6 | / 10 |
Users | 3.5 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Dr. George Maitlin, a pompous radio self-help guru, is having his own personal mental breakdown. His lawyer puts in a call to a Cicero, IL, mental facility where the phone is answered by schizophrenic patient John Burns. Thinking Burns is a crony of Maitlin, Burns is offered the job of replacing Maitlin during his recovery. Of course, Burns accepts the job. Immediately jetted to Los Angeles, Burns meets panhandler Donald Becker at the airport. Burns takes to him immediately and they become fast friends. When Burns assumes command of the airwaves in Maitlin's place, his words of wisdom are so obvious and commonsensical that he is an overnight sensation. Meanwhile, in London, where Maitlin is convalescing, he gets wind of Burns' success. With renewed vigor and outrage, Maitlin leaves recovery and heads back to Los Angeles in an effort to recover his radio show.
Starring: Dan Aykroyd, Walter Matthau, Charles Grodin, Donna Dixon, Richard RomanusComedy | 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
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
“The Couch Trip” is an attempt by director Michael Ritchie to make a screwball comedy with classic cinema timing in the 1980s, where broad humor was being eaten away by cynicism. The helmer of “Fletch” and “The Bad News Bears,” Ritchie certainly understands the value of a wily punchline, but there’s an unfinished quality to “The Couch Trip” that keeps the feature from connecting in full. The cast is game to play, with star Dan Aykroyd working at his usual speed with jokes and rubbery reactions, but “The Couch Trip” ultimately feels rushed, which is a shame when it initially appears ready and willing to work through a list of neuroses, accusations, and confrontations worth a little more screen time than what the production is willing to offer. Select moments are genuinely funny, yet the movie tends to muffle what works, clinging to a story that never comes together.
The AVC encoded image (1.85:1 aspect ratio) presentation for "The Couch Trip" flexes adequate HD muscle. It's not a remarkable viewing experience, but the basics are cared for, delivering passable detail with somewhat flat cinematography, finding textures on faces and costuming, and hospital decoration is open for study. Colors show limited fade, holding primaries as intended, boosted by livelier L.A. street encounters and era-specific fashion sense. Skintones are natural. Grain is present and managed to satisfaction. Delineation has a few trouble spots with evening encounters, losing hair density to the night, but the rest finds depth without concern. Source is in decent shape, displaying some mild debris and speckling.
The 2.0 DTS-HD MA sound mix is a little odd, with hiss winding through the listening experience, quite pronounced at times. Dialogue exchanges are acceptable, capturing comedic speeds and verbal play, holding dramatics as intended, while group interactions also keep defined. Scoring retains its strange personality, with instrumentation that accentuates the tuba, allowing for a heavier feel to the music. Atmospherics are compelling, bringing out hospital commotion and street life with ease.
The fun of "The Couch Trip" emerges with John's forays into therapy, with his harsh, profane advice to miserable callers and free office visits creating a hero out of the crook. Aykroyd is silly and committed, making John's field trip to a baseball game (hilariously, the production tries to avoid any MLB trademarks) and his deal-making with Harvey pop with energy. Ritchie knows how to utilize the star's gifts, but "The Couch Trip" doesn't remain light for very long, eventually weighed down by a tedious slapstick-styled ending that ties all the characters together, brandishes a gun, and pushes basic logic to the breaking point, finding the screenplay unable to cough up believable coincidences to help accentuate the madcap ending. The picture eventually falls flat, but it's not an unpleasant ride into tomfoolery, with just enough passable zaniness and snappiness in the early going to cover for the rest of the movie.
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