The Right Kind of Wrong Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

The Right Kind of Wrong Blu-ray Movie Review

The Impossible Dreamer

Reviewed by Michael Reuben May 20, 2014

The Right Kind of Wrong (hereafter, "TRKoW") is the first feature directed by Jeremiah S. Chechik since his Hollywood career was derailed by the disastrous 1998 adaptation of the classic British TV series, The Avengers, which Warner is releasing later this year (though only in the atrocious studio cut; Chechik's rumored director's cut remains MIA). Before then, Chechik had established a respectable reputation with the holiday perennial, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and an offbeat romantic comedy, Benny & Joon, starring Johnny Depp in an early, endearing performance that is almost entirely silent.

Since The Avengers, Chechik has worked in television both in the U.S. and Canada. TRKoW is a Canadian production by Serendipity Point Films, the same company that has produced many of director Atom Egoyan's films. Entertainment One released it in Canada, but Magnolia Pictures picked it up for U.S. distribution after it debuted at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival.

TRKoW returns Chechik to the kind of tale he handled with such delicacy in Benny & Joon: an improbable love story between two misfits who might just be perfect for each other. As the title expresses it, they're both "wrong", but together they're the "right kind" of wrong. In Benny & Joon, the obstacle was society, which wouldn't leave the couple alone to find their own way. In TRKoW, the obstacles are more diffuse and complex. Not the least among them is the fact that one half of the couple doesn't see herself as a misfit. In her mind, she's not "wrong" at all, although there's definitely something "off" about the fellow who keeps popping up in her life and declaring his devotion despite the fact that they just met—at her wedding to another man.

The original setting for Tim Sandlin's Sex and Sunsets, the novel on which TRKoW is based, was Jackson, Wyoming. The screen adaptation by Megan Martin (the CW series Cult ) leaves the location vague, but the film was shot in and around Alberta, Canada (including Banff National Park), which provided similar mountainous landscapes, scenic environment and tourist appeal, all of which are elements of the plot.

Leo Palamino (Ryan Kwanten, True Blood) is a novelist, whose first and only book, Sex and Sunsets, failed miserably, thereby bankrupting the publishing startup of Leo's friend, Neil (Will Sasso). Will is paying off the debt by distributing a free newsletter with coupons for local businesses. His wife, Jill (Jennifer Baxter), is a successful artist who supports them from sales of her paintings.

Having decided to settle for less, Leo washes dishes at a local eatery run by another friend, Mandeep (Raoul Bhaneja), an immigrant from Bangalore, whose two precocious children, Ravi and Pia (Mateen Devji and Maya Samy), treat Leo like family. (Their mother died when they were too small to remember her.)

Leo's life hits bottom when his own wife, Julie (Kristen Hager, Being Human), informs him that she has started a blog about her unhappiness with their marriage. It's called "Why You Suck", and it's an internet sensation. After Julie leaves Leo, she turns her blog into a book, which becomes a bestseller. As Neil tells Leo, in publishing terms it's a "multi-platform" phenomenon. Now Julie is the successful author that Leo once dreamed of being.

But Leo's life is galvanized one day by an unexpected sight across the street from his apartment, where there happens to be an Episcopal church. A wedding has been scheduled, and when Leo sees the bride (under admittedly unusual circumstances), well, as the song goes, it only takes a moment. Her name is Colette (Sara Canning, The Vampire Diaries), and she's marrying the perfect man, Danny Hart (Ryan McPartin): handsome, wealthy, accomplished, a former Olympic athlete, generous and a pillar of the community. But Leo is so sure of his instincts that he crashes the wedding anyway and asks Colette out for coffee. Her reaction is incredulous but, to her credit, far more restrained than most brides could manage on their wedding day.

Leo's lengthy pursuit of Colette could easily seem creepy, but Kwanten's talent for playing a lovable doofus, which has served him well on True Blood, gives Leo an innocence that leaves Chechik free to explore the comic possibilities of his loony attachment. Besides, how can anyone feel threatened by a guy who takes as much humiliation and abuse as Leo in his pursuit of Colette? Danny Hart may be too noble to retaliate against this nobody who is pursuing his new wife, but Danny's friends are a different breed; indeed, one of the reasons why Danny can afford to be noble is because he has minions who do his snarling for him. At one point, they even dispatch a group of kids to beat up poor Leo.

Leo's sole source of encouragement is Colette's aging hippie of a mother, Tess (Catherine O'Hara), who keeps assuring him that Danny is wrong for Colette and that Colette is trying to be someone she's not. Her true self is the person who offers personal "nature tours" of the region, showing tourists unusual sights that aren't in the guidebooks and offering sarcastic commentary on overdevelopment. (Leo keeps joining these tours, even though Colette instructs her assistant not to sell him any tickets.) Certain things about Danny Hart don't sit well with Tess, such as the fact that he drives a Hummer. For someone like Tess, that's barely a step up from genocide.

One's ability to enjoy TRKoW depends on an individual tolerance for quirkiness. Chechik knows that he's telling a stylized tale with exaggerated, often cartoonish characters who don't behave realistically. Novelists get away with this by writing in a satirical voice, but filmmakers have to work harder at establishing the tonal equivalent. One of Chechik's devices is the color scheme of TRKoW. I doubt that any other filmmaker has been bold enough to replace the natural scenic splendor of Alberta's mountains and forests with the artificial landscape made possible by a digital paintbox. The skies are all turquoise, the trees have lost some of their green, the ground is now yellow instead of brown, and virtually every scene tells us that we are no longer in a real world, but a playland of the imagination. It's the kind of world in which even the saddest loser can be redeemed, through sudden changes of heart and last-minute reconciliations.

The Right Kind of Wrong Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Right Kind of Wrong was shot digitally (IMDb says the camera was the Arri Alexa) by Canadian cinematographer Luc Montpellier, who is no stranger to stylized photography, having created the idiosyncratic effects of Guy Maddin's The Saddest Music in the World. As noted in the feature discussion, the most striking visual element in the TRKoW is the unnatural palette, in which blue become turquoise, green and red have been reduced, and yellow is exaggerated. Surprisingly enough, flesh tones remain relatively natural (at least by contrast to their surroundings). Nowhere in the extras does anyone address this aspect of the film, which is an unfortunate omission, because it would have been valuable to hear the director and/or the DP discuss the rationale for the choice.

Otherwise, the image on Magnolia Home Entertainment's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray is noteworthy only for its lack of flaws. Detail and sharpness are good throughout; blacks are solid; contrast is intense but never overblown; and video noise does not intrude. If one is not put off by the oddity of the colors, which might be considered "candy-colored" if turquoise were not so uncommon in confectionery, then the Blu-ray image is first-rate.

Because Magnolia has used only a BD-25, the 97-minute feature, with extras, achieves an average bitrate of only 20.01 Mbps, which is low by any standard but especially for Magnolia. Still, digitally originated footage compresses efficiently, and no artifacts were in evidence.

The Right Kind of Wrong Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The film's original 5.1 track is presented in lossless DTS-HD MA. Its most important component is the playful score by Oscar winner Rachel Portman (Emma), who previously worked with Chechik on Benny & Joon, where the score was also critical in establishing the tone. Though Portman's orchestrations modulate into romance and grandeur when needed, the dominant mood is playful and comedic, an ideal accompaniment to the film's offbeat sense of humor. TRKoW has several sequences that allow the sound editors to play, including scenes in the restaurant kitchen where Leo washes dishes (and, as a pastime, juggles various utensils); Colette's nature hikes; and an extended scene of hang-gliding that ends in a mishap. Dialogue predominates, however, and it is rendered clearly and naturally, whether in conversation or as voiceover.

The Right Kind of Wrong Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 2.41:1; 6:02): There are three scenes. The first is an alternate opening that shows how Leo and Julie first met. The second depicts an embarrassing moment for Colette and Danny at an art exhibit. The third is an extended version of one of Leo's hookups in the period after Julie leaves him.



• Behind the Scenes (1080p; 1.78:1; 7:57): This brief EPK features interviews with Kwanten, Canning, O'Hara, McPartlin, Sasso, Chechik and producer Robert Lantos.



• The Music (1080p; 1.78:1; 6:14): Composer Rachel Portman, Chechik and Lantos discuss the soundtrack.



• "The Right King of Wrong Rap"—Mateen Devji (Ravi) and Maya Sami (Pia) (1080p; 1.78:1; 0:53): The best promo for a film I have seen in years.



• AXS TV: A Look at The Right Kind of Wrong (1080i; 2.41:1; 2:58): This typical AXS TV promo expands the film's trailer with interview excerpts from the "Behind the Scenes" EPK listed above.



• Trailer (1080p; 2.41:1; 2:20).



• Also from Magnolia Home Entertainment: The disc includes trailers for Best Night Ever, Nymphomaniac: Volume I and Alan Partridge, as well as promos for the Chideo web service and AXS TV. These also play at startup, where they can be skipped with the chapter forward button.



• BD-Live: As of this writing, attempting to access BD-Live gave the message "Check back for updates".

The Right Kind of Wrong Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

TRKoW confirms that Chechik's talents make him ill-suited for mass market entertainment. He's drawn to characters that are offbeat and eccentric, and he likes to tell their stories in a similar style. Like Benny & Joon, TRKoW will work for some viewers and leave others cold. As a Blu-ray disc, the presentation lives up to Magnolia's usual high standards. Rental is the safest bet.