Unforgettable Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		2.5

Unforgettable Blu-ray Movie Review

Already Forgotten

Reviewed by Michael Reuben July 27, 2017

Calling a film "Unforgettable" is an invitation to mockery, and after being attached to not one, but two box office failures, the title is overdue for retirement. In 1996, we had an improbable and overplotted sci-fi detective thriller of that name, which failed to leave any impression despite direction by John Dahl and a talented cast led by Ray Liotta and Linda Fiorentino. Now, twenty-one years later, the title has been dusted off for the directorial debut of Denise Di Novi, a prolific producer whose credits run the gamut from the sublime (Ed Wood) to the ridiculous (Catwoman).

A filmmaker with Di Novi's experience should have known better than to lavish such obvious devotion on a hackneyed plot that takes far too long to reach a destination it telegraphs in advance. With a script by Christina Hodson (Shut In), Di Novi's Unforgettable recycles a narrative device that has supplied the foundation of an entire sub-genre, including Fatal Attraction, The Hand that Rocks the Cradle and Obsessed. It's yet another story of a woman defending her hearth and her man against a female predator whose veneer of normalcy gradually cracks to reveal the psycho within. No bunnies are boiled, but Di Novi's film is a potboiler all the same—and it's lukewarm at best.

Di Novi begins Unforgettable with a flash-forward that lays out much of the plot (which means that everything I'm about to tell you isn't a spoiler). The film's heroine is Julia Banks (Rosario Dawson), who has recently relocated to L.A. and moved into the home of her fiancé, David Connover (Geoff Stults). David's ex-wife, an ice queen named Tessa (Katherine Heigl), doesn't approve. With the flawless precision that is only possible in the movies, Tessa sets about undermining the relationship, aided by her discovery that Julia has a dark past she has concealed from David. Physically abused by a former boyfriend (Alex Quijano), Julia has been protected by a restraining order, which has just lapsed. Tessa steals Julia's identity, along with her bra, phone and engagement ring, so that she can invite the former beau to rekindle their relationship, while simultaneously gaslighting Julia into doubting her abilities as stepmom to David's and Tessa's daughter (Isabella Kai Rice). So successful are Tessa's efforts that, when the film opens, a battered Julia is sitting in a police station being grilled by a skeptical detective (Robert Wisdom) about the steamy Facebook correspondence she appears to have been conducting with the ex-lover, whose dead body now lies on her kitchen floor.

There's nothing wrong with revealing most of the plot in advance, as long as a director understands how to keep viewers entertained while filling in the details. Hitchcock maintained that suspense grows out of an audience's knowledge of what's coming, and he was a master at ratcheting up tension while engaging attention and propelling a story's forward momentum. But Di Novi has chosen a plot so familiar that a contemporary audience would know what's coming even without the opening scene, and she relies too heavily on her two leads to keep the film interesting while we wait impatiently for the story to catch up to what we already know. Her camera lingers over Dawson and Heigl, dwelling on subtle emotional shifts as if Unforgettable were an intimate drama rather than a formulaic thriller. We know that the formula requires the two women to circle each other warily before they are somehow brought together for a showdown, but the intervening skirmishes aren't all that engaging (HBO's Big Little Lies did these sorts of suburban cat fights much more effectively). And when the final confrontation finally arrives, it's achieved by credulity-straining devices that are more likely to provoke laughter than fear.

Unforgettable briefly comes alive with the entrance of Tessa's domineering mother, played with chilly finesse by former Charlie's Angel Cheryl Ladd, perfectly cast as an emotionally distant control freak who has done her best to continue looking as good as her daughter. Ladd's harpy-mom may supply insight into Tessa's twisted motivation, but her real contribution to Unforgettable is a jolt of much-needed energy for the short time she's onscreen. The film could have used more such extreme elements to enliven this predictable tale as it grinds toward its inevitable conclusion.

Unforgettable Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Specific information about the shooting format of Unforgettable was unavailable, but the cameras on display in the extras are obviously digital. In her commentary, Di Novi praises the skilled lighting of veteran cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, who has been nominated for five Oscars and was recognized by the cinematographer's guild with the 2010 lifetime achievement award. Deschanel is famous for the richness and luster of his images, and Unforgettable certainly looks good on Warner's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray, which reproduces the richly textured production design of the film's lavish sets and locations with superior sharpness, detail and contrast. Unforgettable plays out in a wealthy L.A. suburb with elegantly furnished homes in warm and inviting landscapes, and it all looks terrific. Deschanel's lighting accentuates the contrast between warm and cool colors associated with the two heroines, and he casts deep, noirish shadows in scenes where the circumstances permit. If the action begins to bore you (and it will), you can contemplate the appealing photography.

Continuing its inexplicable practice of reserving generous bitrates for its box office bombs, the Warner theatrical group has mastered Unforgettable at an average rate of 33.07 Mbps, which no doubt contributes to its attractive surface.

Unforgettable Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Unforgettable isn't an action picture, except for briefly at the end, and the Blu-ray's lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1 track reflects the sound mixers' modest aspirations. The film's various environments are subtly reproduced, and only an occasional effect calls attention to the surrounds. Fidelity is excellent, dynamic range is broad, and the dialogue is clearly reproduced and correctly localized. The generic thriller score is by Tony Chu, a prolific composer for TV (Covert Affairs and Burn Notice).

Unforgettable Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary with Producer/Director Denise Di Novi: Di Novi's comments exhibit a peculiar form of cognitive dissonance. She's well aware of Unforgettable's many antecedents, and even goes so far as to note that Adrian Lyne, the director of Fatal Attraction, is one of her favorite filmmakers, and yet she seems to expect that the audience, like the characters themselves, know none of those prior films' plots and conventions. Di Novi notes details of performance, production design and cinematography with which she's especially happy, but she never addresses the derivative nature of the entire enterprise.



• Reclaiming What's Yours: Making Unforgettable (1080p; 1.78:1; 10:09): This EPK is heavy on female participants, including stars Heigl and Dawson, producer/director Di Novi, producer Allison Greenspan and screenwriter Christina Hodson. Geoff Stults ("David") provides the male perspective.



• Deleted Scene (w/Optional Commentary) (1080p; 1.78:1; 2:06): As Di Novi explains in her optional commentary, this affectionate scene between Julia and David was deemed redundant.



• Introductory Trailers: At startup, the disc plays trailers for Dunkirk, Blade Runner 2049, Wonder Woman, The House and Batman and Harley Quinn, plus the familiar Warner promo for 4K discs (although no 4K version of Unforgettable is planned).

Unforgettable Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Like the 1996 film of the same title, Unforgettable will be quickly forgotten. The two leads are pretty to look at, and the Blu-ray is a capable affair, but the film is worth a rental at most.