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EDTV - (DTS)
List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
Many believed that "EDTV" suffered at the box office from a case of people had seen the concept before, not only in "Pleasantville", but "The Truman Show". That might have been a contributing factor, but the film itself simply isn't that great, either.
Matt McConaughey stars as Ed Pekurny, a Texas slacker who finds his way into being the star of a 24 hour a day television program focusing on his life. Although at first he's a little awkward in the role, of course after a while, it's Ed who's going to all lengths to entertain the audience. Ed has a band of colorful characters in his universe as well, such as his brother(Woody Harrelson), father(Martin Landau) and brother's girlfriend who Ed starts going out with, Shari(played by Jenna Elfman). After Shari leaves Ed, a sexy British woman(Elizabeth Hurley), enters the picture.
The biggest problem is that we know where EDTV is going from the get-go. The idea of Ed being on his own television show is simply an outer layer. The base of this story is a standard romantic comedy. We know that at some point, the picture will start saying that TV is evil, blah blah blah. It really doesn't have anything urgent or new or really that fresh to say about how TV interacts with our lives. There's no "edge" to this either. It's occasionally funny, but it could have gone a lot farther rather than choosing to be thin, lighter-than-air comedy. The romantic elements between Shari and Ed aren't really that interesting and the romantic scenes between Ed and Hurley's character seems don't really go anywhere and seem a little too silly.
Above it all, McConaughey is the wrong actor for Ed. We're not made to care about this character and two hours of him begins to get really quite annoying. Woody Harrelson isn't much better as Ed's brother. The only actor who manages to be occasionally funny is Ellen Degeneres as a TV exec. This is a picture that really doesn't aim to be much more than a light comedy and it only occasionally is successful at that. "EDTV" is occasionally funny, but don't expect any sort of ideas or statements on how TV effects our culture.
The DVD
VIDEO: Gorgeous 1.85:1 letterboxed image. An anamorphic transfer, the colors are deep, rich and accurately rendered throughout. Colors are also very well-saturated. Images are completely clear and "film-like" throughout, looking consistently sharp and clean throughout, whether in exterior or interior, light or dark, images remain consistent in quality here throughout.
Detail is also quite good, especially in the excellent looking San Fransisco exteriors(John Schwartzman("Armageddon"), was the cinematographer on this film). Contrast as well as shadow detail are quite good. Flesh tones are also consistently accurate and natural throughout. There's nothing in the way of problems with the print or problems such as pixelization or aliasing. It's another great Universal transfer- they've always done excellent work on their Collector's Edition titles and this is no exception.
SOUND: "EDTV" really isn't much of a movie in terms of sound, but the DTS version does sound very enjoyable. Much of the film is simply dialogue, which sounds clear and easily understood. When the music enters into the picture, it does expand things nicely, enveloping the listener in some clear, dynamic rock music. Surrounds are not used that often, and when they are, they are decently effective - nothing is terribly impressive about "EDTV"'s audio, though.
MENUS:: Very basic main menus with no animation or anything additional.
EXTRAS:: There are no extras with this release. The Collector's Edition, on the other hand, is packed with 2 commentaries and a number of other features.
Final Thoughts: I'd have to recommend the Collector's Edition over this version due to the extras, especially the commentaries. While the Ron Howard commentary is fairly entertaining, the commentary with the two writers is very funny, occasionally making fun of the movie.
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