Home Media Magazine - August 19-25, 2007 - (Page 24)

REVIEWS Street 8/28 Edited by John Latchem www.homemediamagazine.com I BLADES OF GLORY Paramount/DreamWorks, Comedy, B.O. $118.2 million, $29.99 DVD, $39.99 Blu-ray or HD DVD, ‘PG-13’ for crude and sexual humor, language, a comic violent image and some drug references. Stars Will Ferrell, Jon Heder, Will Arnett, Amy Poehler, Jenna Fischer, Craig T. Nelson. eave it to Will Ferrell to turn the sport of figure skating on its edge. Blades of Glory is a film that both skewers and elevates the sport, mining a one-note premise for all it’s worth. Ferrell and Heder are rival skaters who, after their feud earns them a lifetime ban, join forces to compete on the pairs circuit, raising the ire of a ruthless brother-sister team played by Poehler and Arnett (who are married in real life). The result is funny enough to appease most Ferrell fans and should bring in Heder’s Napoleon Dynamite crowd as well. It is, at times, overthe-top, crude, sentimental and macabre, but Blades of Glory man- L ages to hang together so well because its characters don’t know how absurd they are. A recent tradition in sports comedies has been for the real-life personalities of the sport to parody themselves on screen, and Blades of Glory is no exception. Scott Hamilton and Jim Lampley join a long list of announcers who lampoon themselves, with hilarious results. Former figureskater Hamilton also is the focus of the featurette “20 Questions With Scott Hamilton,” during which he is interviewed by a DVD producer with a wit not unlike Ron Burgundy. The other bonus materials similarly feed off the movie’s farcical atmosphere, with varying results. There’s about an hour of behind-the-scenes stuff, plus some amusing deleted scenes and alternate takes. The DVD lacks a commentary track, which is unfortunate given the potential for zany antics with this cast. — John Latchem I CRAZYLOVE Prebook 8/21; Street 9/18 MTI, Drama, $24.95 DVD, ‘R’ for language. Stars Reiko Aylesworth, Bruno Campos, Marla Sokoloff, Meat Loaf, JoBeth Williams. n this bittersweet drama, a young woman whose life, on the surface, seems to be perfect, has a ticking time bomb inside her. Letty (Aylesworth), a gifted and dedicat- I I DANE COOK: THE LOST PILOTS — and his HBO shows Vicious Circle Surely Cook’s future comedy projects Street 8/28 Sony Pictures, Comedy, $14.94 DVD, NR. Stars Dane Cook. t’s good being Dane Cook. He costars in the recently released film Mr. Brooks with Kevin Costner, William Hurt and Demi Moore, and shares top billing with the lovely Jessica Alba in the Sept. 21 release Good Luck Chuck. Last year, the comedian-actor starred opposite Jessica Simpson in Employee of the Month — proving he could act almost as well as he generates laughs I and Tourgasm garnered accolades. For some, the hyper Cook is an acquired taste. This DVD is a perfect example. With all the excellent endeavors he’s been involved in recently — particularly considering his fine work in Vicious Circle — this effort isn’t one of Cook’s finest. File it under holding him now to a higher standard. Too often, The Lost Pilots bogs down with too many of Cook’s sophomoric antics. But almost every comedian’s act hits a bump in the road along the way, which is probably the case here. will return with their usual luster and humor. The bonus features include an extended bloopers segment and deleted scenes, the latter of which includes footage of Cook and some of the show’s characters ad libbing while filming the episodes. Overall, the bonus material is a mixed bag. There are times when Cook is absolutely brilliant — and funny, too — and there are other times he comes across as elementary and just plain goofy. — Benny Lopez ed elementary-school teacher, lives with her boyfriend, a successful attorney, and is planning for her sister’s upcoming wedding. To the naked eye, things could not be better, more normal or more stable. But inside, the pressure is building, and in the middle of an especially tense dinner party, something finally gives. Letty loses control and ends up in a psychiatric facility. There she is surrounded by other damaged souls who are in varying stages of healing. In particular, she connects to Michael (Campos), a schizophrenic who has been in and out of hospitals his whole life. They become involved, and it even seems that they may be able to build a life together. They are both released from the hospital and set about the task of rebuilding their outside lives. But things don’t go as smoothly as they had hoped. This character-driven drama relies almost entirely on the relationships that its actors establish with each other. Aylesworth and Campos are wonderful together, beginning with a mutual antipathy and evolving to a deep but complicated love. Williams is also very good as Letty’s mother, well-meaning but an emotional bull in a china shop, pushing her daughter even when it is clear that pushing is not what is required. The best bits of Crazylove come during the small moments: the hospital patients playing poker; Letty tending to a boy with a nose bleed. Consumers who are interested in dramas that do not tie up neatly in bows will find this small piece interesting. — Anne Sherber 24 Home Media Magazine August 19–25, 2007 http://www.homemediamagazine.com

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Home Media Magazine - August 19-25, 2007

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