Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		2.5

Peep World Blu-ray Movie Review

Arrested Tenenbaums

Reviewed by Casey Broadwater July 21, 2011

With its single-cam cinematography and dysfunctional, quasi-literary family, Peep World wants very much to bridge the gap between Arrested Development and The Royal Tenenbaums. Unfortunately, it’s neither as funny as the former nor as detailed and imaginative as the latter. At an extremely short 79-minutes, it seems like a sitcom pilot posing as a feature film, from its low-budget look to the fact that, by the end, we feel like Peter Himmelstein’s script has only begun to let us get to know the screwed up, self-loathing characters. It’s easy to imagine their continuing exploits running for a season or two on Showtime or AMC, which would arguably be a better fit for the material. This made-for-TV vibe is amplified by the film’s cast—a litany of small screen comedy stars including Michael C. Hall (Dexter), Rainn Wilson (The Office), Sarah Silverman (The Sarah Silverman Program), Ben Schwartz (Parks and Recreation), and Judy Greer (Archer). Then there’s Lewis Black, who provides a Ron Howard-ish, Arrested Development-style running narration, only grumpier, more frank, and completely superfluous. I half expected to be interrupted by commercial breaks every fifteen minutes.

The compact film wastes no time introducing us to the bickering, resentful, and entitled Meyerwitz family, presided over by patriarch Henry (Ron Rifkin), a wealthy land developer who clearly never wanted his four adult children. (It’s clear not because director Barry Blaustein shows us this, but because Lewis Black tells us.) Henry’s brood is preparing to gather at a posh L.A. restaurant to celebrate his 70th birthday, and none of them want to be there. As if there weren’t enough cause for discomfort, it’s also the first time the whole family will be together since youngest son Nathan (Ben Schwartz) published his hit novel, “Peep World,” a blatantly autobiographical debut that uses his siblings’ foibles and shortcomings as literary fodder, much to their chagrin.

Jack (Michael C. Hall), the supposed “good son,” is a failed architect whose pregnant wife (Pam Greer) curses at him in her sleep and who deals with the impending responsibilities of fatherhood by escaping to a sex shop where he spends his days in a booth watching porno films. Second child Joel (Rainn Wilson), a perpetually broke lawyer, is being hounded by thugs from the Honduran Credit Association, who threaten to take his mud-covered Cadillac Escalade unless he can come up with twelve grand by the end of the night. And Cheri (Sarah Silverman), bitchy and self-absorbed, is the archetypal Jewish American Princess, a wannabe singer/actor/artist with a nose job who gets pro-bono therapy from a Jews For Jesus convert (Stephen Tobolowsky) who’s just hoping to one day get in her pants. A family tree of the Meyerwitz lineage would probably show a list of neuroses and mental disorders alongside names and dates.

The film presents twelve hours in the lives of the four siblings as they go about their business before the dreaded birthday dinner, but there’s not much of a plot here. Jack’s three remaining employees quit and his wife discovers his dirty little secret. Cheri goes mental over the filming of the “Peep World” movie and complains about everything and everyone. Joel blows a tire, can’t afford a tow truck, and grosses out his new girlfriend when he brings her home to his filthy first-floor apartment. Peep World’s narrative is more of an extended multi-person character study than a story, which would be fine if the characters weren’t drawn from ethnic stereotypes and been-done-better-elsewhere dysfunctional family drama.

The film’s mopey centerpiece is Nathan, who frets over his appearance, treats his personal assistant condescendingly because “he heard Norman Mailer did that,” and whose tumescent ego over his book’s sudden success is drained by his crippling anxiety about premature ejaculation. The running gag here is that after a trip to a quack urologist specializing in this particular matter, Nathan spends most of the rest of the movie with a raging, painful, unyielding boner, which makes the last stop on his book-reading tour particularly uncomfortable. For everyone.

All this leads up to the dinner, which is as awkward and explosive as you’d expect from a family of privileged misfits who hate one another. It’s impossible, however, to escape the feeling that you’re watching a low-rent version of Running with Scissors, which was itself a poor man’s Royal Tenenbaums. Through there are a few genuinely funny bits, the film only works in fits and starts—it alternately seems like it’s trying too hard and not hard enough. The extreme brevity is both a blessing and a curse too; at an hour and nineteen minutes the film is short enough to never get stale, but it’s not long enough to do justice to the characters or give them anything interesting, story-wise, to do. The performances are decidedly mixed. Ben Schwartz goes too far by half in his exaggerated portrayal of the smarmy-but-insecure Nathan, and Sarah Silverman is as screeching and obnoxious as ever—sorry, I’m not a fan—but Pam Greer shows a maturity we haven’t really seen in her previous work, and Michael C. Hall does a fine job channeling a middle-aged man who hates his father but also wants his approval. You really feel his humiliation at being a failure as a son and a provider. If the film had had more of that, and less dick jokes and unnecessary narration, maybe it would’ve been worth a peep.

Peep World Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Shot almost entirely hand-held on high definition video, Peep World transitions easily to Blu-ray, where it debuts with a 1080p/AVC-encoded digital-to-digital transfer. As I said above, the film could easily pass for an extended TV pilot, and that goes for the look of the movie as well. The film's color palette is strictly realistic, and while truly vivid hues are rarely to be found, the image is by no means washed-out or dull. It is what it is—digital footage lightly graded for contrast, suitably deep-if-somewhat-faded-looking black levels, and warm skin tones. With tempered expectations you shouldn't have any real complaints. The same goes for the degree of clarity in the picture. Since the film was predominately shot hand-held, and used shallow depth of field for many shots, the actors' faces sometimes slip in and out of focus as the scenes progress. That said, you'll notice lots of high definition detail on display, from the individual whiskers of Rainn Wilson's beard to the texture of the hospital gown Ben Schwartz wears at the urologist's office. Compression noise and source noise are rarely an issue—with the exception of a few dark exterior shots—and I didn't spy any banding, macroblocking, or other encode issues.

Peep World Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Peep World's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track delivers the best that you could hope for from a low-budget indie comedy—consistent clarity, a modest amount of ambience, and clear and balanced vocals. The film is almost entirely dominated by dialogue, which takes precedence in the mix, with no hint of muffling, peaks, or crackles. The rear channels are only sparsely used for effects or environmental sounds, but you will hear some barking dogs, some light city noise, chatter in the restaurant, etc. The surrounds are often filled out, however, by a jaunty comedic score that's entirely unmemorable but at least sounds full and detailed. I can't think of any instances where the subwoofer was required to join in, but come on, this isn't Transformers 3. This track is exactly what it needs to be—easy to understand. There's also an uncompressed LPCM 2.0 stereo mixdown on the disc, along with optional English SDH and Spanish subtitles in bright yellow lettering.

Peep World Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Deleted Scenes (1080p, 4:45)
• Trailer (1080p, 2:22)

Peep World Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There are much better dysfunctional family drama/comedies out there, but Peep World does have one thing going for it—it's thankfully short. So, even if you do watch it and dislike it, you'll have only wasted just over an hour of your life. That sounds like sarcastic praise, I know, but I mean it. If you're still interested, I would suggest a rental.