6.3 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
On the day of their father's 70th birthday party, four siblings come to terms with the publication of a novel written by the youngest sibling that exposes the family's most intimate secrets.
Starring: Sarah Silverman, Ron Rifkin, Rainn Wilson, Taraji P. Henson, Lesley Ann WarrenComedy | 100% |
Drama | 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 5.1
English: LPCM 2.0
English SDH, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
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.
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'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.
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.
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