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Buying the Cow
Columbia/Tri-Star // R // December 17, 2002
List Price: $24.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
Another lowbrow comedy from the director of "National Lampoon's Van Wilder", "Buying the Cow" is only now having its premiere on home video, despite the presence of some B-list stars. Jerry O'Connell stars as David, a man desperately afraid of commitment. In this case, however, it's only because of a love that he lost when he was younger - and who still might be out there awaiting him.
His current girlfriend Sarah (Bridgette Wilson) is thinking about marriage and is none too pleased with his apparent fear of taking things to the next step. When she heads out to New York on a job, David confronts the question of whether or not Sarah's the right one for him. Trying to help him figure out his problems are David's two friends (Ryan Reynolds of "Van Wilder" and Bill Bellamy).
And, quite honestly, that's about all there is to it. A light, occasionally amusing little picture, the film focuses more about dialogue between the three friends than anything else. O'Connell may be the star, but Reynolds, whose sense of comedy is something like David Spade crossed with Jim Carrey, gets all the funniest moments - he should have had O'Connell's role. Ron Livingston ("Office Space") is also funny in a small role. Either Livingston or Reynolds could have made something more out of the film if they were in the lead role instead of O'Connell.
Overall, though, the film falls flat because there's nothing terribly memorable amount the material. While the film has some funny moments here and there, there's nothing here that hasn't been done or said in other, better romantic comedies. Even the raunchiness - and it's surprisingly not that raunchy - isn't funny. Lastly, the film eventually starts to feel slow in the middle as, even at 88 minutes, it doesn't go anywhere quickly enough. Although probably better than most direct-to-video fare, there's nothing here that hasn't been done better in other films in the genre - and that's probably a part of the reason why video is its first destination.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Buying the Cow" is presented by Columbia/Tristar Home Video in both 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and 1.33:1 full-frame. The anamorphic widescreen presentation is just okay. Sharpness and detail are generally standard, as detail is respectable in brighter, outdoor scenes, while some dimly-lit scenes look weaker in comparison. In general, the picture seemed slightly dark.
The picture suffered from several problems. While none of them were terribly distracting on their own, added together, they brought the picture down a few notches. Specks, marks and other small print flaws were visible throughout the movie. While no major wear was seen, the movie seemed a bit on the dirty side for a newer feature. Edge enhancement, if only in minor amounts, was also seen. Lastly, some minor instances of pixelation were also noticed in darker scenes.
The film's low-key color palette usually seemed well-rendered, although there were a couple of darker scenes where colors appeared a little bit smeared. Overall, a merely average transfer.
SOUND: "Buying the Cow" is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 by Columbia/Tristar. Aside from a couple of sequences in a club that have the music playing in the surrounds, the rear speakers get nothing to do - not even minor ambience. Music sounded fine for the most part, while dialogue could occasionally sound a bit low in volume.
EXTRAS: filmographies and trailers for "Buying the Cow", "Jerry Maguire", "Stealing Harvard", "Tomcats" and "Trapped".
Final Thoughts: While not terrible, "Buying the Cow" wasn't very good either, which is especially disapointing given the decent cast. Columbia/Tristar's DVD is a bare-bones effort, with only average audio/video quality and little in the way of supplements. A rental, if everything else is out.
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