pastorelli played a
convincing version of Vinnie's character in Eraser, but Martin
never seems comfortable in the
turncoat's skin. His Vinnie feels no more authentic than the Czechoslovakian "wild and crazy
guy" who was one of Martin's recurring routines on Saturday Night
Live—and the performance sinks the movie.
My Blue Heaven was shot by the versatile John Bailey (The Accidental Tourist and Groundhog
Day), whose lighting casts a bright and cheerful sheen over the entire affair. For this 1080p,
AVC-encoded Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection, a recent-vintage interpositive was
scanned at 2K by Warner's Motion Picture Imaging facility, followed by the usual color-correction and WAC's customary cleanup of dust, wear and
damage. My Blue Heaven comes to
Blu-ray with a vividly colorful and sharply detailed image that's as upbeat as Vinnie Antonelli's
confident swagger. Blacks are solid, primaries are fully saturated, and the fluorescent glow of the
nightclub where Vinnie teaches Barney is faithfully rendered. Even the New York courtroom
where Vinnie testifies against his former associates looks like a happy place. The resolution of
fine detail brings out the stark contrast between's Vinnie's flashy wardrobe and Barney
Coopersmith's monochromatic, button-down attire (a style he shares with D.A. Hannah). The
California locations used for Fryburg look so inviting that you wonder why everyone doesn't
want to live there. WAC has mastered the film at its usual high bitrate, here 34.99 Mbps, with a
capable encode.
As far as I have been able to determine, this is the first time that My Blue Heaven has been
presented on digital disc in its original aspect ratio. On Warner's 1999 DVD (reissued in 2007),
the film was reformatted to 1.33:1.
The stereo track for My Blue Heaven has been taken from the original multi-channel printmaster, cleaned of any age-related defects or deterioration and encoded in lossless DTS-HD MA 2.0. When played through a surround decoder, the cheerful score by Ira Newborn (who scored The Naked Gun series and numerous John Hughes films) expands into the surrounds and creates a pleasingly immersive experience. Otherwise, the mix remains largely front-oriented with the notable exception of a few brief but intense bursts of gunfire that pings back and forth across the room. The English dialogue is clearly rendered, and there's an extended scene in Italian, which is subtitled.
The only extra is a trailer (1080p; 1.78:1; 2:02), which is already more than was offered on Warner's 1999 DVD (reissued in 2007).
Like nearly every title released by WAC, My Blue Heaven has its fans, and for them this Blu-ray
presentation should be a welcome addition to their collection. Anyone new to the film might
want to rent or borrow it first. It's a promising concept, but a problematic execution, hobbled by
a miscast central character. But on its technical merits, recommended.
2013
Unrated Edition
2013
2011
Extended Edition
2010
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