Where the Truth Lies Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		2.5
Audio		2.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.0

Where the Truth Lies Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman April 11, 2018

Note: This film is currently available only in the '6 Degrees Collection' from Mill Creek, a six-film, two-disc set focused on Kevin Bacon.

Official synopsis: A female journalist tries to uncover the truth behind the breakup, years earlier, of a celebrated comedy team after the duo found a girl dead in their hotel room. Though both had airtight alibis and neither was accused, the incident put an end to their act.

Where the Truth Lies was at the center of a ratings controversy upon its release in 2005 for its depictions of various sex acts. Atom Egoyan's film noir-inspired look at the crumbling life of a pair of promiscuous comedians, whose careers take a tumble when a girl is found dead in their hotel room, lacks tonal balance but proves intriguing enough as it assembles a story of sordid revelations, exposing the truth behind the spit and polish and makeup that have made the comedy duo famous. Bacon and Firth dazzle in the leads, while Alison Lohman struggles to maintain the energy, find a character center, or play her critical part with a convincing edge.

Where the Truth Lies Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Where the Truth Lies' 1080p transfer is fairly typical of a midlevel Mill Creek catalogue release. There's something of processed look about it. Macroblocking is common, details fall fairly flat, the image appears murky and lacking anything resembling crispness, generally speaking. Essential image qualities hold up well enough in select scenes, such as at a Chinese restaurant partway through the film in chapter five, for example, but the prevailing flatness is the dominant characteristic. That same restaurant scene boasts fairly good coloring and healthy flesh tones, too. Basic greens, red lips, and variously colored clothes lack dazzle but they're certainly adequate in saturation and core color delivery. There's not much in the way of print wear. A pop and speckle here and there certainly get in the way, and the image suddenly deteriorates into a low-res mess at the 1:21:20 mark for about 20 seconds, but this is largely a clean image. It's the unsightly macroblocking that's more a problem in terms of interfering with image integrity. Fans certainly shouldn't expect the world, particularly considering that it shares a disc with two other films, but given the constraints it's not an awful image. It's just not all that pretty.

Where the Truth Lies Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Where the Truth Lies features a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. It's capable of conveying basics without too much trouble, but don't expect attention to detail to be the norm. There is only mild space to the track, imaging towards the middle. Music barely breathes, at times, but finds adequate, though hardly wide, stretch in places. Clarity, fortunately, is more baseline satisfying than it is rich and lifelike. Modest atmospheric effects, like falling rain or crowd din, are reproduced with decent accuracy but, again, without much sense of space, even within the limited two-channel configuration. Dialogue propels the movie and enjoys good center-imaged positioning and fine basic definition.

Where the Truth Lies Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of Where the Truth Lies contains no supplemental content.

Where the Truth Lies Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Mill Creek's Blu-ray release of Where the Truth Lies, currently only available in a cramped two-disc set with five other films, contains no extras and offers only a no-frills video and audio presentation. The entire collection is worth a buy on the cheap.