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Dom Robinson reviews
Columbia TriStar
- Price: £19.99
- Widescreen: 1.85:1
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
The title refers to the feeling gained after shooting up smack and, as Jerry (Ben Stiller) puts it, “Youhave to look your best for Hollywood” (!) A burned-out author of fiction, we meet him while goingthrough rehab. He’s placed in a dead-end fast-food job, which is quickly ditched the minute the sexyKitty (Maria Bello, Dr. Del Amico in E.R. Season 4) sidles up to his drive-thru window.
He relates his life story after they have sex, from the point when his life began to fall apart. Throughhis best friend Nicky (Armageddon’s Owen Wilson), he is introduced to the alluring agent’s assistant,Sandra (Elizabeth Hurley). They hook up together so she can get her green card, but the only writingshe puts his way is for a dire, but successful, children’s TV show, Mr. Chompers. A phone call returnshim to Pittsburgh when his Jewish mother dies, after which he returns to L.A. to sink further into hisdrug-fuelled hell.
With a convincing junkie in Stiller and a clever, humourous turn from Janeane Garofalo, they bothserve to point out the lack of acting ability in Ms. Hurley who really does nothing for any film inwhich she’s cast.
Presented in an anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen ratio, the picture quality would be first rate, save fora small amount of underlying grain which seems to dog most Columbia TriStar releases. Other thanthat, colours are bold and strong with life-like flesh tones that point out the fading colour from Stiller’sface as the film progresses and the average bitrate is a high 7.56Mb/s, often peaking over 9Mb/s. TheDolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack isn’t used to great effect although it does get a chance to shinemomentarily when the nightmare of heroin usage really screws him up.
Unusually for a Columbia title there are no subtitles whatsoever which is a shame, but there are scoresof extras in the form of a trailer, four deleted scenes, two apparently-identical TV spots, eleven minutesof interviews, a small amount of unedited B-roll footage (a.k.a. rushes), cast filmographies and afeature-length director’s commentary track.
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Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.