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Crush
Columbia/Tri-Star // R // August 27, 2002
List Price: $24.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
"Crush" is not only a chick-flick, but an "indie chick flick", aimed at an older audience. I support the idea of a movie that looks at a trio of over-40 women looking at their lives and if done right, it'd probably be very watchable. However, there's also a way that kind of movie can spin out of control and "Crush", a film from director Jim McKay, often runs off the tracks.
Alternately cutesy, drippy, sappy, happy and yes - even occasionally dopey - "Crush" stars Imelda Staunton, Anna Chancellor and Andie MacDowell as Janine, Kate and Molly, three forty-something women who are seeking romance. Kate's certainly the focus of the film and, soon enough, we find out about her romance with Jed (Kenny Doughty), a former student who is fifteen years her junior.
While Kate is starting to find herself falling for the idea of being with Jed, her two friends are plotting, in increasingly mean-spirited ways, to keep her away from the younger man - not only because they think he's too young for him, but also seemingly because they're dismayed that they're not happy like she is. Some friends they are.
The film actually starts to get itself together early on, as the romance between Kate and Jed actually is rather nicely played by the two actors, if not terribly well-defined or all that believable. However, what the women do to sabotage the relationship starts to become ridiculous and mean-spirited. The fact that they're forgiven late in the film (and that the three women talk like they're in an R-rated teen comedy) adds to the high level of absurdity. Possibly this could have been more believable if the women's history of friendship was shown, but we don't really find out anything about how they met or why they think they're important to one another. The way they treat poor Kate would be enough for most women to run away long before, which doesn't help our interest in McDowell's character.
And then things really fall apart. "Crush" takes a turn for the soap-opera dramatic in the second half, a change doesn't seem at all necessary nor does the film seem capable of handling. There are three very fine actresses involved in this film, but I'm at a loss at what in McKay's script possessed them to be involved with this project. Most of the characters are either not well-developed or distinctly unlikable, while McDowell's decent performance rarely was enough to even slightly carry my interest in a film that seemed like twice its nearly two-hour length. Topping it all off is Kevin Sargent's score, which swells up to the point of ridiculousness at each of the film's Big Emotional Moments.
There are the possibilities for a decent film hidden (far) underneath the mess that's "Crush", but the final film that I just wasted the past two hours on is a dismal mix of cliches, dull, crude dialogue and unsympathetic, sour characters.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Crush" is presented by Columbia/Tristar Home Video in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. The picture quality ranges from very good to simply okay, thankfully more often the former. Sharpness and detail are generally solid, as although the picture has an intentional appearance that's slightly on the soft side, detail remained pleasant.
Oddly, while some scenes remained almost free of faults, others appeared problematic. While the picture never suffered terribly from its problems, they were noticable. Edge enhancement was spotted on occasion in minor amounts, while some specks and marks were also seen on the print used. Mild grain and occasional noise are also present on a fairly frequent basis. No pixelation or other faults were visible. Colors remained fairly well-rendered, although looked a little soft at times.
SOUND: "Crush" is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1. While the music occasionally fills the room, this is certainly a mostly dialogue-driven picture. Audio quality was fine, if unremarkable.
MENUS: Basic, non-animated menus.
EXTRAS: A short promotional featurette and trailers for "Crush", "13 Conversations About One Thing", "Sunshine State" and "Last Orders".
Final Thoughts: A slight, sappy, bitter and often simply dull feature, "Crush" wastes three actresses on a poor screenplay. Columbia/Tristar's DVD offers a fair presentation and little in the way of supplements. Skip it.
I'd recommend watching the British comedy series "Absolutely Fabulous" (which is available on DVD) instead.
"Crush" is not only a chick-flick, but an "indie chick flick", aimed at an older audience. I support the idea of a movie that looks at a trio of over-40 women looking at their lives and if done right, it'd probably be very watchable. However, there's also a way that kind of movie can spin out of control and "Crush", a film from director Jim McKay, often runs off the tracks.
Alternately cutesy, drippy, sappy, happy and yes - even occasionally dopey - "Crush" stars Imelda Staunton, Anna Chancellor and Andie MacDowell as Janine, Kate and Molly, three forty-something women who are seeking romance. Kate's certainly the focus of the film and, soon enough, we find out about her romance with Jed (Kenny Doughty), a former student who is fifteen years her junior.
While Kate is starting to find herself falling for the idea of being with Jed, her two friends are plotting, in increasingly mean-spirited ways, to keep her away from the younger man - not only because they think he's too young for him, but also seemingly because they're dismayed that they're not happy like she is. Some friends they are.
The film actually starts to get itself together early on, as the romance between Kate and Jed actually is rather nicely played by the two actors, if not terribly well-defined or all that believable. However, what the women do to sabotage the relationship starts to become ridiculous and mean-spirited. The fact that they're forgiven late in the film (and that the three women talk like they're in an R-rated teen comedy) adds to the high level of absurdity. Possibly this could have been more believable if the women's history of friendship was shown, but we don't really find out anything about how they met or why they think they're important to one another. The way they treat poor Kate would be enough for most women to run away long before, which doesn't help our interest in McDowell's character.
And then things really fall apart. "Crush" takes a turn for the soap-opera dramatic in the second half, a change doesn't seem at all necessary nor does the film seem capable of handling. There are three very fine actresses involved in this film, but I'm at a loss at what in McKay's script possessed them to be involved with this project. Most of the characters are either not well-developed or distinctly unlikable, while McDowell's decent performance rarely was enough to even slightly carry my interest in a film that seemed like twice its nearly two-hour length. Topping it all off is Kevin Sargent's score, which swells up to the point of ridiculousness at each of the film's Big Emotional Moments.
There are the possibilities for a decent film hidden (far) underneath the mess that's "Crush", but the final film that I just wasted the past two hours on is a dismal mix of cliches, dull, crude dialogue and unsympathetic, sour characters.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Crush" is presented by Columbia/Tristar Home Video in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. The picture quality ranges from very good to simply okay, thankfully more often the former. Sharpness and detail are generally solid, as although the picture has an intentional appearance that's slightly on the soft side, detail remained pleasant.
Oddly, while some scenes remained almost free of faults, others appeared problematic. While the picture never suffered terribly from its problems, they were noticable. Edge enhancement was spotted on occasion in minor amounts, while some specks and marks were also seen on the print used. Mild grain and occasional noise are also present on a fairly frequent basis. No pixelation or other faults were visible. Colors remained fairly well-rendered, although looked a little soft at times.
SOUND: "Crush" is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1. While the music occasionally fills the room, this is certainly a mostly dialogue-driven picture. Audio quality was fine, if unremarkable.
MENUS: Basic, non-animated menus.
EXTRAS: A short promotional featurette and trailers for "Crush", "13 Conversations About One Thing", "Sunshine State" and "Last Orders".
Final Thoughts: A slight, sappy, bitter and often simply dull feature, "Crush" wastes three actresses on a poor screenplay. Columbia/Tristar's DVD offers a fair presentation and little in the way of supplements. Skip it.
I'd recommend watching the British comedy series "Absolutely Fabulous" (which is available on DVD) instead.
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