Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Struck by Lightning Blu-ray Movie Review

The perks of being a dead flower.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 25, 2013

Justin Bieber has just informed us that he’s an “artist”, a revelation he delivered to a resounding chorus of “boo”’s at the Billboard Music Awards, a response which seemed to throw the self-absorbed youngster into something of a tailspin as he continued to blather on about how all the negative press he’s received (much of which he’s generated due to his ridiculous behavior) shouldn’t be “spoken of”. Note to Bieber: stop acting like an ass, and the press will have less with which to fill their tabloids. Now, don’t get me wrong: I’m not actually disparaging Bieber’s musical gifts (such as they are), though truth be told, I’m not exactly in the preferred demographic for his material, and the professional musician in me cynically wonders how much of his prefab sound is managed through the artful application of ProTools. But when a 19 year old gallivants around the world, doing spectacularly dunderheaded things like claiming if Anne Frank had lived she would have been a “belieber”, sorry, dude, the term “artist” is not exactly something I’d emblazon you with. (True tidbit: my local paper just had the priceless headline Bieber loses custody of monkey, gets booed onstage.) Which brings us to the case of Chris Colfer, a young man just a couple of years older than Bieber and one of the stars of Glee: The Complete First Season, who has already acquitted himself quite well in both the acting and singing fields. Now Colfer has written both the source novel and adapted screenplay for as well as starred in the amiable enough comedy Struck by Lightning. If Bieber is an “artist”, someone like Colfer, especially someone as relatively unassuming (at least when compared to the self-aggrandziing Bieber), must be something akin to a God.

I took some considerable heat for my The Perks of Being a Wallflower Blu-ray review since I did not give the film an unqualified rave, something which some fans of the movie thought was unconscionable. But Wallflower just never really connected with me on a gut level (which I’m perfectly willing to say is my issue), and in fact seemed prefabricated to elicit reactions which, in my case at least, were never forthcoming. The interesting thing about Struck by Lightning is that it offers much the same general ethos of teenaged angst as Wallflower, but it manages to convey it in a less expected manner. This approach is probably nowhere more noticeable than in the basic conceit of the film: it’s narrated by Carson Phillips (Chris Colfer), whom we see being killed by a bolt of lightning in the film’s opening sequence, and who then takes back through his life as he narrates the rest of the film. This tip of the dead man’s hat to Sunset Boulevard gives Struck by Lightning a decided edge. This is obviously not going to be the traditional emotionally wrenching arc of an outcast teen finally finding his niche in the world.

Of course the tradeoff here, which some may actually find more objectionable, is that the film becomes all about the (now) dead teen helping others to find their niches in the world. There’s some surprising bite to this film, including a rather unsentimental look at an addicted mother (a moving performance by Allison Janney), who in one of the best narrated moments is described as someone who aimed to be Betty Crocker and ended up being Betty Ford instead. Colfer’s character of Carson is the kind of overly self-aware teen that seems to exist solely (or at least mostly) in films and television. In this case, Carson has literary ambitions, including hoping to ultimately write for major magazines and newspapers, but instead he’s stuck in a backwater where no one even wants to contribute to the high school newspaper that Carson more or less writes by his lonesome. When his inquiry about applying to Northwestern University is met with less than an excited response, his goofy counselor (Angela Kinsey) suggests he try doing a literary magazine instead.

There are an interconnected set of melodramatic plot points which ensue, which include Carson and his chief cohort, would be short story writer Malerie (Rebel Wilson), blackmailing a number of other students to start participating (these include Modern Family’s Sarah Hyland as a promiscuous cheerleader), as well as an unfolding intersection of Carson’s estranged father Neal (Dermot Mulroney) who is trying to get married to the local pharmacist (Mad Men’s Christina Hendricks) who has come to realize the addled woman she regularly dispenses drugs to is Neal’s ex-wife and Carson’s mother. There are a number of other roiling plot points—perhaps too many, frankly—including closeted gay jocks, a principal with a temper problem, and Carson’s grandmother (Polly Bergen) suffering from Alzheimer’s. All of these strands get woven together a bit too felicitously in the supposedly heart tugging finale to the film, Carson’s funeral service.

And yet for all its flaws, Struck by Lightning is often a hugely enjoyable film. Colfer has a nicely natural quality throughout the film, dabbling in teenage angst without wallowing in it, and many of the supporting characters, while rather hackneyed at times, are brought to life by a very capable cast. The chief acting honors here go to Janney, who is simply incredible, especially in one absolutely heart wrenching scene toward the film’s end. Colfer may in fact not be an “artist” (whatever that term means nowadays, especially when it’s self-applied), but Struck by Lightning shows him to be a rather inordinately talented writer and actor, one who acquits himself more than admirably in both fields in this enterprise. Plus, he doesn’t have a monkey.

Struck by Lightning Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Struck By Lightning is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of New Video Group with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This digitally shot feature actually looks rather anemic in high definition, with a strangely muted palette and nothing that really pops with excessive clarity. Extreme close-ups reveal abundant fine detail, but the bulk of this film is unexpectedly lackluster. There's nothing downright horrible about this transfer, and in fact there are no compression artifacts to speak of, but for a very recent vintage film shot in native HD, there's not a lot of "wow" factor here.

Struck by Lightning Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Struck By Lightning is similarly fairly subdued in its sound mix, delivered via either a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 or DTS- HD Master Audio 2.0 mix. The 2.0 mix is actually a bit clearer at times, being more centrally focused, but the 5.1 mix has some added depth and a couple of decent shots of LFE along the way. Dialogue is cleanly presented and the score, which includes a few nice source cues, fills the surrounds quite well. Fideltiy is excellent but dynamic range is fairly restrained throughout the film.

Struck by Lightning Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• An Interview with Chris Colfer and Brian Dannelly (1080i; 2:16) is a brief sitdown with the star and director of the film.


• Story Behind the Scene (1080i; 1:48) looks at the scene where Carson's mother is informed her son has been killed.


• Bloopers (1080p; 17:19)


• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 17:14)

Struck by Lightning Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Struck By Lightning should appeal to anyone who liked The Perks of Being a Wallflower, but it also has something to offer those who might not care one whit about "outcast teenager" films. There's some gentle humor as well as some unexpected pathos in this film. Is it perfect? No—it's too rote at times and it ties everything up a bit too neatly for my personal taste (despite the fact that the "hero" is dead from the get go). But there's a charming and refreshing honesty to much of this film, one that I connected with far more viscerally than I did with Wallflower. This Blu-ray's video is kind of uninspiring (though there are no actual "problems" with it), and the audio is fine if similarly lacking real punch. Despite these qualms, Struck by Lightning comes Recommended.