6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
A pair of friends embark on a mission to reunite their pal with the woman he was going to marry.
Starring: Adam Pally, T.J. Miller, Thomas Middleditch, Shannon Woodward, Alison BrieComedy | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Spanish: DTS 5.1
French: DTS 5.1
Castilian Spanish
English SDH, French, Spanish, Dutch
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
UV digital copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Search Party released overseas back in 2014 but was delayed stateside by about 18 months. That's never a good sign. While the movie isn't particularly awful, it's hardly at the top of the Comedy game, barely scraping by as a serviceable laugher with precious little originality in play. Director Scot Armstrong's film is sort of like The Hangover meets The Groomsmen, the story of three friends who find themselves on a wild, zany, and briefly naked adventure through life, love, and Mexico when one of them has his big day go big time wrong. Armstrong actually co-wrote The Hangover II, so a movie like Search Party is certainly not a stretch for him. That said, he doesn't stretch himself with Search Party, either, settling for middle-of-the-road laughs and generic gags through a fairly pedestrian set-up and execution. The cast is rather good, though, and the movie makes for a decent enough one-time watch.
Wedding crasher.
Search Party's 1080p transfer gets the job done. Despite some light, and largely inconsequential, interference from source noise, the image looks fairly good overall. The digital roots are impossible to miss. There's a glossy and fairly flat texture to the canvas, but the resultant detail and color yield is high. Textures are robustly defined, presenting intricacies across the board -- skin, clothes, dusty Mexican terrain, classy wedding accents -- with natural ease. Image clarity is consistent, and only briefly do parts of the image appear smudgy or smeary. Colors are healthy and many, pushed a bit to the warmer end to be sure. Saturation is excellent, punchy primaries pop, black levels hold deep enough, and flesh tones appear fine, if not skewed a little to the warm end.
Search Party's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack is like a tale of two halves. The film's opening half is rather mundane, technically sound to be sure but seriously front-heavy and without much sense of place, space, or aggression, either from the surrounds or from the subwoofer. The film's second half, while not a full-throttle, endlessly engaging, and totally immersive experience, does open up quite a bit. Surrounds pick up several bursts of gunfire, resulting in stronger multidirectional and speaker-specific sonic highlights. The subwoofer kicks in with a bit of weight during an explosion. Light ambient effects don't widen considerably at any point, leaving quieter moments feeling a bit more empty than they should. Dialogue delivery is fine, presenting with natural front-center placement and consistent prioritization over other sound elements.
Search Party contains no supplemental content. A voucher for a UV/iTunes digital copy is included with purchase.
Search Party doesn't inject any new life into the Comedy genre, but it's a decent, if not a bit over stale, Road Trip/Buddy/Stoner comedy that offers a few laughs inside a serviceable story. Performances are the strength; audiences can get behind the characters, which is paramount to any sort of success a movie of this sort might enjoy. Don't expect the world from it, and chances are it'll satisfy the itch for a passable time killing Comedy. Universal's featureless Blu-ray offers good video and audio that picks up in the second half. Rent it.
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