Bringing Down the House (2003) |
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Bringing Down the House (2003) |
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| BUY IT |
| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Comedy |
Main Menu Audio & Animation Menu Audio Audio Commentary-Adam Shankman (Director) And Jason Filardi (Writer) Featurette-Breaking Down BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE Featurette-The Godfather Of Hop Music Video-Queen Latifah - 'Better Than The Rest' Deleted Scenes-7 Outtakes |
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| Rating |
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| Year Of Production | 2003 | ||
| Running Time | 100:53 | ||
| RSDL / Flipper | RSDL (62:34) | Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 2,4,5 | Directed By | Adam Shankman |
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Studio
Distributor |
 Walt Disney Studios Home Ent. |
Starring |
Steve Martin Queen Latifah Eugene Levy Joan Plowright Jean Smart Kimberly J. Brown Angus T. Jones Missi Pyle Michael Rosenbaum Betty White Steve Harris Jim Haynie Aengus James |
| Case | Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip | ||
| RPI | ? | Music |
Lalo Schifrin TQ Shane West |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) Russian Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) |
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| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
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| Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles |
English English for the Hearing Impaired Spanish Portuguese Russian Swedish Norwegian Danish Finnish Arabic Spanish Audio Commentary Russian Audio Commentary Swedish Audio Commentary Norwegian Audio Commentary Danish Audio Commentary Finnish Audio Commentary Arabic Audio Commentary Spanish Titling Portuguese Titling Russian Titling |
Smoking | Yes |
| Annoying Product Placement | Yes, we love our Apple Computers | ||
| Action In or After Credits | No | ||
Bringing Down The House teams Steve Martin, Eugene Levy and Queen Latifah together in a comedy of errors.
Martin plays mild-mannered tax attorney Peter Sanderson. Still suffering the pangs of loneliness after enduring a recent divorce, he strikes up an Internet friendship with "Lawyer Girl" - apparently the woman of his dreams. His heady expectations of meeting the real life Charlene (Queen Latifah) are left more than a little unfulfilled when, instead of the svelte, blonde sophisticate he's expecting, he is confronted with a busty, blousy and black woman, who arrives at his apartment with more than a little baggage.
It transpires that not only is Charlene physically very different from the woman he expected, she is also an escaped convict who has decided that Peter is her only hope of securing a retrial to prove her innocence. Sanderson wants nothing to do with her or her problems, although his work colleague, Howie Rottman (Eugene Levy) is utterly besotted with her.
Inevitably, Charlene inveigles her way into Sanderson's world, and becomes by default a funky Mary Poppins figure to his children. Wherever she goes, pandemonium ensues, and Sanderson is left struggling between his desire to maintain his comfortable safe world, and his innate sense of justice.
The film is laden to the hilt with clichéd references and snide sideways remarks, using such beloved acting figures as Betty White and Joan Plowright to deliver the nastiest punches. Castwise, it's difficult to fault this film - each performer breathes as much life as they can into a script that was delivered into their hands dead on arrival. The writing feels lazy - there is virtually no scene that you haven't seen in some other guise in another film - I think this probably broaches the line from "homage" into straight theft.
The final result is a film that is mildly amusing but rarely if ever genuinely funny. Individual performances are at times quite impressive, but the complete package is a trifle damp and tired.
The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, 16x9 enhanced.
The transfer is clear and sharp and the detail revealed by this transfer is very good. Shadow detail is good, and there is no low level noise. There is occasional evidence of motion blur, but not to a significant degree.
The colours were very good and there were no irregularities with the colour rendition of this transfer - grain levels were fine and smooth.
There were no MPEG artefacts seen. Aliasing is very rare and very mild when it does occur. Film to video artefacts were rare and non-intrusive.
Subtitles were clear, well timed and easy to read.
This disc is an RSDL disc, with the layer change placed in Chapter 7 at 62:34. It is quite disruptive to the flow of the movie at this point, as it occurs mid-scene. The first time I screened this film, this change resulted in quite a significant "hang" although the second time I passed it, it did not appear to be quite as long a pause. Nonetheless, it was a strange choice of places to put the change.
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There are six audio tracks on this DVD. The default is an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. There is also an English Descriptive Audio and an English Audio Commentary track, both with Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded sound, and Spanish, Portuguese and Russian 5.1 soundtracks.
The dialogue was clear and easy to understand at all times. Audio sync presented no problems.
The musical score by Lalo Schifrin bounced around between sugary "white bread" music and bassy hip-hop beats. It served its purpose, although at times, it was a little obvious a signpost in directing the emotional traffic.
The surround channels were actively used and created a balanced soundscape. Subwoofer activity was surprisingly mild, but used to good effect when activated.
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A good selection of extras exist and they are well presented.
The menu design is themed around the movie. It is 16x9 enhanced, with clips, animation, soundbites and theme music used throughout. It is quite witty and easy to navigate.
A 16 minute, 28 second self-congratulation fest, where everyone talks about how wonderful everybody else is.
The Godfather of Hop (02:52)
A quite fun little dig at Eugene Levy - describing him as the king of Hip Hop. Not a bad little running joke.
Music Video - Queen Latifah - Better Than The Rest (03:39)
Quite cute, flagrant self-promotion.
7 different scenes which occasionally provide further insight into the storyline.
An okay little piece of fluffy fun - not hilarious, but mildly amusing.
A faltering, giggly presentation from this pair. Their nasal giggles and gooey praise of each other was a little cloying at times, but they do provide some interesting snippets on technicalities, cast gossip and location issues.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on:
The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on:
Apparently, both versions are the same. If you're in an R4 area, go for the R4.
Slickly presented and well delivered by the actors, but ultimately there's nothing to see here folks. The jokes are trite and tawdry, the storyline is old and tired, and it has no real spark of freshness to make it stand out in any meaningful way. Latifah and Martin perform well, and Plowright commands every scene she plays, but it's not enough to make it a particularly satisfying viewing experience. Some viewers may get irritated with the racial references - I just finished off by yawning.
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| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Singer SGD-001, using S-Video output |
| Display | Teac 76cm Widescreen. Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. |
| Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
| Amplification | Teac 5.1 integrated system |
| Speakers | Teac 5.1 integrated system |