A recent trend in the home video market seems to be the "sweeping up" of older catalog titles by the major studios for release as budget double - , triple -, and now quadruple - features. They're nice for the casual consumer, as the price is usually relatively low, and for the more hardcore DVD collector, as several titles usually fit in one space-saving case.

Warner Brothers has been pushing this trend with their "4 Film Favorites" line, and it seems Universal has decided to join in on the act with a "Quadruple Feature" set of releases.

One release in this new line from Universal is Quadruple Feature: Romantic Comedy Pack. It sports four romantic comedies produced between 1999 and 2004, all having notable casts. Each release in Warner Brothers' "4 Film Favorites" line has 2 double-sided DVDs, with one movie on each side. Because of this, extras produced on earlier single disc releases of the movies are often carried over. Universal, on the other hand, has opted to go with 2 single-sided DVDs. The downside to this method seems to be that there are literally no extra features.

The films collected in Quadruple Feature: Romantic Comedy Pack are . . .

Along Came Polly (**1/2)

The quadruple feature starts with this 2004 Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston vehicle. In it, Stiller plays Reuben Feffer, a risk analyst with irritable bowel syndrome. He's just gotten married to the lovely Lisa Kramer (Debra Messing). Unfortunately, on the first day of their honeymoon, Reuben catches Lisa in bed with their scuba instructor. Crushed, Reuben returns to New York City, where he chances upon an old school friend Polly (Aniston). She's a disorganized adventure-seeker, but he asks her out anyway. This starts one of those "opposites attract" relationships - which inevitably becomes complicated when Lisa returns claiming her fling has ended.

Along Came Polly has some funny running gags. The best involves Reuben's best friend Sandy (played by Academy Award winner Philip Seymour Hoffman) and his complete incompetence on the basketball court. Polly's blind ferret and Reuben's overbearing boss (the often funny Alec Baldwin) are also amusing. However, the romance aspect of this movie just seems off. Stiller and Aniston don't have much chemistry, and their courtship doesn't feel genuine. To be honest, neither Polly nor Lisa seem likely matches for Reuben. Ultimately, there's some good laughs in Along Came Polly - mostly in the first half - and Reuben is a likeable character, but the romance script is too predictable and unlikely to make this a "rom-com" worthy of repeated viewings.

The Wedding Date (***1/2)

Debra Messing returns for the second film in this set - this time as the lead. In The Wedding Date, Messing plays Kat, a highly-strung single woman in New York City who hires a male escort (Dermot Mulroney) to attend her half-sister's wedding (Amy Adams playing a character named Amy of all things) in England. It seems Kat's ex-fiance will be attending this wedding, and she wants to convince everyone she's happy when she isn't - and to show up her ex-lover. Inevitably, Kat falls for her escort and vice versa.

The Wedding Date is a movie about very sad and pathetic characters. Kat, Amy, Nick, and others are attractive people, but they all harbor profound flaws that are difficult to overcome. This film has some humor in it, mostly the awkward kind one finds in the fantastic NBC series The Office. However, much more so than the other three films in this collection, The Wedding Date is more drama than anything else. Surprisingly, it's very interesting - and you end up rooting for these characters' happiness by the end of the movie despite some of the pitiful things they do. Credit goes to the two leads. Messing is quite good at balancing the warmer and uglier elements of her character, and Mulroney's aloof performance works well. This film was more engaging than I expected, despite its formulaic conclusion.

Intolerable Cruelty (***1/2)

Disc two starts with this 2003 Coen Brothers film. In it, Miles (George Clooney), a successful but bored divorce attorney, falls madly in love with Marilyn (Catherine Zeta-Jones), a gold-digging adventuress, during divorce proceedings. Miles ruins Marilyn's plans for a generous divorce settlement in court (he's representing her husband), but she returns to him for one of his iron-clad prenuptial agreements when she meets an oil-rich tycoon (Billy Bob Thornton). All is not as it first appears, though, as Miles continues to fall for her.

Intolerable Cruelty is full of the quirky characters and comic situations the Coen Brothers are known for - and because of this, whether or not you enjoy the film will depend upon whether or not you enjoy their brand of offbeat humor. Clooney and Zeta-Jones are very well-cast; their characters are intelligent, and their chemistry is strong. The opening sequence involving a producer (Geoffrey Rush) finding his wife in bed with another man is a rocky start, but once the movie settles in on Miles and Marilyn, it moves into a comfortable groove. Scenes between Miles and his faithful sidekick Wrigley are amusing, and Cedric the Entertainer plays an entertaining small role as Marilyn's sleazy private detective. All in all, it's a fun - albeit far-fetched - romp.

The Story of Us (**)

The collection of romantic comedies ends with this melodramatic story of a couple married 15 years who are considering a divorce. Ben and Katie Jordan (Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfeiffer) have two children and a very nice home, yet they're unhappy and separated - both trying to piece together what happened to their love. Ben is too easygoing. Katie is too much of a control freak. That seems to be the root of their problems. A good portion of the movie involves flashbacks that provide insight to how their long relationship worked (and didn't work). Katie also begins to take a romantic interest in the family's dentist, who is divorced.

Rob Reiner directed this disappointing tale of two lovers who may have grown apart. I really liked the premise, but its execution left something to be desired. Ben and Katie's discussions about love and marriage with their friends are excruciatingly bad and filled with dialogue that isn't as clever or insightful as the screenwriters seem to think. Scenes between Ben and Katie fare better, but even here both Willis and Pfeiffer engage in over-the-top histrionics that the script forces upon them. Pfeiffer's character seems to be an older version of the obsessive character she played in the far better 1996 romantic comedy One Fine Day. Too bad that one isn't in the Universal stable and included here. Still, The Story of Us has its moments and it doesn't hurt that Eric Clapton provides a number of the tunes.

The DVD

Video:

All four movies are presented in 1.85:1 widescreen. All four are also anamorphic. The films are relatively recent and come from the same studio, so it probably doesn't come as a surprise that they're uniformly good transfers with sharp detail.

Sound:

Each film in this quadruple feature has one language track: English Dolby Digital 5.1. They all sound very good and well-mixed.

Each film has an English subtitle option. No other languages are represented for any of the films.

Extras:

4 90+ movies on 2 single-sided discs = 0 extra features.

Final Thoughts:

Quadruple Feature: Romantic Comedy Pack has two fairly good films (The Wedding Date and Intolerably Cruelty) and two mediocre films (Along Came Polly and The Story of Us). The discs come housed in a space-saving single case and the collection is recommended - although fans of the movies might seek out individual releases to see if they have any extras, as there are no extras here.

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