|
|
 |
Mad Money
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Anchor Bay Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Pat Pilon (11th December 2008). |
|
The Film
 The best way to describe this movie is that it’s a chick-flick heist movie. I say this because that's the very first impression I had while watching it. It's light and cute and there’s really no doubt as to what's about to happen. Based on a true story, the movie follows three women as they steal countless bills, slated to be destroyed, at the Federal Reserve Bank. What follows is a story of friendship, loyalty and fun times. The movie, unfortunately, dates itself very early on. In a bid to make itself topical, it mentions the economic crush and bad housing market a few times it the start. In a few years, or whenever the market gets better, this will seem very dated. This is the not the smartest thing to do, as it stops the movie from being more timeless. Not that this movie aims to such a goal, but it would help he movie age better. What much better is the interaction between all the actors. Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah and Katie Holmes all have a lot of fun making this movie and it definitely shows. The scenes with the three of them have a high energy and are fun to watch. Mrs. Keaton, in particular, gives a great performance (with the exception of a few moments). Ted Danson and especially Stephen Root also gives very nice comic turns. Director Callie Khouri helps keep things light and never gets overbearing. The actors follow this lead and have fun with their roles, never falling in the pitfalls of being silly or over-the-top. Despite some strange character moments in a few scenes, this makes the characters pretty believable and enjoyable. Mrs. Khouri does a nice job handling the lighter moments with the heavier story elements. As I've said, she never lets things get out of hand and she never gets preachy about the subject matter. The downside of the lighter tone is that the movie seems a bit easy for these characters. There's no real danger and considering their crime, nobody ever seems to see the consequences of their actions. However, this movie isn't about this. It's about having fun. These three girls are having a lot of fun stealing from their work, and you're having fun watching them. The characters aren't the smartest, but it all serves the movie and the tone. The jokes work and the tone fits in with the story very well. As far as light-hearted, chick-flick heist movies go, 'Mad Money' is pretty good.
Video
2.35:1 widescreen, using the MPEG4/AVC codec. The picture is very good, though nothing spectacular. The palette is usually pretty bright and open, and the colors are accurate, and show nice contrast. Skin tones have all the right hues and the picture does show a nice amount of detail. It's not spectacular, but individual hairs and pores are still clear enough. The black levels are also pretty good, strong while still showing some detail. It’s a good transfer overall.
Audio
The only audio track for the movie is an English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track. The sound for the movie is simple, with nothing very spectacular. The dialogue is the most important part of the movie and it's all clear and centered. It may be a bit too loud compared to other sounds going on at times, but otherwise, it's well mixed. The score takes up all speakers when it has to. The other sounds are good, though side and rears aren’t used all that much, due to the type of movie. It's a nice mixing job. English (HoH) and Spanish subtitles are provided.
Extras
'Mad Money' isn't a big movie, but Anchor Bay did give it a few extras. First up is an audio commentary by director Callie Khouri. Mrs. Khouri enjoys talking about her movie and it's an enjoyable listen. She talks a lot about the actors, the tone, the script and how everybody. She talks about the term 'empowerment' and how she doesn’t like that word. She comically reflects on what a ‘male empowerment’ movie would be. She mentions the intentions of various scenes and talks about the American dream and how it applies to this movie. She also mentions how she feels about people calling this movie unrealistic, when it's based on a true story. It's a nice track, though the movie is a bit lighter than the commentary. Next up is Makin' Money: Behind the Scenes of 'Mad Money' (9:12) in all its EPK-ness glory. There's nothing special at all about this featurette, as it goes through the typical vague plot setup and praise without missing a beat. I would suggest skipping this. A bit more interesting are the Deleted & Alternate Scenes (10:13). The scenes are more of the tour of the Federal Reserve, and more character moments, fleshing out the characters just a bit more. At least one of them, the director says in her commentary, was cut for time. I'm sure a few more were cut for the same reason. Lastly is the movie's Trailer (2:17), which is pretty good, though you know what you're getting into after watching the movie.
Overall
|
|||||
|