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Sunset Grill
Image // R // November 11, 2003
List Price: $14.99 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie
In Sunset Grill, Peter Weller plays Ryder Hart, a disgraced ex-cop who is now a low-rent private investigator. His estranged wife, Anita (Alexandra Paul), runs the Sunset Grill and is now involved with Jeff (Michael Anderson, Jr.) a police detective who used to work with Ryder. When Anita is found brutally murdered, Ryder and Jeff team-up to find her killer. The case appears to be related to an immigrant who worked at the Sunset Grill and an old friend of Ryder's named Guillermo (Benito Martinez). During their investigation, Ryder and Jeff meet Harrison Shelgrove (Stacy Keach), a wealthy industrialist who owns a gun club. Loren (Lori Singer), an employee at the club, seems to take an unusual amount of interest in Ryder. As Ryder gets closer to the truth, he begins to suspect that a crooked INS agent, Stockton (John Rhys-Davies), may know something about the case. What began as a search for the murderer of his wife, has lead Ryder into a mystery involving illegal immigrants in Los Angeles.
Sunset Grill is yet another awful direct-to-video release which is filled with familiar faces. Man, what in the world happened to Peter Weller? This one promising actor who dazzled us in RoboCop and Naked Lunch apparently made some poor career decisions with films such as this one. He's very gaunt here, playing a cowboy-type sequestered in the big city, and with his moustache and cowboy hat, he looks like a hardened version of Jeff Foxworthy. As for acting, Weller has two levels in this film: lethargic or yelling. And, he certainly yells a lot in this movie. As for the rest of the cast, they appear to be going through the motions as well, and if you're a fan of films in which Lori Singer takes off her clothes for no apparent reason, then this one's for you.
The wasted cast aside, Sunset Grill gets no help from its DOA story or the sluggish direction of Kevin Connor. Connor is a veteran director with many interesting credits on his resume, but he does nothing to soup up the pace of Sunset Grill and the amount of random shots of hands and steering wheels leads one to believe that the poor editor was left with a ton of second unit footage with which to complete the film. The script offers no sympathetic characters and few clues for the audience to grasp. We don't care about Ryder, or the murder of his wife, and the introduction of another mystery only complicates things further. Consider the Sunset Grill closed for business.
Video
Image Entertainment places an order to go by releasing Sunset Grill on DVD. The film has been letterboxed at 1.78:1 and the transfer is enhanced for 16 x 9 TVs. The image shows signs of wear and tear, as there are noticeable defects from the source print, such as scratches and black dots. There is an overt amount of grain on the image. The color quality vacillates between acceptable and washed out. Also, there are typically haloes around any moving object. The image is stable throughout and there were no signs of video noise or intrusive artifacting.
Audio
In a somewhat surprising movie, the Sunset Grill DVD carries three distinct audio tracks: DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1, and Dolby Stereo Surround. The Dolby Digital and DTS tracks are basically identical, as both provide clear dialogue and sound effects. They both offer clear stereo effects, but the surround sound only kicks in during musical cues and there's not much in the way of bass response. While the DTS and Dolby Digital tracks are clearer and offer a wider soundfield, the Dolby Stereo track is more robust and deeper.
Extras
There are only two special features on this DVD. The first is four-minutes of "deleted" footage, which is presented without sound. The footage consists solely of a sex scene between Peter Weller and Alexandra Paul. So, if you've always wanted to see Alexandra Paul's breasts, here's your chance. The other extra is the trailer for Sunset Grill, which is presented full-frame.
Sunset Grill is the kind of film which one would typically run across at 2am on Showtime. The film offers nothing to distinguish itself from others in the genre and the semi-famous cast is wasted. Add to that the lackluster presentation on this DVD and you've get my recommendation that the health inspector shut down the Sunset Grill.
In Sunset Grill, Peter Weller plays Ryder Hart, a disgraced ex-cop who is now a low-rent private investigator. His estranged wife, Anita (Alexandra Paul), runs the Sunset Grill and is now involved with Jeff (Michael Anderson, Jr.) a police detective who used to work with Ryder. When Anita is found brutally murdered, Ryder and Jeff team-up to find her killer. The case appears to be related to an immigrant who worked at the Sunset Grill and an old friend of Ryder's named Guillermo (Benito Martinez). During their investigation, Ryder and Jeff meet Harrison Shelgrove (Stacy Keach), a wealthy industrialist who owns a gun club. Loren (Lori Singer), an employee at the club, seems to take an unusual amount of interest in Ryder. As Ryder gets closer to the truth, he begins to suspect that a crooked INS agent, Stockton (John Rhys-Davies), may know something about the case. What began as a search for the murderer of his wife, has lead Ryder into a mystery involving illegal immigrants in Los Angeles.
Sunset Grill is yet another awful direct-to-video release which is filled with familiar faces. Man, what in the world happened to Peter Weller? This one promising actor who dazzled us in RoboCop and Naked Lunch apparently made some poor career decisions with films such as this one. He's very gaunt here, playing a cowboy-type sequestered in the big city, and with his moustache and cowboy hat, he looks like a hardened version of Jeff Foxworthy. As for acting, Weller has two levels in this film: lethargic or yelling. And, he certainly yells a lot in this movie. As for the rest of the cast, they appear to be going through the motions as well, and if you're a fan of films in which Lori Singer takes off her clothes for no apparent reason, then this one's for you.
The wasted cast aside, Sunset Grill gets no help from its DOA story or the sluggish direction of Kevin Connor. Connor is a veteran director with many interesting credits on his resume, but he does nothing to soup up the pace of Sunset Grill and the amount of random shots of hands and steering wheels leads one to believe that the poor editor was left with a ton of second unit footage with which to complete the film. The script offers no sympathetic characters and few clues for the audience to grasp. We don't care about Ryder, or the murder of his wife, and the introduction of another mystery only complicates things further. Consider the Sunset Grill closed for business.
Video
Image Entertainment places an order to go by releasing Sunset Grill on DVD. The film has been letterboxed at 1.78:1 and the transfer is enhanced for 16 x 9 TVs. The image shows signs of wear and tear, as there are noticeable defects from the source print, such as scratches and black dots. There is an overt amount of grain on the image. The color quality vacillates between acceptable and washed out. Also, there are typically haloes around any moving object. The image is stable throughout and there were no signs of video noise or intrusive artifacting.
Audio
In a somewhat surprising movie, the Sunset Grill DVD carries three distinct audio tracks: DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1, and Dolby Stereo Surround. The Dolby Digital and DTS tracks are basically identical, as both provide clear dialogue and sound effects. They both offer clear stereo effects, but the surround sound only kicks in during musical cues and there's not much in the way of bass response. While the DTS and Dolby Digital tracks are clearer and offer a wider soundfield, the Dolby Stereo track is more robust and deeper.
Extras
There are only two special features on this DVD. The first is four-minutes of "deleted" footage, which is presented without sound. The footage consists solely of a sex scene between Peter Weller and Alexandra Paul. So, if you've always wanted to see Alexandra Paul's breasts, here's your chance. The other extra is the trailer for Sunset Grill, which is presented full-frame.
Sunset Grill is the kind of film which one would typically run across at 2am on Showtime. The film offers nothing to distinguish itself from others in the genre and the semi-famous cast is wasted. Add to that the lackluster presentation on this DVD and you've get my recommendation that the health inspector shut down the Sunset Grill.
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