6.1 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
A comedy about making it on Wall Street. Prejudices are hard to break and Laurel Ayres quickly learns that in order for people to take her seriously she has to work for an older white man or be one.
Starring: Whoopi Goldberg, Dianne Wiest, Eli Wallach, Jerry Hardin, Vincent LarescaComedy | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
None
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 2.5 | |
Audio | 3.0 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
It’s obvious that the success of 1992’s “Sister Act” had a profound effect on the career of Whoopi Goldberg. She was already popular, accomplished all around and an Oscar winner, but the box office triumph of the singing nuns movie created the potential for a brand name, and Disney wanted to keep that magic going for years to come. It didn’t last for long (1993’s “Sister Act 2” was rejected by audiences), but as the 1990s rolled out, Goldberg toplined a few comedies for the studio (with Polygram financing), with 1996’s “Eddie” and “The Associate” acting as a sort of career roof for Goldberg, who was singlehandedly in charge of selling the pictures to the public, with billing demands simply splashing “WHOOPI” on the posters to reel people in. The star was trying to rise in the ranks as a versatile comedic actress with her own fanbase, but with “The Associate,” Goldberg was also trying to sneak in some messages on workplace sexism and patriarchal control of Wall Street and the insular world of New York City business. It’s not an especially effective farce, but watching the film in 2018, and it’s eerie to see how timely the material is, tackling today’s concerns 22 years ago.
Going by the world of "The Associate," the AVC encoded image (1.85:1 aspect ratio) presentation is probably not a stock one should invest in. Making its HD debut, the viewing experience is flattened by age, with Kino Lorber utilizing an older master for the Blu-ray, resulting in overall softness that loses fine detail, with most textures only reserved for extreme close-ups. Dullness dominates, including colors, finding primaries uninspired, only perking up around extreme Christmas hues. Cityscapes retain their colder appearance, and skintones are slightly bloodless. Delineation isn't profound, but merely functional. Source is in good shape, without any pronounced damage.
There are two audio options for "The Associate," with the default being a 5.1 DTS-HD MA sound mix. The track isn't powerful, requiring a significant boost in volume to bring it up to cinematic levels, and dimension isn't always convincing. It's a frontal listening event, making limited use of surrounds, which offer no separation, merely pushing out music and atmospherics. Dialogue exchanges are intelligible, but a tad too quiet at times. Scoring is mild but instrumentation is appreciable, and soundtrack selections are adequate. While more of a bluntly arranged track, the 2.0 DTS-HD MA mix is agreeable, delivering a heartier feel for performances and ambiance, while music handles with a pronounced thump.
The second half of "The Associate" becomes more exaggerated as Laurel realizes she can't escape her Cutty destiny, going to Charlie for the ultimate drag transformation, which turns the black woman into an old white man who looks exactly like Marlon Brando. Things gets fairly silly from this point on, including a scene where Laurel-as-Cutty uses a bottle of mouthwash to simulate urination in a bathroom to blend in with the guys, and there are sitcom-style machinations from Cindy and Frank that only bloat the already taxing run time, while a subplot featuring Fallon's marginalized assistant, Camille (Bebe Neuwirth), faking a pregnancy with Cutty never meets its potential. "The Associate" doesn't know how to end, and it takes a very long time to get there, trusting in anemic slapstick and superfluous encounters when it has something passably smart and sharp in Laurel's mission to claim identity through subterfuge, resting comfortably on Whoopi Goldberg's well-honed chops.
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Business or Pleasure
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