The Paper Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		2.5
Audio		2.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.0

The Paper Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman January 11, 2023

The Paper is Director Ron Howard's fly-on-the-wall work about both the inner workings of a newspaper office circa 1994 and the inner workings of the various people who work there. While the film might seem superficially quaint and outdated by today's standards, where changing the headline is as simple as the click of a mouse and shifting the narrative of the news is commonplace, it nevertheless holds up as a fairly compelling portrait of office and news cycle hustle and bustle and how the various personalities who do not make but rather shape the news converge for better or for worse as they bring their own hopes, dreams, faults, failures, reaches, and realities into the news room.

Official synopsis: Directed by Academy Award winner Ron Howard, 'The Paper' brings the fast-paced, cutthroat, frequently hilarious world of newspaper journalism vividly to life. It's editorial bedlam during the course of one hectic, twenty-four hour period at the New York Sun. In order to make the morning edition and scoop the competition, Henry Hackett (Michael Keaton) must race against the clock to expose a major scandal or two innocent men will go to prison. Thwarting him at every turn is his ambitious managing editor (Glenn Close) who seems more concerned with staying on budget than printing the truth. At the same time, Hackett's wife (Marisa Tomei) is about to give birth to their first child and she's pressuring him to take a cushier, less demanding position with a rival newspaper. Meanwhile, facing their own private demons are columnist Dan McDougal (Randy Quaid) and senior editor Bernie White (Robert Duvall).

The Paper features a cast fit for the record books. The screen is littered with an ensemble of who's who in Hollywood. The connection and camaraderie is evident on the screen, and even when characters clash or come to blows -- be it verbally or physically -- there's a very real sense of character structure and depth on display, with the talented cast not simply responding to the script and reacting to their co-stars but instead presenting a sense of deeply rooted character realism built on a grasp and understanding of character place and nurtured character depth. This all enriches the story because the story is not the story as it will appear in the papers but rather how the news shapes the characters, whether it's news dethatched from their bubble reality in the office where murder is a headline rather than a tragedy or news that penetrates their sphere and upends their lives. Each player brings this sort of individualized depth and mutual understanding to the film which amplifies the larger story themes and defines the underlying currents that delight for narrative grip through the push-pull of the news cycle.

The star-studded affair demands all-star direction, and Howard conducts the on-screen action as if a symphony orchestra. Much of the action, especially in the first half, takes place in a crowded newspaper office where characters speak up and over one another, fight, and even fire a gun. It is here where the movie shines, where Howard manages to control the chaos while still giving the appearance of uncontrolled chaos. These scenes are a treasure; the feel for reality within the moving verbal, physical, and mental maneuverings of a 90s newsroom is quite impressive, and it is in these scenes where the film finds footing and grounding for everything to come. Even in the maelstroms of dense office life, politics, humor, anger, frustration, and everything in between, Howard and writers David and Stephen Koepp manage to produce compelling individual narratives within the larger story. Very well done.

The Paper Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Universal brings The Paper to Blu-ray with a decidedly disappointing 1080p transfer. The picture does not inspire confidence in the various scenes under the opening titles, and things do not improve from there. The picture quality is quite poor and dissatisfying, unfortunately, looking like an upscaled DVD at best. The image looks heavily processed. Grain is inorganic. Artificial sharpening appears to have been applied. The image is clear and detail is "high," but not in a way that flatters the source content. It's a lower grade master put through the wringer in an effort to make it look "better" than it is. It's clearly a holdover transfer from the DVD era. Beyond all of that, various pops and speckles and signs of print wear are visible throughout. Such are most prominent at the beginning under the opening titles, but to be sure there's a steady barrage of these throughout the film. Edge enhancement is not a constant, but it is a semiregular unwanted visitor throughout the film. Still, the picture looks decent enough at-a-glance. There's some nicely revealing facial and fabric textures, not to mention detail around the paper offices and down in the printing press bowels, but this could have been so much more. Likewise, the colors pop but struggle to offer grounded realism and depth. It's bright and bold, but not beautiful. Black level depth is OK, as are flesh tones. This is a very typical Universal catalogue release: watchable and not so scrubbed down as to look like wax, but far removed from what could have been and what should be.

The Paper Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Paper's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack does not fare much better than the companion video presentation. The track is generally flat and uninspiring, like the video, but at the same time, and much like the video, it is perfectly serviceable. Dialogue could stand to be a little more engaged and prominent, even at reference volume. Since dialogue drives most of the film, this is a fairly sizeable area of disappointment. The track rarely takes advantage of the surround speakers. Various examples of hustle and bustle around the office – ringing phones, light chatter – hold along the front. The surrounds are virtually silent throughout. Even during a climactic scene around the 85-minute mark where whirring newspaper printing machines dominate, there's practically no serious back channel engagement, except at the 1:27:42 mark when the machines start back to work after a confrontation over shutting them down. Clarity is lacking, but basic sound details hold and spread with some decent width across the front. The track works, but don't expect anything memorable or even generically "good."

The Paper Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of The Paper contains no supplemental content. There is no top menu and there is not even a pop-up menu. The film simply begins playback upon disc insertion. No DVD or digital copies are included with purchase. This release does not ship with a slipcover. This is absolutely as bare-bones as Blu-ray discs come.

The Paper Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Paper is a film worthy of big, bold headlines. Is it a classic? No, but a dream cast, a solid story, and superb direction are all hallmarks of this riveting film that is well worth the time and monetary investment. Universal's Blu-ray is, sadly, not up to par. The video and audio presentations are well below standard and the disc is completely devoid of extras. Not recommended, but only because Mill Creek is offering the film for essentially the same video and audio qualities plus a few extras and for half the cost.