Vibes Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.0

Vibes Blu-ray Movie Review

"I've got a bad feeling about this..."

Reviewed by Martin Liebman February 29, 2020

Vibes flashes potential, even in an opening scene that straight rips off the open of Ghostbusters when Peter Venkman conducts psychic experiments, asking his subjects to identify symbols on oversized flash cards. The difference is that in Vibes the respondent nails the answer every time, except for when the tester is clearly not paying any attention to the study, himself not focusing on the card in his hand and thereby stymieing the subject's own psychic abilities; he cannot see through paper but he can see into the man's mind. It's fun and fascinating stuff as the movie opens, gathering a misfit, ragtag collection of psychics that seems to pave the way for an outcast Comedy in the mold of The Dream Team, but alas, the film turns into a dull adventure film with little payoff to any of its great promise.

Psychic Nick Deezy (Jeff Goldblum) knows his way around things. Literally. Put an object in his hand and he immediately knows its history: where it has been, who has handled it, what it has done. It makes him a natural in the field of history, though his unique talents are not exactly utilized with the greatest of care or respect. He’s one of several renowned, and real, psychics, a group that includes Sylvia Pickel (Cyndi Lauper), a person who started life as an ordinary girl but who, after falling off a ladder, suddenly found herself in contact with an unseen spiritual medium she calls “Louise” who gives Sylvia the gift of Astral Projection, an out of body experience that allows her to see otherwise unseen events. When Sylvia is offered $50,000 to find Harry Buscafusco’s (Peter Falk) son who has gone missing in South America, she recruits Nick to help and split the money. Turns out there’s much more going on, leading them into danger they should be able to see coming.

An interest-piquing premise and an agreeable first act transition into a slow, monotonous movie in the second and third acts. Spiritless adventure abounds, even as spirit-filled mediums partake in it. It's a disappointing contrast in character and content, the film building rich, affable, and interesting protagonists only to drop them in a dime store adventure filled with generic villains and scripted turns of events. It's like the filmmakers turned off the charm spigot only to never let it flow freely again. The movie enjoys a few modest, quirky highlights in its slog of a second half, too little to salvage the film and certainly not enough to elevate the film back to the joyous highs of its opening segments.

The lead performances are not at all poor, with both Goldblum and Lauper doing a good job of selling both their psychic powers and their romantic interconnections and frictions. They share good screen chemistry, even if neither are allowed to stretch to their fullest potential under the burden of characters who are stymied by and shoehorned into a dull adventure plot. The film still doesn't work at all despite their admirable efforts, and several other name actors can't save it, either. It's just too flat and lifeless, even with a starting point that is anything but.

Vibes Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Vibes delivers a decently feel good presentation. The 1080p image may be far from perfect, but it's far from disaster, too, building an oftentimes agreeable image, if not one that is rough around the edges. It's not clear if the opening titles are supposed to be white or smoky. Context clues say the latter, but they're very dull, anyway, and portend little in terms of color management. Tones are decent enough in the aggregate, though, particularly much of the green seen in the South American locales. Makeup, clothes, and the like enjoy appropriate levels of depth and vibrancy, appropriate for a budget Blu-ray crafted from a budget film that is over three decades in age. Colors could certainly be more vibrant, accurate, and nuanced in a perfect world, but what's here is certainly acceptable, particularly when getting down to cases or exploring core basics like flesh tones and black levels; the former can look a little pasty but the latter is fine. The picture quality is, at times, very filmic and crisp but also sometimes a little flat and pasty. Grain is fairly dense in most scenes, but compression artifacts do appear from time to time, too, giving a chunky "vibe" to various backgrounds. Textures are therefore hit or miss. In one scene faces can appear naturally complex and in others overly smooth and lifeless. That holds for most anything in the movie, from dense city details to lush open area foliage in South America: sometimes sharp, sometimes not. The image is passable in the aggregate; those with low expectations will be pleased, those expecting the moon will walk away disappointed.

Vibes Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Vibes' DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless soundtrack delivers a fair listening experience. With the channel limitation there's obviously no surround stretch or subwoofer engagement, but that does not mean the track is lacking in fundamentals. Musical clarity is fine and stretch is impressive along the front. There are some nice atmospheric effects here and there, including realistic dripping water off to the side late in the film at the 80-minute mark. Other ambient effects filter in here and there with enough positional and volume balance to draw the listener in as necessary. A couple of gunshots in wide open country at the 71 minute mark offer impressive depth and reverberation, representing, probably, the two single best sound moments the track has to offer. Dialogue images nicely enough to the center. It's clear, clean, and well prioritized for the duration.

Vibes Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Mill Creek's Blu-ray release of Vibes contains no supplemental content. The main menu screen offers only options to play the film and toggle subtitles on and off. No DVD or digital copies are included. The release does ship with the company's popular "Retro VHS" style slipcover.

Vibes Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

No good vibes here. Well, that's not entirely true. The film begins with great promise but quickly flushes that down the toilet when the story takes a turn towards adventure rather than relational comedy between two, and amongst a group of, quirky psychics, each with different "powers" that could have been used to excellent effect with a little (or a lot of) additional brainstorming. Shame, because Vibes really does begin with a bang. Mill Creek's Blu-ray is featureless, no surprise, and video and audio hover around the passable level, again no surprise. For fans only.