Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.5

Mystery Date Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov April 15, 2016

Jonathan Wacks' "Mystery Date" (1991) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of independent distributors Olive Films. The only bonus feature on the disc is an original trailer for the film. In English, without optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

The shy guy

Ethan Hawke plays Tom McHugh (Ethan Hawke, Before Sunrise), a handsome but incredibly shy college student who has fallen in love with his beautiful neighbor, Geena Matthews (Teri Polo, Aspen Extreme). She seems like the perfect girl for Tom but he can’t gather the courage to ask her out on a date.

When Tom’s parents leave town to attend a prestigious dog competition, his older brother Craig (Brian McNamara, Short Circuit) unexpectedly appears with his fancy Cadillac and immediately proceeds to do the impossible -- call Geena. She picks up the phone and he quickly convinces her that he has been dying to go out with her. Then he gives Tom his driver’s license, some cash and tells him exactly where to take her and how to treat her so that she would want to go out with him again. Soon after, Craig heads to the city to take care of some unfinished business while Tom orders flowers for Geena and a limo to take them to the fancy restaurant his brother has recommended.

When the limo driver has some truly bizarre accident, Tom decides to borrow Craig’s precious Cadillac. It turns out to be a great move because soon after Geena reveals to him that she is never impressed by guys who pay to go out on a date with a limo.

For a while Tom pretends to be Craig but his act quickly attracts a lot of odd characters that spoil his date -- a veteran hitman, a Chinese gangster with a small army of killers, crooked cops, and even an angry flower boy who is determined to hurt him in a variety of different ways.

The film has a tremendous energy and it literally undergoes three, perhaps even four sizeable transformations. There is a part of it that easily could fit in a classic ‘80s romantic comedy. There is another part that could just as easily work in a high-octane action film. Different sequences also would be perfect in a stylish pop-rock film, perhaps a similar but slightly more mellow replica of Walter Hill’s Streets of Fire.

Some of the subplots -- and there are quite a few of them -- are a bit too far-fetched, but there is hardly any time to question them. Tom and Geena constantly find themselves in different situations where Tom quickly has to find a way to outsmart the people that are trying to get him while keeping Geena entertained. And when she eventually realizes that he isn’t the guy she assumed she is on a date with, things become even more interesting.

The main reason why the film works, however, is the great chemistry between Hawke and Polo. Both seem genuinely excited to be together and during those special moments where they feel that there is a real connection between them one can immediately tell. There is one particular sequence right after they jump in the fancy Cadillac where it is plain as a day that Hawke isn’t acting and is in fact attracted to Polo. The eyes never lie.

The soundtrack is outstanding. It features top tracks from INXS (“Suicide Blonde”, “Disappear”, “On My Way”), Seal (“Crazy”), Sonic Youth (“Tunic – Song for Karen”), and Tone Loc (“Funky Cold Medina”), as well as Dave Stewart and Candy Dulfer’s classic instrumental piece “Lily Was Here”.

Mystery Date Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Jonathan Wacks' Mystery Date arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films.

The release appears to have been sourced from the same master that MGM used when it prepared the initial DVD release of Mystery Date. Predictably, during some of the nighttime footage depth isn't overly impressive. Some light crushing also pop ups and further impacts shadow definition. The good news is that despite the limitations of the master the film has a fairly decent organic appearance. The encoding could have been optimized and the end result would have been even better, but large portions of the film still look rather good (see screencaptures #3 and 5). Colors are stable, but there should be a wider range of nuances. There are no traces of recent degraining corrections, but ideally the grain should be much better exposed and resolved. Contrast levels are stable. Overall image stability is excellent. Finally, there are no distracting debris, damage marks, cuts, or warped frames to report in our review. So a new master would undoubtedly give the film a fresh and much more vibrant appearance, but the current technical presentation is still quite decent. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Mystery Date Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are not provided for the main feature.

The film has a very nice retro soundtrack that features top tracks from INXS, Tone Loc, GWAR, and Dave Stewart and Candy Dulfer, amongst other. The music is crisp and clear and even during the club scenes balance remains quite nice. Depth and clarity are also consistently pleasing. The dialog is stable and clean, though I assume that if the audio is fully remastered some minor improvements in the mid/high frequencies will probably be made. There are no audio dropouts or digital distortions to report in our review.

Mystery Date Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original trailer for Mystery Date. In English, not subtitled. (2 min, 1080p).

Mystery Date Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I've always liked this film. It is very light and genuinely entertaining, plus it has a fantastic soundtrack that creates quite an atmosphere. It is widely forgotten now because it received plenty of unfavorable reviews when it came out in the early '90s, but I assure you the people that did not like it simply did not have the right expectations for it. The film is perfect to see after a long and exhausting day with someone special. RECOMMENDED.