One Crazy Summer Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

One Crazy Summer Blu-ray Movie Review

Hoops dreams.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III August 30, 2021

After the mixed reception of his feature film debut Better Off Dead, writer/director Savage Steve Holland returned with One Crazy Summer, an absurd but sweet romantic comedy starring a young John Cusack and Demi Moore. It's a living, breathing cartoon in most respects, balancing an anything-goes atmosphere with goofy one-liners, non sequiturs, and animated breaks supposedly drawn by its main character, Cusack's "Hoops McCann". (They were actually handmade by Holland himself, who may be more known now for his later work like Eek! the Cat.) Hoops is the reluctant straight man in a comedy of errors, as the recent high school graduate escapes to Nantucket with his best pal George Calamari (Joel Murray, Mad Men) before trying his luck at the Rhode Island School of Design. His ticket in is by writing and illustrating a love story... while finding some for himself, and hopefully with roving rocker Cassandra Eldridge (Moore).

It's not an easy task, especially in front of so many sentient roadblocks like the dim-witted Stork twins, Egg and Clay (Bobcat Goldthwait and the late Tom Villard, Grease 2), vindictive Teddy Beckersted (Matt Mulhern, Biloxi Blues) and his flirty girlfriend Cookie (Kimberly Foster, Dallas), ultra-serious Boy Scout leader General Raymond (Joe Flaherty, Freaks and Geeks) and his estranged son Ack-Ack (Curtis Armstrong, Revenge of the Nerds) and of course the Calimari family at large, which includes George's grandparents (Michael Rudolph and Billie Bird, Sixteen Candles), as well as a reclusive uncle (Bruce Wagner, Shocker) who spends lonely days trying to win a local radio station's call-in contest. But the real conflict, such as it is, arrives in the form of Teddy Beckersted's dad Aguilla (Mark Metcalf, Animal House), a mustache-twirling land developer trying to pilfer the property of Cassandra's late grandfather... and in true paint-by-numbers comedy fashion, our motley crew must immediately raise x number of dollars in y days to save it.

One Crazy Summer isn't exactly rocket surgery, but it is pretty good fun. This short and sweet production wrings a decent amount of comedy from limited ingredients and, for the most part, gets by on the strength of its varied cast, a number of terrific one-liners, and several running gags that often land at just the right time. That's to say nothing of the animated breaks (narrated by Hoops himself) that follow the exploits of a down-on-his luck rhino and, fittingly enough, parallel the ups and downs of Hoops' pursuits and are peppered with over-the-top violence that wouldn't feel out of place in a Don Hertzfeldt cartoon. (Two of the unwitting victims even bear a striking resemblance to the late Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, who not coincidentally hated Better Off Dead.) And while a pretty high number of jokes don't stick the landing, they're often over before you know it... but if you first saw and enjoyed One Crazy Summer during your teenage years, chances are you'll still chuckle at just about everything 35 years later.

While that milestone isn't officially celebrated on Warner Archive's new Blu-ray edition of the film, One Crazy Summer has gotten the boutique label's usual white-glove treatment with a sparkling new 2K remaster that easily stands head-and-shoulders above previous home video editions -- including their own DVD-R offering from just five years ago -- as well as lossless audio and two vintage bonus features, including the original trailer and a fun group audio commentary with Holland, Bobcat Goldthwait, and Curtis Armstrong. Die-hard fans may already have this (or are at least waiting on their Amazon pre-orders)... and while it may not play quite as well for newcomers, One Crazy Summer carries a torch for the director's outside-the-box comedy that continued with his next film, 1989's How I Got Into College.

One Crazy Summer Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

One Crazy Summer gets a very nice Blu-ray upgrade from the ever-reliable Warner Archive, whose own 2016 DVD-R replaced a creaky old "snapper case" edition released by their parent company almost two decades ago. As usual, this new 1080p transfer was taken from a very recent scan of original source elements, yielding a stunning picture that showcases the film's sunny Cape Cod location footage in outstanding detail. Textures are quite strong here and shadow detail is excellent, but the real standout is its color saturation, thanks to an incredibly varied palette with vivid costume designs and era-specific signage. Occasional animation breaks look even better, with eye-popping colors that serve Savage Steve Holland's goofy characters and a routinely violent, anything-goes atmosphere. In both formats, the Blu-ray is very well compressed with no unsightly artifacts, banding, edge enhancement, or excessive noise reduction which, as usual, gives everything a film-like appearance that's nonetheless clean as a whistle. Squeezed onto a single-layered disc, the show plays just about flawlessly with a total amount of video content just over 90 minutes in length. It's fine work indeed, and die-hard fans should consider it worth an upgrade on those merits alone.

One Crazy Summer Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

One Crazy Summer's DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track replicates the original two-channel mix faithfully, keeping this dialogue-driven comedy within genre boundaries while still leaving a little room for sonic creativity. Overall balance and channel separation are both fine, with a few stray pans and discrete directional hits livening up what's otherwise a very front-and-center presentation with limited depth. It's a clean and crisp effort with no noticeable damage, hiss, pops, or distortion, save for a few moments of dodgy ADR. Those moments also might be responsible for my only mild complaint here: a few seemingly random sync issues, which aren't overly distracting but definitely present. Given WAC's near-spotless track record for quality control, though, I'll assume these minor issues have always existed.

Optional English (SDH) subtitles are included during the main feature only.

One Crazy Summer Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc package arrives in a standard keepcase with original one-sheet poster artwork and no inserts of any kind. Both extras listed below have been ported over from previous DVD editions.

• Audio Commentary - This vintage feature-length track brings writer/director Savage Steve Holland, actor Bobcat Goldthwait, and actor Curtis Armstrong together for an enjoyable and very laid-back track. It balances lots of personal memories with a little behind-the-scenes stuff, from location footage to Holland's animation, developing the story, Price is Right, casting, working on a low budget, improv bits, a few regrets, and lots more. It's a great track, and don't worry... Bobcat uses his regular voice, so no need to bring any Q-tips.

• Theatrical Trailer (1:32) - This goofy, Bobcat Goldthwait-narrated promotional piece -- which is performed in character, kind of -- captures the film's spirit pretty well and can also be seen here.

One Crazy Summer Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Savage Steve Holland's One Crazy Summer is an enjoyable 80s rom-com that, for the right audience, will hold up just about perfectly due to its comfortably silly vibe, fun cartoon breaks, and memorable characters. Bulletproof comedy it ain't, but this is still pretty ideal lazy weekend viewing as the summer season winds down. Warner Archive's Blu-ray package is reliably terrific, sporting another immaculate 1080p transfer that represents a huge upgrade over previous DVD editions -- even the vintage audio commentary has been ported over, which is occasionally better than the film. This one's clearly Recommend to established fans, but newcomers may want to try before they buy.