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DysFunKtional Family
Other // R // September 9, 2003
List Price: $29.99 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
Although I haven't been impressed by what few movies of Eddie Griffin's I've seen, it's kind of unfair to dismiss a comedian by the roles he chooses. Take Zach Galifianakis, f'r instance, whose mediocre film credits (Out Cold, Corky Romano, Bubble Boy, and Heartbreakers) aren't the least bit representative of the talent he displayed in his brilliant Comedy Central special and his short-lived, criminally ignored late night talk show. I guess what I'm meandering towards is that despite not being particularly impressed with Double Take or The New Guy, I went into Eddie Griffin's concert flick, Dysfunktional Family, with something approximating an open mind. It didn't help.
The concert film reteams Griffin with George Gallo -- no, not the wine guy; the screenwriter behind Bad Boys -- who had previously worked with the actor/comedian on Double Take. Most of the comedy can be lumped into a few familiar categories -- sex, race, religion, and, as the title suggests, childhood and family. Many of the jokes are another stroll through well-tread territory. Sure, delivered more energetically and with a healthy smattering of profanity, but standard just the same. Griffin even whips out the most clichéd gag of the past thirty years, the old "white people are like this" (performs some activity in a nasally voice while marching around stage quickly and awkwardly) followed by "...but black folks are like this!" (performs same activity with a strut). And jabs at Michael Jackson? Dogs do this, but cats are like this? Women shopping? Homophobic rants? Stale impressions? Yawn. Griffin smirks near the end -- "Did I go too far?" It seems like his goal is equal parts to shock the audience and to try to get some sort of emotional response about what he endured as a child. I'm not easily shocked, so the first part fell completely flat to me. As for the second...I tend to be pretty apathetic about that sort of thing. I came into Dysfunktional Family looking to laugh, and a detailed description of watching an uncle pumping heroin into his veins and a chat about another uncle's penchant for porn just flat-out aren't funny. It's noted early on that one of the reason black men are so quick to say "nigga" is that overusing the word robs it of its power. Whatever strength that racial slur may have had should be long gone now, since Griffin drops "nigga" like most people use commas.
Concert films nowadays are rarely content with just having stand-up footage, feeling some need to insert short skits and footage of the performers goofing around off-stage. Dysfunktional Family runs the gamut, from a hunt for Osama bin Laden, Eddie Griffin chatting with a couple of bewildered white guys who have absolutely no idea who he is, footage of Eddie palling around a bunch of kids at his old junior high school, and lots and lots of material with his family. Sometimes these will be used to segue into a routine or punctuate a joke, but more often than not, they're extraneous and distracting. Those same adjectives could be directed towards some of the movie's visual and aural flourishes, including some awful sound effects, the blown-out contrast in some of the offstage footage, and the rapid-fire editing.
Eddie Griffin has the stage presence and delivery of a great comedian, but he's sorely lacking the material to be the sort of Eddie Murphy or Richard Pryor that he desperately seems to strive to become. I'm not kidding or exaggerating when I say that I didn't laugh or so much as crack a smile once. Dysfunktional Family is not awful or unendurable...just incredibly mediocre, which, at least in my mind, is even worse. Despite my near-total disinterest in the movie, I have to admit that its release on DVD is pretty respectable, including an anamorphic widescreen presentation, 5.1 audio, and more than half an hour of deleted scenes.
Video: Like the bulk of recent comedy concert films, Dysfunktional Family was shot on digital video, and this DVD release preserves its 1.85:1 theatrical aspect ratio in anamorphic widescreen. The photography by Theo van de Sande, another Double Take alum, belies its video origins. Its appearance looks much closer to film, although the flaws typically associated with transfers from celluloid -- grain, speckling, nicks, and the like -- are all predictably and noticeably absent. The image is extremely sharp and colorful as well. There is some intermittent softness and video noise, but nothing unexpected or particularly intrusive.
Audio: The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio (448Kbps) is pretty standard for a six-channel comedy concert mix. Eddie's delivery is the focus of the audio, not surprisingly, and it comes through cleanly and clearly, without any notable issues whatsoever. The dialogue is anchored front and center, though the reverb you'd expect to hear in this sort of setting is present throughout the remaining speakers. The hip-hop and funk-heavy soundtrack provides the majority of the activity in the lower frequencies, offering up a tight, substantial dollop of thunderous bass. The understated surround channels slightly reinforce the music, but the rears are primarily reserved for light crowd noise.
Also included are English subtitles and closed captions.
Supplements: "A Dysfunktional Premiere" (3:39) is a brief and largely forgettable collection of interviews at the film's premiere, including comments from Eddie's family, Andrew Dice Clay, and, yup, Eddie himself. Much more notable is a gallery of sixteen deleted scenes, which in total run more than 36 minutes in length. Not being particularly fond of the movie itself, I wasn't really salivating for more of the same. The pacing and editing are the slightest bit more relaxed, and some of the jokes, particularly the contrast in official's responses to fighting in hockey and basketball, were actually pretty funny. A lot of it is literally 'more of the same', though, such as an uncensored take on "Fortified with Vitamins" and "Whuppins". Around half of the deleted scenes are concert footage, and the rest are all off-stage, with expanded interviews and some new material, such as Eddie chatting with the owners of the venue. If you liked the movie, this additional footage will be welcome, but if not, don't expect to have your opinion take a complete 180.
Both the premiere footage and the deleted scenes are presented in letterboxed, non-anamorphic widescreen with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio (192Kbps).
The requisite "Sneak Peeks" cover Comedian (1:31), Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (1:13), and Cool and the Crazy (0:49). All three of the brief previews feature Dolby Digital 5.1 audio (384Kbps) and are not enhanced for widescreen displays.
Dysfunktional Family comes packaged in a keepcase and does not include an insert. The disc's static menus are enhanced for 16x9 displays, and the movie has been divided into seventeen chapters.
Conclusion: Dysfunktional Family is a laughless seventy minutes and change, and even that slim runtime feels unnecessarily stretched with all of the filler that's inserted. I'm sure Eddie Griffin has his fans, and Dysfunktional Family did garner a number of very glowing reviews. This isn't one of them. Rather than waste a few bucks on a second-rate Richard Pryor, I'd recommend checking out Pryor's Live at the Sunset Strip or Live! In Concert instead. As for Dysfunktional Family, Skip It.
The concert film reteams Griffin with George Gallo -- no, not the wine guy; the screenwriter behind Bad Boys -- who had previously worked with the actor/comedian on Double Take. Most of the comedy can be lumped into a few familiar categories -- sex, race, religion, and, as the title suggests, childhood and family. Many of the jokes are another stroll through well-tread territory. Sure, delivered more energetically and with a healthy smattering of profanity, but standard just the same. Griffin even whips out the most clichéd gag of the past thirty years, the old "white people are like this" (performs some activity in a nasally voice while marching around stage quickly and awkwardly) followed by "...but black folks are like this!" (performs same activity with a strut). And jabs at Michael Jackson? Dogs do this, but cats are like this? Women shopping? Homophobic rants? Stale impressions? Yawn. Griffin smirks near the end -- "Did I go too far?" It seems like his goal is equal parts to shock the audience and to try to get some sort of emotional response about what he endured as a child. I'm not easily shocked, so the first part fell completely flat to me. As for the second...I tend to be pretty apathetic about that sort of thing. I came into Dysfunktional Family looking to laugh, and a detailed description of watching an uncle pumping heroin into his veins and a chat about another uncle's penchant for porn just flat-out aren't funny. It's noted early on that one of the reason black men are so quick to say "nigga" is that overusing the word robs it of its power. Whatever strength that racial slur may have had should be long gone now, since Griffin drops "nigga" like most people use commas.
Concert films nowadays are rarely content with just having stand-up footage, feeling some need to insert short skits and footage of the performers goofing around off-stage. Dysfunktional Family runs the gamut, from a hunt for Osama bin Laden, Eddie Griffin chatting with a couple of bewildered white guys who have absolutely no idea who he is, footage of Eddie palling around a bunch of kids at his old junior high school, and lots and lots of material with his family. Sometimes these will be used to segue into a routine or punctuate a joke, but more often than not, they're extraneous and distracting. Those same adjectives could be directed towards some of the movie's visual and aural flourishes, including some awful sound effects, the blown-out contrast in some of the offstage footage, and the rapid-fire editing.
Eddie Griffin has the stage presence and delivery of a great comedian, but he's sorely lacking the material to be the sort of Eddie Murphy or Richard Pryor that he desperately seems to strive to become. I'm not kidding or exaggerating when I say that I didn't laugh or so much as crack a smile once. Dysfunktional Family is not awful or unendurable...just incredibly mediocre, which, at least in my mind, is even worse. Despite my near-total disinterest in the movie, I have to admit that its release on DVD is pretty respectable, including an anamorphic widescreen presentation, 5.1 audio, and more than half an hour of deleted scenes.
Video: Like the bulk of recent comedy concert films, Dysfunktional Family was shot on digital video, and this DVD release preserves its 1.85:1 theatrical aspect ratio in anamorphic widescreen. The photography by Theo van de Sande, another Double Take alum, belies its video origins. Its appearance looks much closer to film, although the flaws typically associated with transfers from celluloid -- grain, speckling, nicks, and the like -- are all predictably and noticeably absent. The image is extremely sharp and colorful as well. There is some intermittent softness and video noise, but nothing unexpected or particularly intrusive.
Audio: The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio (448Kbps) is pretty standard for a six-channel comedy concert mix. Eddie's delivery is the focus of the audio, not surprisingly, and it comes through cleanly and clearly, without any notable issues whatsoever. The dialogue is anchored front and center, though the reverb you'd expect to hear in this sort of setting is present throughout the remaining speakers. The hip-hop and funk-heavy soundtrack provides the majority of the activity in the lower frequencies, offering up a tight, substantial dollop of thunderous bass. The understated surround channels slightly reinforce the music, but the rears are primarily reserved for light crowd noise.
Also included are English subtitles and closed captions.
Supplements: "A Dysfunktional Premiere" (3:39) is a brief and largely forgettable collection of interviews at the film's premiere, including comments from Eddie's family, Andrew Dice Clay, and, yup, Eddie himself. Much more notable is a gallery of sixteen deleted scenes, which in total run more than 36 minutes in length. Not being particularly fond of the movie itself, I wasn't really salivating for more of the same. The pacing and editing are the slightest bit more relaxed, and some of the jokes, particularly the contrast in official's responses to fighting in hockey and basketball, were actually pretty funny. A lot of it is literally 'more of the same', though, such as an uncensored take on "Fortified with Vitamins" and "Whuppins". Around half of the deleted scenes are concert footage, and the rest are all off-stage, with expanded interviews and some new material, such as Eddie chatting with the owners of the venue. If you liked the movie, this additional footage will be welcome, but if not, don't expect to have your opinion take a complete 180.
Both the premiere footage and the deleted scenes are presented in letterboxed, non-anamorphic widescreen with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio (192Kbps).
The requisite "Sneak Peeks" cover Comedian (1:31), Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (1:13), and Cool and the Crazy (0:49). All three of the brief previews feature Dolby Digital 5.1 audio (384Kbps) and are not enhanced for widescreen displays.
Dysfunktional Family comes packaged in a keepcase and does not include an insert. The disc's static menus are enhanced for 16x9 displays, and the movie has been divided into seventeen chapters.
Conclusion: Dysfunktional Family is a laughless seventy minutes and change, and even that slim runtime feels unnecessarily stretched with all of the filler that's inserted. I'm sure Eddie Griffin has his fans, and Dysfunktional Family did garner a number of very glowing reviews. This isn't one of them. Rather than waste a few bucks on a second-rate Richard Pryor, I'd recommend checking out Pryor's Live at the Sunset Strip or Live! In Concert instead. As for Dysfunktional Family, Skip It.
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