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Everybody's Famous
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment // R // November 13, 2001
List Price: $32.99 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
The cover of "Everybody's Famous!" boasts that the film was nominated for Best Foreign Film in 2000, which is a bit of suprise. It's not a particularly substancial, funny or insightful picture; although the plot certainly has potential, the film rarely is able to bring any edgy humor to the proceedings. The picture revolves around Jean Vereecken (Josse De Pauw), a father who works a night shift at a factory and entertains dreams of stardom for his slightly plump daughter, Marva (Eva van der Gucht).
The poor girl simply wants to please her father, so she gets up on stage during the local talent contests and belts out a tune - badly. When Jean loses his job at the factory, he's under even further pressure to make his daughter a success; but, he finds a different way around his problem - he simply kidnapps pop star Debbie (Thekla Reuten) and demands that Debbie's manager give his daughter a chance at stardom.
The film is meant as a satire on stardom, complete with Debbie's manager trying to make this turn of events into higher publicity for the singer's new album. Yet, the film is not only unbelievable in the fact that Marva would submit herself to such humiliation, but that Jean would believe that his daughter could be crafted from an untalented singer into one that wouldn't have audiences looking disinterested or pained by her efforts.
Any sympathy towards the characters is also diluted by the fact that there's not much to any of them, nor is there any attempt made during the film's 92 minutes. The only character of real interest is van der Gucht as Marva, who turns in a performance that's occasionally funny and engaging.
"Everybody's Famous" tries to be a good-natured film, but it's forced sweetness feels strange and takes away from the film's humor. Overall, it's not a bad film, but the fact that this feather-light and somewhat messy picture scored a Best Foreign Film nomination is quite odd.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Everybody's Famous" is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen by Miramax. While not completely without some noticable problems, the image quality generally appeared above-average throughout the show. Sharpness and detail were very good as, although the picture didn't have much depth to it, it was visibly crisp and well-defined.
As previously mentioned, a few minor flaws popped up now and then, taking away from what is otherwise a fine presentation. Print flaws occasionally were noticed in the form of a few specks here and there and a couple of instances of light dirt. Edge enhancement was also seen lightly during a few scenes, as was a few tiny traces of pixelation.
The film offered a natural color palette which was nicely and crisply reproduced here, with no instances of colors looking smeared or any other problems. Black level remained solid, while flesh tones looked accurate and natural. A nice, but not exceptional transfer.
SOUND: "Everybody's Famous!" is presented in Dutch Dolby Digital 5.1, with optional yellow English subtitles. The film's sound design could definitely be classified as "comedy audio" as, with the exception of a few minor instances of surround use, the film's audio stays firmly rooted in the front speakers. Audio quality remained fine, as both music and dialogue came through with respectable clarity.
MENUS: Basic, non-animated main menu with film-themed images and no background audio.
EXTRAS: A trailer.
Final Thoughts: "Everybody's Famous!" had the plot and potential to be a funny satire on celebrity, but the final product remains a strange mix of tones that never quite suceeds in getting a message across. Miramax's DVD provides respectable audio/video quality, but no extras and a too-high price of $32.99. A rental, at most.
The cover of "Everybody's Famous!" boasts that the film was nominated for Best Foreign Film in 2000, which is a bit of suprise. It's not a particularly substancial, funny or insightful picture; although the plot certainly has potential, the film rarely is able to bring any edgy humor to the proceedings. The picture revolves around Jean Vereecken (Josse De Pauw), a father who works a night shift at a factory and entertains dreams of stardom for his slightly plump daughter, Marva (Eva van der Gucht).
The poor girl simply wants to please her father, so she gets up on stage during the local talent contests and belts out a tune - badly. When Jean loses his job at the factory, he's under even further pressure to make his daughter a success; but, he finds a different way around his problem - he simply kidnapps pop star Debbie (Thekla Reuten) and demands that Debbie's manager give his daughter a chance at stardom.
The film is meant as a satire on stardom, complete with Debbie's manager trying to make this turn of events into higher publicity for the singer's new album. Yet, the film is not only unbelievable in the fact that Marva would submit herself to such humiliation, but that Jean would believe that his daughter could be crafted from an untalented singer into one that wouldn't have audiences looking disinterested or pained by her efforts.
Any sympathy towards the characters is also diluted by the fact that there's not much to any of them, nor is there any attempt made during the film's 92 minutes. The only character of real interest is van der Gucht as Marva, who turns in a performance that's occasionally funny and engaging.
"Everybody's Famous" tries to be a good-natured film, but it's forced sweetness feels strange and takes away from the film's humor. Overall, it's not a bad film, but the fact that this feather-light and somewhat messy picture scored a Best Foreign Film nomination is quite odd.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Everybody's Famous" is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen by Miramax. While not completely without some noticable problems, the image quality generally appeared above-average throughout the show. Sharpness and detail were very good as, although the picture didn't have much depth to it, it was visibly crisp and well-defined.
As previously mentioned, a few minor flaws popped up now and then, taking away from what is otherwise a fine presentation. Print flaws occasionally were noticed in the form of a few specks here and there and a couple of instances of light dirt. Edge enhancement was also seen lightly during a few scenes, as was a few tiny traces of pixelation.
The film offered a natural color palette which was nicely and crisply reproduced here, with no instances of colors looking smeared or any other problems. Black level remained solid, while flesh tones looked accurate and natural. A nice, but not exceptional transfer.
SOUND: "Everybody's Famous!" is presented in Dutch Dolby Digital 5.1, with optional yellow English subtitles. The film's sound design could definitely be classified as "comedy audio" as, with the exception of a few minor instances of surround use, the film's audio stays firmly rooted in the front speakers. Audio quality remained fine, as both music and dialogue came through with respectable clarity.
MENUS: Basic, non-animated main menu with film-themed images and no background audio.
EXTRAS: A trailer.
Final Thoughts: "Everybody's Famous!" had the plot and potential to be a funny satire on celebrity, but the final product remains a strange mix of tones that never quite suceeds in getting a message across. Miramax's DVD provides respectable audio/video quality, but no extras and a too-high price of $32.99. A rental, at most.
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