6.4 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.6 |
When Joel and Molly meet, it's hate at first sight: his big Corporate Candy Company threatens to shut down her quirky indie shop. Plus, Joel is hung up on his sexy ex. But amazingly, they fall in love, until they break up about two thirds of the way through, and Molly starts dating her accountant. But then right at the end...well you'll just have to see.
Starring: Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler, Cobie Smulders, Christopher Meloni, Max GreenfieldComedy | 100% |
Surreal | 7% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
English, English SDH, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
UV digital copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Stupid comedy is hard, and stupid spoof comedy is even more difficult. Case in point: perhaps the most iconic stupid spoof comedy of all time, Airplane!. For virtually the entire running time of this beloved film, one juvenile gag after another—some verbal, some physical, all resolutely “dumb”—cascade over each other with frenetic hilarity, leaving some viewers out of breath from laughing. Now, some may argue with the description “stupid” or “dumb”, and by using those terms I intend absolutely no disparagement toward the very smart creatives like the Zucker brothers. But let’s face it—films like Airplane! are not exactly models of Noel Coward levels of wit and sophistication. And that’s part of their allure, isn’t it? They Came Together aims for the giddy heights of Airplane! (as evidenced from several pull quotes slathered across the case of this Blu-ray) but fails to really take flight, despite the promising genre of rom-coms providing grist for the skewering mill, much as disaster films did for Airplane! decades ago. Part of the problem with They Came Together is that the Zuckers set the template so inexorably for this type of parody that David Wain and Michael Showalter (Wet Hot American Summer) struggle to do anything innovative with the genre. Instead, we’re treated to a series of appropriately lame brained gags that sometimes hit their mark, but just as frequently don’t. Results are too haphazard here to ever generate a consistent tone of hilarity, but if accepted on its own slapdash merits, They Came Together offers enough amusement to coast by on, helped immeasurably by the innate charm and charisma of stars Amy Poehler and Paul Rudd.
They Came Together is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Shot digitally with the Arri Alexa, They Came Together is kind of like Molly's little candy shop in the film—bright, colorful and a lot of fun to watch. The palette here is wonderfully varied, with everything from the spun sugar environs of Molly's "Upper Sweet Side" store to the more sleek high tech world of Joel's corporate offices presented with clarity and excellent sharpness and detail. New York is "kind of like another character" (as the stars repeat ad infinitum here), and director Wain and DP Tom Houghton make good use of locations (though some stock footage may have been utilized for a couple of establishing shots). Contrast is strong, helping the film to navigate some of the nighttime and more dimly lit interior shots. There are no issues with artifacting or image instability.
They Came Together features a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix that may surprise some listeners with how relatively restrained it is, especially considering the Manhattan (and environs) locations that play such an important part in the film (almost like another character, have I mentioned that?). That said, there are decent if not overwhelming uses of discrete channelization for some of the urban foley effects, and the good news is that dialogue is always very cleanly presented. Fidelity is fine, though dynamic range is fairly limited.
I kept waiting for They Came Together to really blast off into the comedic stratosphere, but instead this film simply hovered like an energetic puppy caught in midair as it desperately attempts to get your attention. There's about an evenly split 50/50 ratio here of jokes that land and jokes that just sit there, and my hunch is whether or not you end up really liking this film will have a lot to do with how much you enjoy Poehler and Rudd. While never at the giddy levels of the best Zucker films (and their offspring), They Came Together is reasonably amusing and benefits immensely from the innate charms of its two stars. Technical merits here are generally strong (especially the video), and They Came Together comes Recommended.
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