Wrong Reasons Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

Wrong Reasons Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 16, 2023

A number of relatively rich and famous folks have passed through my life at various points, and I'd frankly say that the vast majority of them seem to be very unhappy. One rich and famous guy who seems almost preternaturally cheerful, though, is Kevin Smith, and he's on hand here as a kind of cheerleader for Wrong Reasons, offering a somewhat raucous introduction to the film where he discusses the fact that because the film's writer and director Josh Roush wisely didn't offer any footage of Smith relieving himself in the bathroom in any of the documentaries Roush has made about Smith, Smith owes him one. Well, all righty, then. Smith is actually on hand in some other supplements as well as the film itself, where he plays a news reporter in a quasi-cameo and should probably not be expecting word of an Academy Award nomination any time soon (sorry, Kev). The film stars Roush's wife Liv as a supposed Australian punk superstar named Kat Oden, who is in fact at least famous, if not exactly rich, a lack of funds some of which may be due to a debilitating drug habit which is distressingly depicted in the film's opening vignette. That opening sequence also hints that Kat is being abducted, which is exactly where the story goes, though with some perhaps unexpected twists and turns along the way.

As is discussed in several of the supplements on this disc, the Roushes are unabashed punk fans, and there is a punk sensibility suffusing the film, at least insofar as the plot is intentionally provocative on several levels. That might be summed up by saying that at least parts of the story are played like an extremely darkly humorous take on The Collector, with Kat waking up from her own self inflicted drug induced stupor (with maybe a little help of some chloroform from her abductor) chained to a bed in considerably less luxe circumstances than the character played by Samantha Eggar found herself in the John Fowles adaptation.

Her kidnapper turns out to be a kind of hapless schlub named James Winandi (James Parks), and while the Stockholm Syndrome-esque dynamic between Kat and him plays out, Kat's boyfriend Nick Boon (John Enick) becomes part of a 24/7 global news cycle about Kat that also involves one of the film's more blatant attempts at outright humor (as opposed to black comedy), the ever popular bumbling detectives (Ralph Garman and Daniel Roebuck). There's some kind of piquant commentary here about what might be referred to as the news mantra of "if it bleeds, it leads", in terms of Kat's abduction being the fodder for a media frenzy. That may tend to collide just a bit with what turns out to be a wending tale involving James. That said, this film if nothing else proves you don't have to go the Barbie route to make a story about female empowerment.

Wrong Reasons Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Wrong Reasons is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of MVD Visual with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.44:1. The IMDb lists a camera I don't think I've heard of before, the Blackmagic URSA, and in looking at their website, it appears the camera can capture source resolutions of up to 12K, so I'm assuming this effort had a 4K DI, which probably helps to account for its typically excellent fine detail levels. That said, there is definitely a "fly on the wall" or vérité aspect to a lot of the hostage framings in particular, and as such general detail levels can ebb and flow, if slightly. The palette is nicely suffused, seeming to skew just a bit toward yellow in some of the early hostage scenes. The film utilizes supposed "broadcasts" and things like security footage, and those moments are intentionally distressed looking.

Wrong Reasons Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Wrong Reasons features a really fun DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that makes fantastic use of a punk infused soudntrack that includes Tim Armstrong, L7, Black Flag, The Wipers, Channel 3, William Elliott Whitmore, The Unseen and Bi-Product, as well as a rather impressive Liv Roush herself, who evidently learned to play and sing specifically for this film. Otherwise, kind of interestingly given the raucous nature of the punk element, there are quite a few quieter scenes, especially in some of the "two hander" material between Kat and James. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Wrong Reasons Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Introduction by Kevin Smith (HD; 8:39) is accessible under the Play With Intro choice on the Main Menu, and is authored to move on automatically to the feature. The Intro is also accessible as a standalone extra under the Extras Menu.


• Idiot Cops Short Film (HD; 2:16)


• Original Opening (HD; 4:27)
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• Peanut Butter and Pickle (Deleted Scene) (HD; 2:48)


• Hopscotch (Deleted Scene) (HD; 00;50)


• Outtakes (HD; 14:55)


• Q & A with Josh Roush and Liv Roush, Moderated by Kevin Smith and Ralph Garman (HD; 56:02)


• Trailers includes Wrong Reasons (HD; 2:03) and Wrong Reasons (With Intro) (HD; 2:42), the second of which kind of comically offers Kevin Smith in a different mode than in his main introduction. Other trailers for releases from MVD Visual are also on tap.


• Commentary with Josh Roush and Kevin Smith is accessible under the Setup Menu.


• Commentary with Josh Roush, Matt Rowbottom, Cam Mosavian and Liv Roush is accessible under the Setup Menu.

Additionally, the keepcase insert is reversible, and packaging features a slipcover.

I'll mention only in passing that some of my misspent youth was a proofreader, which made me unavoidably notice that both "outtakes" and "Liv Roush" are misspelled on the Extras Menu, and somewhat hilariously given her status as the film's star and wife of the auteur, Liv's name is also misspelled on the Setup Menu where the commentary tracks are listed.

Wrong Reasons Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There are definitely some narrative and tonal stumbles in Wrong Reasons, but overall it's a rather impressive effort from the Roushes, and I can't imagine lovers of punk not going nuts at least for the soundtrack. Technical merits are solid, and with a few passing caveats Wrong Reasons comes Recommended.