FILM FLAM FLUMMOX

December 17, 2004

A Dagger to the Heart

Since my first viewing of it way back in the first week of September, Zhang Yimou's HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS has gotten under my skin and lingered there like no other film this year, and subsequent viewings (at this writing, two more and counting) have proven that visceral reaction to be no fluke. The film, quite honestly and in no hyperbolic sense whatsoever, leaves me at a loss for words--save one: masterpiece.

I'm not one to usually use that word, particularly considering how it's tossed out so often as to dilute its power and meaning. But even as a longtime follower of Zhang's work and an admirer of his previous foray into martial arts-driven period pieces, the 2002 Oscar nominee HERO, DAGGERS leaves me awestruck (no doubt reflected by this thusfar incredibly inarticulate ramble I call a review), and not simply on the level of spectacle--though there's plenty of that to savor. It takes no more than fifteen minutes before Zhang offers a staggering showstopper of a set piece. Mei (Zhang Ziyi), a blind showgirl suspected of being a member of the rebel faction of the film's title, is put to the test by military captain Leo (Andy Lau) with the "Echo Game," a stunning dance/acrobatics/martial arts display that is one of those sights that truly deserves the overused "must be seen to be believed" designation.

Zhang has said that he considered the already-excellent HERO as a mere warm-up for this film, and watching DAGGERS one can see how he addresses issues some had with the earlier film while not only retaining but amplifying its strongest assets. HERO's cast read as the current China/Hong Kong film A-List, and with that came a number of characters and plot threads, told over and back again in various, often contradictory ways. DAGGERS holds close to an easily-followed story revolving around a core of three characters, two in particular: Mei and Jin (Takeshi Kaneshiro), a military captain who poses as a rebel so she can lead him--and, hence, the imperial army--to the secret stronghold of the House of Flying Daggers. The bulk of the film follows the pair's perilous journey through the forest, in which they are, to quote the literal translation of the original Mandarin title, "ambushed from ten sides"--both the military and the rebels, but above all else, their burgeoning feelings for each other.

That last statement sounds a bit corny, and taken at face value the arguments that DAGGERS's storyline is somewhat trite, particularly compared to the epic historical basis of HERO, do hold water. But if that film was more of an unusually cerebral work from Zhang, then DAGGERS is more in line with his deeply felt, from-the-heart and -gut style; as such, it's a much more natural and effective melding of his distinctive filmmaking voice and the wuxia genre. But also leave it to Zhang to hide a multitude of simmering emotional layers beneath such a seemingly simple surface. In Zhang and co-writers Li Feng and Wang Bin's scenario, events, actions, motivations, even lines of dialogue are hardly ever what they seem, and as such it takes a second viewing to truly unearth the brilliance of their and their gifted actors' work. For all the reversals and revelations, the script remains remarkably airtight; and the performances reveal themselves to be convincingly, impressively operating on multiple levels of meaning.

This is not to say that DAGGERS doesn't dazzle on a first viewing. As an action spectacle, Zhang far from disappoints, taking the impressive standard he set in HERO to an even more elevated one. All of the fight sequences, often incorporating swords, arrows and--yes--flying daggers are stunningly choreographed and staged (by Tony Ching Siu-Tung, who also worked on HERO), but more importantly, coherently shot and edited; there's none of that disorienting, vertigo-inducing, quick-cut incoherence that has become inexplicably in vogue in many American action films. But not only are the set pieces genuinely exciting, they're simply a beauty to listen to and behold. Aside from the aforementioned "echo game," the most talked-about sequence is destined to be a jaw-dropping nailbiter set in a bamboo forest, where Mei and Jin attempt to evade spear-throwing attackers from above. The sound design (by Tao Jing) in this sequence is remarkable (the gentle "whistle" of air passing through the bamboo spears' hollow cores becomes a sinister cry of danger); and it is also an especially striking example of Zhao Xiaoding's astonishing cinematography, which adapts Christopher Doyle's justly-celebrated expressionistic color scheme in HERO to a more organic reality. Whereas Doyle's bold palette served as a surreal color coding of sorts, Zhao's vibrant hues emerge from more natural sources: the inescapable green of a dense bamboo forest; the golden yellow of a flowery meadow; the stark, sterile white of a snow-blanketed field; the halting red of freshly-drawn blood.

Similarly, the outsize, almost operatic emotions of the piece are given intense, intimate realism by Shigeru Umebayashi's aching, sweeping musical score and, above else, the actors. Any dismissals of Zhang Ziyi as simply a gorgeous, charismatic, athletic presence should be put to rest by her work here. The fighting skills and ferocity she so memorably displayed in CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON are very much showcased in DAGGERS, but added on top of that is a gentle, vulnerable soulfulness. She's matched in every respect by the ardent Kaneshiro, and the two share a potent erotic and romantic chemistry; their scenes together smolder with a passionate yet playful electricity. Given his far less abundant screen time, Lau's role is perhaps the trickiest, but he carries off the demands of his part with deceptive ease.

The same can be said for Zhang Yimou. The job of directing martial arts movies is often too easy to discount (especially given how other, secondary directorial hands play a major role in assembling the finished piece), but HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS is such a transcendent film--not simply as an entry into its action-minded genre, but as a dramatic piece--hopefully he will be given his due recognition for creating such a powerful work of art.

Speaking in Tongues

Writer-director James L. Brooks's name is usually enough to get awards voters to sit up and take notice, if not pre-mark their ballots (after all, how else to explain Helen Hunt's 1997 Best Actress Oscar for his AS GOOD AS IT GETS?), and no doubt Sony Pictures was counting on him to work similar award wonders with his latest comedy-drama, SPANGLISH. But when the film failed to show up anywhere on the National Board of Review's awards list nor the Golden Globe nomination list, something was clearly amiss--and, indeed, the film is as confused as its conflated title term suggests.

There's a germ of a good idea here, namely the story of Flor Moreno (Paz Vega), an only-Spanish-speaking single mom from Mexico who takes a housekeeping job in a rich Bel-Air household to support her daughter Cristina (Shelbie Bruce), who finds herself caught between her Mexican roots and very American life. Whenever Brooks sticks with Flor and Cristina, there are signs of the funny, warm, and honest human dramedy for which he's made his name. He's also incredibly fortunate to have at his disposal as wonderfully expressive an actress and as beguiling a presence as Vega, who radiates undeniable talent and infectious star quality in a role that is about 90% unsubtitled Spanish language. After raving about her work in SEX AND LUCÍA in this column a couple of years back, it's great to not only see her snag big league Hollywood work, but knock the part clear out of the ballpark. (If she doesn't supplant the utterly baffling hack that is Penelope Cruz as Hollywood's female Spaniard of choice, the world is even more fucked-up than I realize.)

But this is a Hollywood production after all, and so Brooks spends an inordinate amount of time on the wealthy white family for whom Flor works: hot shot chef John Clasky (Adam Sandler), his high-maintenance wife Deborah (Téa Leoni) and her lush mother Evelyn (Cloris Leachman). This wouldn't be such a problem if Brooks didn't paint these characters in such broad strokes, and to varying effects. John is such a nice guy as to not only be unbelievable (he's devastated by a rave five-star review because it means his restaurant will be overwhelmed by business--o-kay...) but be completely bland as well. This also begs the question as to how he ever hooked up with Deborah in the first place, for she's the opposite extreme, an insufferable, self-absorbed shrew to everyone around her. It's thoroughly exhausting to watch Leoni flail about and shriek like a harpy; the completely one-note and paper-thin character works the last nerve whenever on screen, yet at the same time the sight of a hopelessly adrift Leoni struggling mightily to make something of such a wretchedly-conceived and -written role is oddly sympathetic on a completely different level. Leachman's part is at the very least the designated comic relief, so broadness comes with the territory, but Evelyn's little more than a walking rimshot. The one exception to the otherwise clanging Clasky clan is impressive youngster Sarah Steele as John and Deborah's overlooked daughter Bernice, an "earthy" girl in appearance and size. (Seriously, though, could the character be anything but a black sheep, what with Brooks slapping her with the obvious, thankless moniker Bernice?)

Sandler and Leoni are name-brand actors, and as such must be given some substantial screen and story time, but the film comes to a dead halt whenever Brooks focuses on their rote marital troubles; equally routine but even more forced is the romantic angle that inevitably develops between the chemistry-free Flor and John. As the film head-spinningly jumps from Flor and Cristina's societal struggles to the Claskys' disintegrating marriage to Deborah's neglect of Bernice to Evelyn's cocktail-fueled one-liners to Flor and John's passionless flirtation to Cristina's voiceover narration--delivered by a six-years-older Cristina, no less, and in the form of a college application essay, thus introducing yet another dead-end narrative thread--one wants to smack Brooks and ask him just who and what the hell the movie is supposed to be about. That Flor and Cristina's (12-year-old Cristina, that is) story resonates the strongest is not so much his doing than that of Vega and Bruce, who deserve something far better than the muddle of SPANGLISH to showcase their abilities.

CLOSER to the Vest Than Each Other

The title of CLOSER has been called ambiguous by Patrick Marber, writer of Mike Nichols's film and the play on which it's based, but that word and all of its enigmatic connotations perfectly sum up the characters, relationships and motivations in this fascinating, lacerating drama.

Although Nichols does open up the action to take full advantage of the London locations at his disposal, the film's stagebound origins are quite obvious, starting with the cast of only four characters. Obituary writer/would-be novelist Dan (Jude Law) and freshly-arrived American stripper Alice (Natalie Portman) strike up an instant connection after a freak accident. Time passes, and a freakier--in both the literal and more slang sense--accident caused by Dan ropes in the remaining two players in the passion polygon: pleasure-pursuing dermatologist Larry (Clive Owen) and divorcée Anna (Julia Roberts), a photographer with whom Dan had earlier shared a flirtation. "Closer" seems to be what each of the film's four characters want to be, but as the next two hours--and, in the movie context, years--progress, these four will fuck and fuck over each other on various occasions and in various configurations, it becomes apparent that they have no idea what that entails. Each suffers from some crippling variation of dishonest and frightened self-preservation where they crave notions of love and intimacy yet are not willing to surrender them themselves. While witnessing generally unsavory characters engage in accordingly unsavory behavior may not make for the most pleasant of viewing, but it is certainly engrossing and, unlike the characters, more than a little truthful.

The bulk of the credit for that goes to the quartet of actors. Given the project's theatrical roots, nearly all of the scenes are of pairs of characters engaged in sometimes-stilted and conversation, and so it's more up to the cast than Nichols to make the material come to life--and do they ever. While it helps that all four have the innate, intangible starpower appeal that lends Marber's pitch-dark perspective on people some immediacy, they all admirably do not sugarcoat the bitter goings-on. With all her superstar baggage, the idea of Roberts taking on so dark a character is a little jarring, but she immediately quashes any reservations in practice by simply playing the fickle and unsympathetic Anna straight, without trying too hard to be "naughty"; when she shoots off a particularly off-color (and much-talked-about) line, it's all the more brutal because of how casually it spills out. Hollywood's It Leading Man du jour Law uses that Golden Boy image to the same self-effacing effect already shown twice this season in I HEART HUCKABEES and ALFIE; but whereas the former was played for derisive laughs and the latter for eventual touchy-feely comeuppance, here there's no flinching from the ugliness that ultimately cannot be contained by the skin-deep and self-deceiving slickness.

Looming largest, though, are the two leads that the studio is pushing as "supporting." Larry is perhaps the most static character, yet Owen's is the most dynamic portrayal. From his first scene, in which he is prowling Internet sex chat rooms, there is never any question as to they type of person Larry is; when he wants something, he goes after it and latches on tight. What changes, however, is how Owen hits this note, each emerging shade etched to perfection: at first it's weirdly goofy and almost endearing; then more seriously committed and almost noble; then obsessively single-minded and almost creepy; then predatorily possessive and scarily smug. Alice is the heart of the piece by default, as she's the most emotionally upfront and open; but like Larry says, a heart is "a fist wrapped in blood," and this literally beating heart's punishing offense is the "disarming" (to use Dan's word) defense of deception about most anything else. Ceaselessly captivating in both presence and performance, to borrow from the Damien Rice track that both opens and closes CLOSER, you can't take your eyes off of Portman.

For all the discussion of love, CLOSER never truly gets closer itself; the cruelty cuts deep, but into the mind, not the heart. But such a thoughtful and frank film (released by a major studio, no less) is one to be savored, however cold it may be.

Choppy Oscar Bait SEAs

There was once a man who wanted nothing more than to move the world through song and dance, and that man's name is... Kevin Spacey. What, you thought BEYOND THE SEA was about Bobby Darin, the singer/songwriter/actor who made the titular tune a standard? Far from it, never mind that director/star/co-scripter (with Lewis Colick) Spacey rudimentarily hits key events in Darin's life, such as his rise to teen idoldom via "Splish Splash"; his career prime as a popular nightclub attraction and Oscar-nominated actor; his fairy tale-gone-bad marriage to young starlet Sandra Dee (here played by an underused Kate Bosworth); his untimely death at age 37. What this is instead is The Very Special Bobby Darin Tribute episode of THE KEVIN SPACEY VARIETY HOUR, as Spacey is quite clearly more concerned with showcasing his own, heretofore largely unexploited musical abilities. To that end, he has clearly succeeded. Spacey's slick, swingin' voice and style (which makes one wonder just how much better he would have been in CHICAGO than the vocally-challenged Richard Gere) definitely does justice to Darin's signature songs and sound; and he gamely hoofs it up in some admittedly imaginative production numbers, particularly the title song, which Darin croons to woo Dee.

But the film is supposed to be about Darin and not Spacey, and as the biography it's intended to be, BEYOND THE SEA is a failure. The mess of a script, credited to Spacey and Lewis Colick (though early prints and awards consideration DVD's featured no writing credit whatsoever--all too appropriately so), bears the obvious scars of incessant rewrites from the get-go: the opening passages introduce a cumbersome and needlessly convoluted film-within-a-film-within-a-film framing device that is abandoned almost as soon as it is established, begging the question, "What was the point of that?" That question pops up many times over during the film, as its screenplay appears to have been committeed to the point of sterile shallowness. While various important moments in his life are enacted, never once do we really get a sense of who the man was except that he was arrogant and a hell of an entertainer. That can perhaps apply to Spacey himself, as he shows he has considerable musical chops of his own, yet somehow has the hubris to turn a film ostensibly about someone else's life into a celebration of himself.

If one is to indulge Spacey's whim, one is better off skipping the film and picking up BEYOND THE SEA's soundtrack, from Rhino/Atco records. The album features Spacey covers of 18 Darin tracks, from standards such as the title tune and "Mack the Knife" to bubblegum hits such as "Splish Splash" to his far less successful forays into socially-conscious folk tunes, such as "Simple Song of Freedom." As he previously displayed in his version of "That Old Black Magic" on the MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL soundtrack, Spacey is clearly most in his vocal element when tackling the more jazzy, swingy songs, but he acquits himself well on the less loungey selections; the moving closer "The Curtain Falls" is especially impressive. If one learns anything from BEYOND THE SEA, it's that Spacey longs to sing on a large scale (a lesson further reinforced by his current nationwide promo concert tour); support that worthy ambition by picking up his CD, and discourage him from making onanistic vanity projects by not buying a ticket to his film.

If nothing else, THE SEA INSIDE (Mar Adentro) director/co-writer (with Mateo Gil) Alejandro Amenábar and star Javier Bardem cannot be accused of strongly imposing their own personalities onto the real life story of Ramón Sampedro, a quadriplegic who fought a nearly-30-year battle with the Spanish government for the right to end his own life. What they are guilty of, however, is coming up with a treacly, single-minded TV-movie that too rigidly and heavy-handedly supports its protagonist's cause--all the more disappointing considering this is from the guy who gave us the psychologically nuanced horror of ABRE LOS OJOS and THE OTHERS. Bardem wears a ton of age make-up and a skull cap Ramón, who despite being old, bald, wrinkly, confined to a bed and suicidal manages to romantically bewitch a pair of fetching women: Rosa (Lola Dueñas), a poor single mom; and more importantly, Julia (Belén Rueda), the disease-stricken (and married!) lawyer who takes on his case. With the Julia character--and a luminous talent like Rueda--Amenábar and Gil have a potentially affecting romantic and dramatic hook, but ultimately Rueda's terrific performance is wasted on what turns out to be just another of the film's many tools to reinforce the righteousness of Ramón and his cause. Bardem has been receiving a great deal of awards attention for his work here, but I cannot help but think this is another awards-baiting case where playing disability is being equated with excellence. Bardem tackles the juicy acting challenge of playing someone paralyzed from the neck down by... simply pasting an obnoxiously smug, serial killer-creepy grin on his mug. If that's so great, then why the hell wasn't Denise Richards given serious Oscar consideration for her similarly smiley work in STARSHIP TROOPERS?

IMAGINARY Oscar Chances

Sigourney Weaver is one of contemporary film's most popular and enduring stars, and there is almost certain to come a time when she will get her due awards recognition. Alas, that time is not now, surely not when her hopes are pinned on as creaky a vehicle as IMAGINARY HEROES. There isn't anything particularly weak about Weaver's reliable work as Sandy Travis, the matriarch of a family dealing with a sudden tragedy. As Sandy falls into a hazy spiral that includes pot smoking and casual extramarital flirtation, all the while guarding dark personal secrets, Weaver gets to show off her oft-ignored comic timing in addition to her well-worn dramatic chops. Unfortunately, also well-worn is the scenario cooked up by screenwriter-turned-director Dan Harris. Despite the strong performances by Weaver and a DiCaprio-channelling Emile Hirsch as her bullied, rebellious, altogether confused son, not to mention nice support from Jeff Daniels (as Weaver's withdrawn husband), this type of seriocomic study of suburban angst has been done before and better (in Ang Lee's THE ICE STORM, for instance, which also happened to star Weaver). Harris tries to distinguish his film by laying on some thick patches of quirky humor, but he never smoothly reconciles the broadly-played silliness with the dark dramatic beats--that is, if one can call them beats since the pace and rhythm of the entire piece is so awkward and askew.

At the Video Store

As we head deep into the fall and holiday movie seasons, the big releases of this past summer are starting to trickle into stores. I suppose it's only appropriate that the first four big titles to make their way into the home entertainment market also happen to be the four absolute worst of the sunny season. Stephen Sommers's VAN HELSING (Universal Studios Home Entertainment) got the blockbuster season to a most inauspicious start. Not that Sommers didn't have the raw material to work with; after yielding positive box office results twice over with THE MUMMY (though whether those movies were any good are very much up to question), Universal entrusted him with the rest of their famous monster properties--Frankenstein, the Wolf Man and Dracula--pitting them against Bram Stoker's titular vampire hunter, played by no less than über-badass Hugh Jackman. Throw in Kate Beckinsale, fresh off of her butt-kicking turn in UNDERWORLD, as his leather-clad sidekick, how could it all go wrong? Watching the overlong, laughable, unexciting and--worst of all for a would-be blockbuster--absolutely cheap-looking result, it's more of a question of what can't go wrong. The DVD includes commentary by Sommers and creature co-stars Richard Roxburgh (whose ultracampy performance as Dracula suggests that he's only one acutely aware of how ridiculous the film is, given his), Shuler Hensley (Frankenstein) and Will Kemp (the Wolf Man); bloopers; behind-the-scenes featurettes; and an interactive "exploration" of Castle Dracula.

Roland Emmerich served up his distinctive brand of disaster movie cheese with the weather-gone-wild epic THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW (20th Century Fox Home Entertainment), but without a charismatic star like a Will Smith to season the junk food, all that's left is a cold, flavorless slab of special effects terrorizing a cast of ciphers that might as well be drawn-in stick figures. The film is too boring to be a howl, and apparently producer Mark Gordon felt the same way, as his DVD commentary track with Emmerich is deadpan comedy gold--he, without a hint of tongue being anywhere near cheek, dishes out such nuggets as "symbolic" and "metaphoric" analyses of big effects shots as a giant tanker sailing through a flooded Fifth Avenue and likens the lame Emmy Rossum/Jake Gyllenhaal body-warming sequence to... IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. The disc has a second and far less entertaining commentary by the technical crew as well as deleted scenes and a neat "audio anatomy" interactive demo that strips the sound mix down to its individual tracks. Curiously, all of the expected behind-the-scenes/making-of featurettes are relegated exclusively to the DVD-ROM content.

As disastrous as that disaster movie was, the worst FX-heavy "adventure" of the season was the sequel that no one asked for, David Twohy's PITCH BLACK follow-up THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK (Universal Studios Home Entertainment). Never mind that the story is overly convoluted and utterly nonsensical; forget the howler of an image that has Vin Diesel's intergalactic escaped convict literally steaming; disregard the head-scratching appearances of Dame Judi Dench and Thandie Newton as an "Elemental" and a power-mad schemer--in its very conception, this film is wrongheaded. The character of Riddick was designed as a mere function of a larger plot context in PITCH BLACK--he was the night-vision-enabled hope on a planet inhabited by killer nocturnal creatures, as well as the archetypal "outlaw" figure one didn't know one could trust. He wasn't exactly meant to be a figure to build a sprawling universe around, and such a thin character collapses under the would-be epic weight. Actors Karl Urban and Alexa Davalos join Twohy on a running commentary track on the special edition DVD (available in theatrical cut and unrated director's cut versions); other supplements include deleted scenes, a "virtual guide" to the "Riddick universe," a running text trivia track, DVD-ROM features and more.

For my money, though, the nadir of the summer season was GARFIELD (20th Century Fox Home Entertainment), the years-too-late, who-thought-*this*-was-a-good-idea live action adaptation of Jim Davis's beloved comic strip fat cat (voiced by a slumming Bill Murray). I can only hope Davis's paycheck was worth having this embarrassing, unfunny and thoroughly charmless testament to bad creative choices (Breckin Meyer as Jon? A CG Garfield but real animals playing Odie and Nermal?) forever associated with his prize creation. The DVD is completely bereft of supplemental material--mirroring the level of creativity on display in the feature presentation.

Instead of watching the live action adaptation of GARFIELD, one is best advised to only watch 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment's tie-in DVD's. The single disc GARFIELD AS HIMSELF includes the two prime time CBS animated specials that helped propel the fat feline into a bonafide pop culture icon--1982's HERE COMES GARFIELD, whose plot (Garfield plots to run dumb dog Odie out of the household) mirrors that of the vastly inferior feature film; and 1983's GARFIELD ON THE TOWN, in which he is reunited with his mother--as well as a less-regarded third, 1991's GARFIELD GETS A LIFE, in which Garfield's owner Jon joins a support group. As the title suggests, the single-disc GARFIELD HOLIDAY CELEBRATIONS collects the cat's three holiday-themed specials, 1985's GARFIELD'S HOLIDAY ADVENTURE, 1987's A GARFIELD CHRISTMAS and 1989's GARFIELD'S THANKSGIVING. Considering what a reliable ratings performer his specials were over the years, it's a bit surprising that it wasn't until 1988 that Garfield received his own weekly Saturday morning series, the first 48 episodes of which are collected in the three-disc sets GARFIELD AND FRIENDS Volume 1 and Volume 2. The "friends" of the title were not only his supporting cast, but the cast of Davis's farm animal comic strip U.S. ACRES (a.k.a. ORSON'S FARM), who were given a segment in each episode. There are no supplements on the GARFIELD AS HIMSELF or GARFIELD HOLIDAY CELEBRATIONS discs or the GARFIELD AND FRIENDS set, but two minutes of either release are infinitely funnier and more entertaining than the whole of the feature film fiasco.

Arriving just in time for the much-too-belated premiere of its second (and, so far, rather disappointing) season--and as DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES has stolen some of its watercooler buzz-- is THE O.C. The Complete First Season (Warner Home Video). Revisiting these first 27 episodes of Fox's witty, well-acted (well, let's overlook Mischa Barton for argument's sake), addictive, self-mocking soap, it's interesting to trace its evolution from summer series centering largely on its teen set to a far more balanced show giving its equally entertaining adult cast just as much--if, at times, even more--emphasis; after all, a series that began mostly concerned with the love triangle between fresh-from-Chino quasi-delinquent Ryan (Benjamin McKenzie, who looks more Edward Norton to me than the oft-compared Russell Crowe), alcoholic/kleptomaniac/just-about-everything-iac girl next door Marissa (Barton) and surfer thug Luke (Chris Carmack, who was eventually written out by season's end) ended its broadcast year with the lavish, destined-to-fail marriage between Marissa's mother, social climbing überbitch Julie (Melinda Clarke) and menacing mogul Caleb (Alan Dale, who graduates to series regular this coming season). The show itself is delicious fun; less tasty, though, are the extras. Commentary (by series creator Adam Schwartz and supervising producer Stephanie Savage) is only available on the series pilot, and the behind-the-scenes featurettes--particularly a waste of time focusing on real-life Orange County teens, who are even more annoying than the whiny Marissa--leave a lot to be desired.

The release of PROJECT GREENLIGHT The Complete 2nd Season (Miramax Home Entertainment) on DVD not only nicely coincides with the announcement of the winners of the third screenwriting/directing contest (and, consequently, the stars of the third season), but it also marks my debut on DVD, as I have a very fleeting, wordless cameo in one of the episodes. But don't let that little bit of information deter you from checking out this three-disc set, which collects all 13 episodes of LivePlanet/Miramax's addictive reality series detailing the final stages of the contest and the now-famously turbulent making of the resulting film, THE BATTLE OF SHAKER HEIGHTS. In addition to the episodes and deleted scenes, included in the set are the bio tapes and scene assignments that led to the selection of Kyle Rankin and Efram Potelle as the winners on the directing end; of the screenwriter bio tape submissions, sadly the only one included is that of winner Erica Beeney. The finished film is also included in this set, along with a raft of special features not included in the original barebones edition released last December: commentary by Rankin and Potelle (where's Beeney?), deleted scenes with optional Rankin/Potelle commentary and a "jump to a scene" feature where one can directly access relevant making-of footage while watching the film.

While PROJECT GREENLIGHT definitely occupies the upper tier of the reality television genre, for my money the Greatest. Reality. Show. Ever. title goes to the endlessly fascinating, morally reprehensible, and altogether wildly hilarious and entertaining exercise in cruelty known as THE WB'S SUPERSTAR USA, in which the nation's worst singers are duped into thinking they're actually God's gift to music. Sadly, the go-getting, "you can do it if you set your mind to it" mentality that made AMERICAN IDOL such a hit made this series a resounding failure in the ratings--which sadly makes a DVD collection of the show's entire, deliciously evil seven-episode run highly unlikely. However, Koch Records (the same folks who brought you AMERICAN IDOL reject William Hung's best-selling album) has thrown the show's small but quite vocal cult following a bone by releasing a DVD of highlights and heretofore seen outtake footage with the hysterical soundtrack CD, featuring a number of the series' most memorable performances, led by buxom blonde "winner" Jamie Foss. The DVD clocks in at about a half-hour, but it's better than nothing.

Eating up all the reality TV hype that should've gone to SUPERSTAR USA is THE APPRENTICE, but even after watching The Complete First Season (Universal Studios Home Entertainment), I cannot quite understand the appeal. I enjoy backstabbing as much as the next person, and the infamous Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth is quite the reality television character, but I cannot get past the figure at the center of it all: yes, "The Donald" himself, Donald Trump. After all, why is everyone so eager to be apprentice to a "successful" entrepreneur who somehow always finds himself in some sort of bankruptcy or other high-profile financial crisis every couple of years? Hardly anyone I'd call worthy of attaching a definite article in front of his name, let alone under whom learn the ins and outs of the business world. The five-disc set includes a number of behind-the-scenes featurettes and plenty of never-aired footage.

Speaking of cartoons I spent my afterschool afternoons watching, a pair of faves I would watch back to back every day in my mid-'80s grammar school years have recently been released in DVD box sets. Now, I can finally come clean, without any shame--yes, I not only used to watch JEM, I also enjoyed the hell out of it. (While we're at it, I also used to faithfully watch both the live action and animated PUNKY BREWSTER, whose own DVD collection I would cover in depth here if the publicist would please send it for review.) At the time, I explained away my viewership as simply waiting with the TV on for the next show to star, but watching the four-disc JEM The Complete First and Second Seasons and the three-disc JEM Season 3, Part One (Rhino Home Video), which collects the series' first 26 episodes, I realize that the show holds up surprisingly well. No, it's not just the '80s kitsch--which there is plenty of, no doubt. Businesswoman Jerrica Benton's hologram-powered on-stage alter-ego Jem and her band the Holograms sing the most saccharine (and, it must be said, often quite catchy) bubblegum pop and wear truly outrageous, truly hideous day-glo fashions (and, believe it or not, the get-ups on rival group the Misfits are even worse). But unlike most cartoons tied into girl-targeted toy lines, a great deal of thought was put into this particular series. Head writer Christy Marx (who offers commentaries on a pair of episodes in both sets) says in an extensive interview featurette in the Seasons 1&2 set that she is a big comic book reader, and that shows in her unusually extensive mythology for what was, essentially, a would-be Barbie competitor; a portion of the series bible is among the on-disc supplements on both sets, and the lengthy character profiles, complexly drawn relationship histories and detailed technological specifications are not unlike what you'd find in THE OFFICIAL HANDBOOK OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE. The comic influence also shows in the series itself, which develops like a comic. While the episodes are more or less self-contained, there is an overall sense of story and character progression not only in the frequent (and highly unusual, for a "children's" animated series) multi-episode arcs but the series as a whole; there is also a fair amount of action, which also reflects Marx's experience as a staff writer on the G.I. JOE animated series. Also included in the extras in these terrific sets are interviews with other key players, such as the speaking voice of Jem, Samantha Newark (Seasons 1&2 set); the singing voice of Jem, Britta Phillips (Season 3.1 set); and writer Roger Slifer (Season 3.1 set).

The show that would immediately follow JEM on the TV schedule for me was, for all intents and purposes, a more aggressively male cartoon, but in a sense the anime amalgam ROBOTECH was an even more feminine cartoon--after all, strip away the transforming robots and intergalactic warfare, and what you got is an animated telenovela. The latest two box set releases, ROBOTECH Remastered Extended Edition 2 & 3 (ADV Films), collects the final 24 episodes of the first (and most popular) of the series' three interconnected "generations," THE MACROSS SAGA, and proves that all the typical whiz-bang stuff was mere bait on what is the true hook of the series: the love triangle between fighter pilot Rick Hunter, his superior officer Lisa Hayes and singing superstar Lynn Minmei--which is what all the kids at school would talk about every day, not the action (which is also quite well done). ADV's new box sets come with a variety of enhancements, some essential (redone sound and picture; restoration of previously cut footage, such as nudity, from the original Japanese versions) and some utterly superfluous (new typeface and logos for the opening and closing credits; mini transformable Veritech fighter figurines with each set).

Speaking of triangles, DAWSON'S CREEK The Complete Third Season (Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment) is the landmark year that ultimately redefined the series as a whole by complicating the will-they-or-won't-they relationship between longtime friends Dawson (James Van Der Beek) and Joey (Katie Holmes) by throwing Dawson's heretofore tangential best bud Pacey (Joshua Jackson) into the mix. Little did the powers that be know that Joey-Pacey would prove to be a far more popular pairing--or did they, considering the series finale a couple of years later, written by series creator Kevin Williamson, strongly suggested that the new coupling was part of his master plan? In any event, that key development is the highlight of this and The Complete Fourth Season, the first two years without the regular involvement of Williamson, who left the show at the end of season two. The four-disc Third Season set includes commentary on a pair of episodes by executive producer Paul Stupin and co-star Kerr Smith and an interactive map of Capeside; the four-disc Fourth Season set includes commentary on select episodes by Stupin as well as a trivia game. By far the most notable--and downright questionable--"special feature" on both sets is the use of the series' first season international theme song, Jann Arden's "Run Like Mad," over the opening credits instead of Paula Cole's iconic "I Don't Wanna Wait," which is practically synonymous with all things DAWSON'S.

While most serialized dramas, like the aforementioned, are largely targeted toward female viewers, ESPN admirably tried to make a soapy series with a decidedly male bent, and where else to set it but the testosterone-heavy world of pro football? Alas, despite critical and viewer acclaim, the first three-disc set of PLAYMAKERS will be the only one, as these eleven episodes make up The Complete Series (Buena Vista Home Entertainment). That the show was canned after one season due to pressure by the NFL speaks of how good a job creator/producer John Eisendrath in painting a realistic picture of the lives of pro football players, focusing (a bit too closely, for the league's taste) on all the down-and-dirty off-field dramas involving issues such as drug abuse, homosexuality and domestic violence. The set includes commentary by Eisendrath on the pilot episode and behind-the-scenes featurettes.

Of course, ESPN viewers probably don't miss that series too much, considering there are no shortage of highlight specials from NFL Films to fill air space during the offseason. I am not nor was ever the biggest football fan, but Warner Home Video's third collection of the league's championship retrospectives, SUPER BOWL XI-XX, reminded me why I was never one to change the channel when coming across one of them years ago on Saturday afternoon television. With its superbly shot action footage, crackerjack editing and--above all--a crew of Hyper-Intense Announcers (including the king of vocal melodrama himself, Mr. Movie Trailer Guy--you know the voice), the NFL Films team can make even the most lopsided of Super Bowl matches the stuff of high drama, as in the Chicago Bears' blowout of the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XX. Speaking of that '85-'86 season, my one complaint about this otherwise handsome set is the absence of Da Bears' supremely cheesy "Super Bowl Shuffle" music video. But maybe that's just me...

Basketball being the one sport I do follow, Warner Home Video's NBA DYNASTY SERIES DVD sets were most welcome releases, particularly since the first two sets focus on teams and time periods when I was at my most fanatical. Did the NBA know something we didn't know and somehow engineer the Lakers' great implosion in this year's Finals, considering LOS ANGELES LAKERS: THE COMPLETE HISTORY left no room for what was supposed to be a Dream Team season? But the now-gone glory days of Shaq, Kobe (whose likeness is conspicuously missing from both the exterior and interior box art--guess they didn't want to take any chances in the case things didn't turn out the way they did in Eagle, Colorado) and company are but the most recent chapter in the franchise's long championship legacy, as this five-disc set goes as far back as the team's years in Minneapolis in the '50s and straight through the Magic Johnson-led "Showtime" era of the '80s, which is what got me into hoops in the first place. As nice as it is to have highlights of that team on disc, that set cannot help but pale in comparison the other set, CHICAGO BULLS: THE 1990'S, which covers my most obsessive period of NBA fandom, and anyone who knows me knows exactly why. Each set features retrospective specials on championship years, and while the packages put together in the earlier years by editing/producing/directing teams at NBA Entertainment aren't quite as slick as those by the NFL, the archival interview and action footage are a treasure, not to mention the crudity has a certain charm. What ultimately puts these sets over the NFL ones (aside from the fact that I simply am more interested in this particular sport) is the inclusion of landmark games in their entirety as "bonus features." Here's hoping these sets sell well enough to warrant, say, a set of all the Bulls' Finals games on disc.

FRIENDS may have completed its ten-year run in May, but Warner Home Video are making sure that the hype around the series continues for at least one more calendar year with their ongoing season sets. The Complete Eighth Season, in packaging and supplement design, indeed closely resembles the previous seven sets--executive producers Marta Kauffman, David Crane and Kevin Bright offer commentary on three episodes; there's a featurette on the reminiscences of key guest stars, an outtake reel and a trivia game--but a couple of things distinguish this release. The standard trivia game on the fourth and final disc is actually quite involved this time out, patterned after--and just as convoluted and nonsensical as--the game show Joey (Matt LeBlanc) eyes hosting in one episode. But most of all, this is the Emmy-winning year where the series found a second wind creatively, fueled by Rachel's (Jennifer Aniston) surprise pregnancy by Ross (David Schwimmer) and Joey's development of romantic feelings for her; even the de rigueur celebrity guest stars (Brad Pitt, Alec Baldwin) actually works as simple, effective casting and not a stunt. It's all back downhill for the show after this particular year, so savor this release.

Reduced to second-banana status by the media frenzy surrounding the FRIENDS's final year was the finale of one-time Must See TV stalwart FRASIER, which not only marked the end of a successful sitcom staple of the NBC lineup, but the end of one of television's longest-running characters, Dr. Frasier Crane, played by Kelsey Grammer. To capitalize on whatever hype there was from this past May--and perhaps to help give the show's last year its due?--Paramount Home Entertainment is breaking from its chronological season sets to immediately release the four-disc The Complete Final Season, which collects all 23 episodes of the 11th season. Since this is a bit of a rush release, the supplements aren't up to the standard set by the previous three FRASIER sets; there are only a pair of brief featurettes in which cast and crew superficially reminisce about the series' entire run and say their final goodbyes.

Now that FRIENDS has left the air, ER remains the one longtime constant on the NBC Thursday lineup, but a glimpse of The Complete Second Season (Warner Home Video) on DVD shows that the show topping the ratings ten years ago and the one still doing so today are very different, never mind the handful of common characters, namely Dr. John Carter (Noah Wyle, the only cast member with an uninterrupted tenure from day one), Dr. Susan Lewis (Sherry Stringfield, who left and then returned a few years later when the dreaded "pursuit of other opportunities" didn't progress so well) and Laura Innes's Dr. Kerry Weaver, who joined the series in this sophomore year. As someone who stopped watching the show a number of years ago (not long after Julianna Margulies's Nurse Carol Hathaway rode off into the sunset with George Clooney's Dr. Doug Ross), this set is like TV comfort food, offering the opportunity to relive such then-standard, drinking game moments as Dr. Ross engaging in über-heroics that go beyond the traditional call of duty (best shown in the kid-trapped-in-a-storm-drain episode "Hell and High Water") and Dr. Lewis grumbling over her druggie sister Chloe. The set includes commentary on selected episodes by Innes, director Mimi Leder and editor Randy Jon Morgan; outtakes; and behind-the-scenes featurettes.

Revisiting LAVERNE & SHIRLEY The Complete First Season (Paramount Home Entertainment) on DVD, what struck me was not the timelessless--further perpetuated by the inescapable reruns in syndication and cable telvision--of Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams's comic chemistry as the titular duo, but the truly lost art of the television theme song. There are a handful shows currently on the air featuring sung theme songs, but those feel like either abbreviated excerpts or brief jingles, unlike the familiar L&S theme, which at a minute and a half is a complete song that captures the essence of the series. Its parent show, HAPPY DAYS, also makes its DVD debut with The Complete First Season (Paramount Home Entertainment), but this set doesn't exactly jibe with the most widely-held memories of the show. The shock begins from the opening credits, which uses Bill Haley and the Comets' "Rock Around the Clock" and not the familiar "Sunday, Monday/Happy days" theme (which was adopted with season two), and then continues with the sight of Henry Winkler's Fonz wearing grey windbreaker in lieu of his iconic--and now Smithsonian-inducted--black leather jacket. Both sets offer little more than the original, unedited episodes as they aired on ABC in the 1970s, and reportedly such barebones releases are a necessary move to keep the production of such season-by-season sets cost-effective. If that is the case, Paramount Home Entertainment execs, where are the rest of the season sets for SOUL FOOD, after releasing an extras-free season set way back in summer 2003?

The Ben Savage-starring, '90s TGIF staple BOY MEETS WORLD seems an odd choice for the season-by-season DVD treatment, but Buena Vista Home Entertainment has included an extra on The Complete First Season and The Complete Second Season that justifies their release: a retrospective commentary by its now-grown cast on a handful of episodes--all the more amusing since three of the young stars, Rider Strong, Will Friedle and Danielle Fishel, have since dirtied up their images on the bloody horror flick CABIN FEVER and the sleazy comedies NATIONAL LAMPOON'S GOLD DIGGERS and NATIONAL LAMPOON'S DORM DAZE, respectively. (Alas, if only Strong heeded the call of his porn-ready name.) Now if only Lions Gate Home Entertainment can convince Elizabeth Berkley to do commentary on subsequent SAVED BY THE BELL season sets...

On the other side of the coin is the bawdy banter of the salty seniors known as THE GOLDEN GIRLS, whose popularity has proven to be as enduring as the careers of its even-then-veteran stars, Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty. Nearly 20 years since its premiere, the quartet's chemistry, timing and catty conversation are reliable laugh-getters, as displayed in Buena Vista Home Entertainment's three-disc The Complete First Season set. The collection includes one supplement, but it's a completely unnecessary and wholly excruciationg one that makes you wish the set were a basic barebones release: "expert" fashion commentary by the Broadcasting Duo from Hell, Joan and Melissa Rivers.

While it also fits the bill as TV comfort food, a quarter century after its premiere, THE DUKES OF HAZZARD operates on a deeper level: that of timeless kitsch. With the release of The Complete First Season (Warner Home Video), viewers can now relive the redneck chic of the adventures of cousins Bo (John Schneider), Luke (Tom Wopat) and Daisy (Catherine Bach) Duke as they outrun, outdrive and outwit Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane (James Best) and the appropriately named übervillain Boss Hogg (Sorrell Booke). This three-disc set includes all 13 episodes of the first season, commentary by Schneider and Bach (where's Wopat?) on the first episode, the "20th Anniversary Hazzard County Barbecue" cast and crew reunion (again, sans Wopat) and a featurette on the show's stunt driving sequences, including comments by race car drivers. What's conspicuously missing in the extras, aside from Wopat and the music video for Duice's early-'90s rap hit "Dazzey Duks," featuring Catherine Bach (which will hopefully turn up in a later set)? A free General Lee Hot Wheels car, one of which I proudly owned in my elementary school days...

Alas, one toy I did not own in my grammar school days but did want was the famous black and red van from THE A-TEAM--but at least I got to help lift up the real, full-size deal at Universal Studio's old mid-tour lunch stop, Prop Plaza (please tell me I'm not the only one who remembers that place). Universal's newly-released four-disc set features only the 14 Season One episodes and no extras whatsoever, but it's worth the price to simply relive the childhood boob tube memories of this underground commando squad's (George Peppard, Dirk Benedict, Dwight Schultz and, of course, Mr. T) wild adventures and rather superhuman ability to get out of every jam.

Universal has done a much better job with its other multi-disc slab of '80s boob tube nostalgia, KNIGHT RIDER Season One. Relive "the shadowy flight into the dangerous world of a man who does not exist" and his futuristic (well, by 1982 standards at least) talking car K.I.T.T. with commentary by Michael Knight himself, David Hasselhoff, and creator Glen Larson on the pilot episode plus a bevy of other supplements, from a freshly-shot retrospective documentary and an interactive "K.I.T.T. Owner's Manual" to the misbegotten 1991 revival attempt, KNIGHT RIDER 2000. As for the series itself, by today's standards what was so high-tech and cool back when I was in first grade is horribly dated, but it still makes the grade as fun, campy nostalgia, down to the still-rockin' theme song (which was missing in that downright awful reunion movie). Now, where are those season sets of Hasselhoff's true television masterwork, BAYWATCH (at least until the infamous cast purge of '98)?

But if there is one TV show that was a constant in my childhood, it was THREE'S COMPANY. Never mind all the hullabaloo over the then-considered-racy content; the show was a twice-daily event for my whole family (reruns at 6 and 7 on pre-Fox channel 11), thrice-daily on the day whenever ABC was showing first-run episodes in prime time. After a single disc Season One release that was not only disappointing in its dearth of extras but just generally sloppy missteps (e.g., the cover art used a cast photo from the fourth season), Anchor Bay Entertainment has gotten things right with its comprehensive Season Two and Season Three sets. Both four-disc collections feature all the unedited episodes of each season and commonly-themed extras such as tributes to the late John Ritter, outtake reels and "Best of..." clip featurettes for various other characters. Each set also features distinct supplements: Season Two includes a trivia game; a memorabilia and still gallery; and--most intriguingly--the first of two unaired pilots for the series, starring Ritter, Norman Fell, Audra Lindley, two different (and highly annoying) female co-stars and different character names. The Season Three set includes TV promos, extended interviews with Richard Kline (Larry) and director Dave Powers as well as the second unaired pilot (whose plot was later used for the series' second episode), starring Ritter, Joyce DeWitt, Fell and Lindley but a vapid, unfunny blonde in the role of Chrissy Snow. Thank the TV gods that the powers that be decided to rework things before picking it up for series.

Access Bollywood
(made possible by Ziba Music Center)

Farhan Akhtar's debut feature, the romantic comedy DIL CHAHTA HAI (The Heart Desires) was hailed as a breath of fresh air in Bollywood when released in 2001, and to this day it still is, largely do to its slick, Hollywood-level technical sheen and generally histrionic-free execution. Akhtar's eagerly-awaited follow-up LAKSHYA (Aim) (UTV) again shows his Western leanings, but this time the end product feels more formulaic than fresh.

From a technical standpoint, however, Akhtar picks up where his last film left off, particularly in the action-heavy second half, which depicts one long battle between Indian and Pakistani forces for control of a critical border outpost. With priceless help from ace second unit director/stunt coordinator Vic Armstrong (a veteran of the James Bond series no less), cinematographer Christopher Popp and film editor Anand Subaya, the action is expertly staged and paced and often simply breathtaking to behold, particularly one extended rock climbing sequence. But such technical proficiency in the big money sequences shows how adversely affected Akhtar is by the Western simplicity, as the spectacle overwhelms the intimacy he was so careful to create in the first half; pre-intermission, Akhtar intelligently, unhurriedly sets up the characters. Karan Shergill (Hrithik Roshan) is introduced as a capable young lieutenant for the Indian Army, but through one lengthy flashback, we learn that wasn't always the case. In fact, a fairly short time before he was a lazy, spoiled college student with no real "lakshya" in life, only enlisting in the army on a whim--one that quickly proves to be ill-advised, unsurprisingly to his impatient father (Boman Irani) and more driven girlfriend Romila (Preity Zinta, sporting bad wigs throughout). With that, Karan sets out to prove them and all his other doubters wrong, and it's no spoiler to say he does, as the audience is introduced to him as a mature officer.

What does spoil the film is how Akhtar and his screenwriter/lyricist/father Javed Akhtar expand their focus from Karan to the greater canvas of Indian and Pakistani tensions. In theory, the combat that dominates the second half would play as the culmination of Karan's evolution, as his initial selfishness completely makes way for brave selflessness. However, Karan, his relationship with Romila (who joins him on the battlefront as a news correspondent covering the war) and any of the character-driven qualities established in the first half are thrown by the wayside as Akhtar falls into the easy trap that too often claims the makers of Hollywood war films: shameless, sledgehammer patriotism. The flag that literally gets waved may not be the stars and stripes, and Western viewers may not be too well acquainted with the history behind the IndoPak tensions, but jingoistic nationalism, right down to the shallow depiction of the forces on the opposing side, is irritating in any language.

UTV and Excel Entertainment have put together a terrific two-disc DVD release for LAKSHYA. The video transfer is easily the best I've seen for a Bollywood DVD released by an India-based company, and the slick gatefold packaging, with the booklet directly attached, is just as slick and attractive. While Akhtar disappointingly has not followed the latest trend in Bollywood DVD extras--that is, offer a commentary track on the feature--the supplement disc offers a wide array of extras, from an hour-long making-of documentary on the film and a separate 30-minute doc on the making of the terrific "Main Aisa Kyun Hoon?" sequence to collections of trailers, TV spots and still images.

Unlike Akhtar, another fresh voice in Indian cinema, writer-director Mani Ratnam, shows no signs of compromising his vision with the characteristically message-minded YUVA (Youth) (Net Effect Media); however, while not failing to provoke thought, Ratnam falls a little short of his ambitions this time around. Taking an obvious cue from Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu's AMORES PERROS, this ensemble drama centers around a fateful encounter between three young men on a Calcutta bridge, and through extensive flashbacks Ratnam traces back the journeys of these three different men, in the process painting a cross-section of contemporary Indian youth: driven student activist Michael (Ajay Devgan, perhaps a bit too old to play this role), career criminal Lallan (Abhishek Bachchan) and the directionless Arjun (Vivek Oberoi). Ratnam isn't immune to the common trap of inconsistency between the threads; while all three hold a degree of interest, Lallan's is far and away the most compelling story due to the fascinatingly self-destructive relationship between he and his pregnant wife (Rani Mukerji) and, above all, Bachchan's fierce performance. His commanding presence short of revelatory, and he keeps the film engrossing even as it gradually peters out after the film passes the character convergence point. The climax is particularly disappointing, Ratnam's headier concerns take a back seat to some rather improbable action and stunts. Even so, YUVA offers a lot more substance in both content and performance than most films, regardless of the nation of origin; that it is a product of an industry known for candy floss fluff makes it all the more noteworthy.

Not that a film that clearly aspires to be nothing more than a light entertainer cannot be noteworthy. But by all outward appearances, HUM TUM (Me and You) (Yash Raj Films) doesn't seem like it would; not only does it fit into the all-too-common masala romantic comedy mold, it also one of those shameless Bollywood ripoffs of Hollywood movies--in this case, WHEN HARRY MET SALLY... Those are big shoes to fill, but screenwriter-director Kunal Kohli accomplishes the seemingly impossible in that not only is this a remake that successfully captures the essence and appeal of the original but also is a worthwhile entertainment in its own right. Like their American counterparts, Karan (Saif Ali Khan) and Rhea (Rani Mukerji) bicker their way through chance encounters over a period of years, eventually becoming good friends and perhaps ideal love matches. But as with any film in the formula-stricken romantic comedy genre, HUM TUM sinks or swims with its stars, and goofball loverman Khan and spunky, knockout-next-door Mukerji are electric together. Kohli isn't above throwing in tried-and-true contrivances as obstacles in our pair's road to romantic bliss (namely, a wedding), but he also puts his own spin to the material, particularly the use of animated interstitial vignettes depicting Karan's art-imitates-life comic strip in place of HARRY's cloying, movie-stalling interviews with old married couples. Ironically enough, though, Kohli's very fidelity to the original film sets it apart from similar fare from Bollywood, as it hence takes a refreshingly liberated and modern stance on relationships by ultraconservative Hindi film standards--and having such savvy to go along with the usual sweetness adds to frothy charms.

The frothy charms of a rom-com cannot quite compare to the unique jolt provided by a true, genre-blending and -bending masala entertainer done well. For her directing debut, MAIN HOON NA (I Am Here) (Eros Entertainment), famed choreographer Farah Khan certainly doesn't make things easy for herself by attempting to cover just about every genre: kick-ass actioner; broad slapstick comedy; heartwarming family drama; sizzling romance; and, of course, high-kicking, song-and-dance musical--and, on top of that, simultaneously indulging in and spoofing these genres and general Bollywood excesses. Against all odds, particularly for a first-time director, Khan is able to pull the shifting tones together into a cohesive whole. It certainly helps to have a leading man adept at all of the disparate requirements, as she does in superstar Shahrukh Khan, who easily navigates the knowingly preposterous, pretzel-like convolutions of the plot. As army Major Ram Sharma, "King Khan" has to play the macho action hero to combat a terrorist (Suniel Shetty) with his sights set on the general's college student daughter (Amrita Rao); cut it up silly slapstick style, as Ram goes undercover as a student at the university; pluck the heartstrings as Ram tries to reconcile with his estranged stepbrother (astonishingly, embarrassingly, insultingly untalented newcomer Zayed Khan, who will sadly get a career boost from the success of this movie), who happens to attend the same school; make the ladies swoon as he woos a sexy chemistry teacher (former Miss Universe Sushmita Sen, finally nabbing a high-profile role worthy of her abilities and presence). It's all rather ridiculous, and the everything-including-the-kitchen-sink approach would not have gone down so easily had both Khans, Farah and Shahrukh, hadn't attacked the material with such tongue-in-cheek, go-for-broke exuberance. They never take themselves or the material too seriously, but they also approach the genre conventions with enough respect and competence that the sequences also satisfy on that level; the climactic, explosions-, martial arts- and (yes) doves-heavy climax is, indeed Too Much, but on top of being funny, it's also genuinely exciting and a hell of a lot of fun--which aptly sums up the entire film.

For the DVD release of this global box office hit, Eros Entertainment has pulled out all the stops, right down to the packaging. Besting their previous benchmark in creative packaging, the oversize, hardcover volume-like box that housed the Signature Collection release of 2002's DEVDAS, the MAIN HOON NA's two discs come in a mock school composition book, bound with two bolt-like fasteners. Unlke the DEVDAS package, though, the book is indeed one, featuring many full color photos from the film, cast biographies, song lyrics, and other goodies. This is just a warm-up for what actually lies on the discs; Farah Khan offers an engaging feature-length commentary on disc one (though it's odd that the actual film audio is completely muted on this track); disc two has making-of featurettes, a look at the film's extensive visual effects, deleted scenes and outtakes. All in all, it's a package that puts many of the high-end Hollywood DVD releases to shame.

Special thanks to Ziba Music Center, Naz 8 Cinemas, UTV, Net Effect Media, Yash Raj Films and Eros Entertainment.

Next time...

...more reviews, including THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. As always, check out my home site, Mr. Brown's Movie Site, for additional reviews.

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