Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.5

Undercover Blues Blu-ray Movie Review

Baby on Board

Reviewed by Michael Reuben February 8, 2016

Undercover Blues was one of the last pictures directed by the great Herb Ross, whose credits include Play It Again, Sam, The Sunshine Boys and the original Footloose—and I have never understood why it wasn't more successful. The script by Ian Abrams, co-creator of the TV series Early Edition, is inventive; the casting is perfect (including a scene- stealing baby); Ross's direction is sprightly; and the pre-Katrina New Orleans locations look spectacular. Yes, the plot is ridiculous and the characters are caricatures, but that's the idea. Spy movies have been parodied in every way imaginable. Undercover Blues is one of the most light-hearted spoofs of the bunch.

Produced and released by MGM, Undercover Blues has been licensed to Olive Films for its Blu-ray debut.

The Nick and Nora of Undercover Blues are Jane and Jeff Blue (Kathleen Turner and Dennis Quaid), two highly trained CIA operatives who have left the agency to raise their new baby (Michelle Schuelke), on whose name they still can't quite agree. (Jeff wants to call her "Jane"; Jane wants "Louise"; so the kid is currently known as "Jane Louise".) On holiday in New Orleans, the Blues encounter the fate of all good guys in movies or TV, which is that their vacations always turn work-related. Their former boss, Frank (Richard Jenkins), presses them into service to recover military weaponry stolen by an old adversary, Paulina Novacek (Fiona Shaw), former head of the Czech Secret Police. Novacek, who bears an old grudge against Jeff Blue, is happy to take them on.

Novacek and her minions aren't the only distraction from the Blues' family time. They also attract the suspicion of two New Orleans cops, a "bad" one named Sawyer (Obba Babatundé) and a "good" one named Halsey (Larry Miller, doing the ripest accent imaginable). Sawyer is sure that the Blues are hiding something illegal, but he isn't sure what, while Halsey seems to enjoy watching his partner do a slow burn. There's also a nice, ordinary couple staying at the Blues' hotel, Vern and Bonnie Newman (Tom Arnold and Park Overall), who think the Blues are great company except for the fact that Jeff keeps changing his occupation (airline pilot, vacuum cleaner salesman, brain surgeon, etc.).

And then there's the comic highlight of Undercover Blues, a local mugger with delusions of grandeur played by Stanley Tucci with a thick Hispanic accent and the preening conceit of a bullfighter. We never learn his real name, because he refuses to identify himself by anything other than the self-chosen monicker Muerte (i.e., death). When he announces his name to Jeff Blue, who is walking the baby, the experienced martial artist immediately dubs him "Morty" and beats him down. For the rest of the film, Muerte stalks the Blues, futilely seeking revenge and losing more teeth with every encounter.

Having surrounded the Blues with this varied array of foils, Ross sits back and lets the camera roll as Jeff and Jane bicker and banter, freely mixing spycraft with bringing up baby, alternately cooing at their daughter and trouncing the bad guys. Their unflappable cheer drives their opponents to distraction, and Turner and Quaid seem to be having a grand time playing a couple who have more wisecracks between them in one movie than James Bond in five. Despite being new parents, their romantic chemistry seems unquenched, no doubt because of the endless string of adrenalin-pumping challenges they handle with aplomb. The film's title, Undercover Blues, refers not only to Jeff's and Jane's role as undercover operatives, but also to their frustration at never being able to escape that life. It also refers to the New Orleans setting, whose music provides a lively accompaniment to the proceedings. Whether seeing the sights, gobbling oysters or indulging a sweet tooth for beignets, the Blues manage to enjoy their vacation even as they pursue the family business of saving the world. "See Mommy picking the big lock?" Jeff says to the baby. "Someday, when you're a big girl, she'll teach you how to pick locks!" Then, in a typical marital dig, he tells his wife she's taking too long: "Of course, she may still be picking this one."

Undercover Blues Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Undercover Blues was shot on film by cinematographer Donald E. Thorin (Midnight Run, Purple Rain) in a brightly lit style that complements the ebullience with which Jeff and Jane Blue approach their work. Olive Films' 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray sports a richly detailed and film-like image with a color palette dominated by (what else?) blue. Quaid and Turner were at the peak of their movie star looks, and Thorin photographs them to look like the kind of couple that would turns heads wherever they go. Young Michelle Schuelke, who never made another movie, is photographed with the glow of the ideally behaved infant that every advertiser covets and of whom every parent dreams. The source material is in excellent shape, and the transfer, whatever its vintage, does not suffer from distortion, interference or other untoward manipulation. Olive has mastered Undercover Blues with a high average bitrate of 31.20 Mbps, and the benefits are reflected in the lack of compression issues and the generally high quality of the image.

Undercover Blues Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Undercover Blues was released in Dolby Stereo, which has been encoded here in lossless DTS-HD MA 2.0. It's mix engineered more for comedy than adventure, with guns, the occasional explosion and numerous martial arts blows treated in a cartoonish style. When played back through a surround decoder, the track spreads out around the room, but nothing notable is steered to the rear channels. The rapid-fire dialogue is cleanly reproduced, and the score by David Newman (Galaxy Quest) strikes the appropriately light- hearted tone.

Undercover Blues Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The only extra is a trailer (1080p; 1.85:1; 1:55), which has slightly different footage than the film. MGM's 2003 DVD was similarly bare.

Undercover Blues Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It's too bad that Quaid and Turner never teamed again, because their chemistry is excellent. If the film had been more successful, we might have seen a sequel featuring an older Jane Louise as she is introduced to the family business. But we can settle for one film, when it's this entertaining. Undercover Blues is ripe for rediscovery, and Olive's audio/video treatment leaves nothing to be desired except for the usual Olive flaw of omitting subtitles. Recommended.