Staff Review - Starsky & Hutch

[redbears]

BUENA VISTA HOME ENTERTAINMENT

STARSKY & HUTCH

Released: Out Now
Rating: M15+
RRP: $36.95

DISC FEATURES AND SPECS:

Aspect: 2.35:1, 16:9 Trasnfer

Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 in English and Spanish

Subtitles: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Estonian and English captions for the hearing impaired.

Audio Commentary

Fashion Fa Fizzle Wit Huggie Bizzle

Last Look Special

Deleted Scenes

Gag Reel

Theatrical Trailer

Picture Disc

Running Time: 96:24

CAST:
STARRING: Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughan, Juliette Lewis and Snoop Dogg
DIRECTED BY: Todd Phillips

FROM THE BACK COVER:
From the creators of Old School and Road Trip comes the hilarious comedy based on the popular 1970s TV Series. Ben Stiller (along Came Polly, Meet The Parents) and Owen Wilson (Shanghai Knights, The Royal Tenenbaums) are at their comic best as the undercover cops who are partnered together for their first big case in STARSKY & HUTCH. With help from slick street snitch Huggy Bear (Platinum-selling rapper Snoop Dogg), Starsky (Stiller) and Hutch (Wilson) are in hot pursuit of a dealer who invents a non-detectable illegal drug. Can you dig it?

AUDIO/VISUAL:
Audio:
Being a 70s TV show inspired film, it would be difficult to guess how they might use the sound, would it be low tech or flashy hi tech? Read on... The first thing I noticed was that the menu volume seemed muted. Getting in to the film ,there is two audio tracks available, which are Dolby Digital 5.1 in English and in Spanish. The audio is nothing spectacular, the dialogue is certainly clear enough, but for a comedy with action, it lacks impact. The volume of the surrounds are a little low and overall the audio track seems to have a low volume, but not to the extent of the menus. The front soundstage volume seems better than the surrounds. Overall the sound is a little disappointing, but thankfully the film itself makes amends.

Video:
The TV style video quality is thankfully not used here, while the audio may be a little off, the video doesn't drop the ball. In the first few scenes you really get to see how nice the picture looks. One thing worth mentioning is how good the colours are, even though it doesn't try to be an overly colourful film. Some scenes have a soft picture, while others are nice and sharp, no doubt some of this would be deliberate. As far as nasties go, there wasn't too much to report about, a little bit of MPEG compression artefacts, some minor grain and a noticeable layer change was all that I could see. The picture is presented in 2.35:1 and I believe 16:9 enhanced, although the cover only states 16:9 transfer. On the whole this is a nice film to watch and I think they have done a good job with the transfer.

EXTRA FEATURES:
Audio Commentary by Todd Phillips:
The director Todd Phillips takes the chair in this solo effort. He starts off early and is fairly constant, there is the occasional break, but these are quite brief, until near the end of the film where he takes a couple of half minute pauses. The commentary is informative, interesting and quite topical, with plenty of on screen action being talked about. The only problem I found was the sound level, as previously mentioned the sound level on this DVD seems a bit poorly done. During louder scenes it is difficult to hear what is being said, this is quiet unfortunate and detracts from the commentary overall. If it wasn't for the poor sound levels, I would rate this solo effort above average.

Fashion Fa Shissle Wit Huggy Bizzle :
This is a short featurette with Snoop Dogg going through some of the outrageous 70s outfits he wears in the film. This runs for 2:42 and is presented in 2.35:1 with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio.

Last Look Special :
What starts out looking like an innocent behind the scenes featurette turns into a rather tongue in cheek attack on the director, everyone gets involved and once you work out what is going on this is reasonably funny. It runs for 9:20 and is presented in 1.85:1 aspect ratio with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio. I think there may even be some serious stuff in here too!

Deleted Scenes :
A collection of six deleted scenes from the film, total running time is 6:32, in theatrical aspect ratio with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound.

Gag Reel :
What is a good comedy without a good gag reel? This one runs for 5:00 minutes and shares some of the scenes with the closing credits.

Trailer :
Quiet a good trailer, although typical Hollywood, runs for 2:27 with 2.35:1 Aspect

OVERALL:
I haven't seen the original TV series and my only exposure to Starsky & Hutch was a Mad magazine comic strip. After watching it, I must say I was keen to watch it again soon. It has some very funny moments and while it is corny in parts, I think that just adds to the whole viewing experience. This film is certainly a recommendation for those of you out there who likely a mindless comedy.

Starsky & Hutch is currently available with a recommended price of $36.95

Rating out of 5
VIDEO QUALITY	3.5
AUDIO QUALITY	2.25
EXTRAS	2.5
THE MOVIE	4.5
OVERALL	3.25