This review is sponsored by
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Category | Comedy | Main Menu Introduction
Main Menu Audio and Animation Dolby Digital Trailer - Rain Menu Audio Cast and Crew Interviews (17:02) Teaser Trailer - 1.33:1, not 16x9, Dolby Digital 2.0 (0:49) Theatrical Trailer - 1.33:1, not 16x9, Dolby Digital 2.0 (1:36) Featurette - Ibiza Dance Master Class (1:03) Featurette - Secrets Of The Floater (2:14) Featurette - Kevin's Guide To Being A Teenager (54:50) Featurette - The Unfair World Of Kevin & Perry (6:13) Audio Commentary - Harry Enfield (Star/Writer/Producer), David Cummings (Writer) and Ed Bye (Director) |
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Rating | |||
Year Released | 2000 | ||
Running Time | 79:36 minutes | ||
RSDL/Flipper | RSDL (74:48) |
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Start Up | Menu | ||
Region | 4 | Director | Ed Bye |
Distributor |
Roadshow Home Entertainment |
Starring | Harry Enfield
Kathy Burke Rhys Ifans |
Case | Transparent C-Button Version 1 | ||
RPI | $34.95 | Music | Various |
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Pan & Scan/Full Frame | No | English (Dolby Digital 5.1, 448
Kb/s)
English Audio Commentary (Dolby Digital 2.0 , 224 Kb/s) |
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Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
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Original Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 |
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Macrovision | Yes | Smoking | Yes |
Subtitles | English for the Hearing Impaired | Annoying Product Placement | Yes, several obvious ones |
Action In or After Credits | No |
Kevin (Harry Enfield) and his best mate Perry (Kathy Burke) are two fairly dysfunctional teenagers. They harbour thoughts of being great DJs as well as possessing a desperate need to pop their cherries before they become ancient (which pretty much means about 18). There is little success on the home front and the best that they get is Kevin sharing a bed with a drunken lass at a party they have gatecrashed. Naturally Kevin brags about having shagged her. As desperation mounts, they hatch the grand idea of going to Ibiza since all DJs go to Ibiza for summer and all the girls shag like crazy. And so Kevin puts the touch on his parents as only a teenager can, and eventually they crumble - it is off to Ibiza for all four of them. Yes, Mr Patterson (James Fleet) and Mrs Patterson (Louisa Rix) are coming too. Did I mention that Perry has a serious infatuation with Mrs Patterson? Ibiza turns out to be not quite what Kevin and Perry expected and things do not quite go to plan. But they do meet the girls of their dreams, they do meet their DJ idol Eye Ball Paul (Rhys Ifans) and eventually things work out pretty well for all concerned - except maybe for Eye Ball Paul.
No great shakes in the story department, that is for sure. But puerile gutter humour does not require much in the way of story - what it needs is plenty of opportunity for insertion of the usual things: vomit, turds and the joke. The joke in this instance is the old fashioned boner. No one here is going to win an Academy Award, although Kathy Burke probably deserves one for the pain she endured having her breasts strapped down in order to play Perry. The budget here was fairly obviously not that big, but those pounds were reasonably well spent. Ed Bye does a pretty serviceable job in bringing the film some sort of direction without allowing it to sink beneath a pile of gutter jokes, but this is hardly likely to be confused with something from Steven Spielberg.
If you are aware of the television show Harry Enfield and Chums, then you have a rough idea whether this is to your taste or not. For a bit of mindless entertainment for eighty minutes, I have no real complaints and it is the sort of dumb film you can throw on with a reasonable degree of assurance of a couple of laughs. This is not highbrow humour, far from it and as long as you remember this and leave the brain in neutral, you will probably have some fun.
The source material contains some scenes that have somewhat reduced sharpness and detail, and this obviously carries over to the video transfer. Whilst I would not call this a super sharp transfer, it is a very nicely sharp transfer that comes over very well. There is a fair degree of detail on offer, especially during the club scenes which really form the focus of the film. Shadow detail could have been a tad better but there is nothing really hidden by lack of detail. This is a nicely clear transfer throughout and there is no real indication of grain other than perhaps during the nightclub scenes.
This is not the most vibrant and colourful transfer I have ever seen in general, but again this reflects both the source material and the style of the film. It certainly is not a dull film but only occasionally does the vibrancy really get up to the attention-grabbing stage. This is usually when there are some bright colours on offer, such as the lawn early in the film. Overall, there seems to be a very natural feel to the palette of colours on offer here, and there is nothing that I would complain about. There is some slight oversaturation during the red lit scene between 32:00 and 33:00, but nothing really major and nothing that gets ugly enough to object to since it is probably source material related. There is no indication of colour bleed in the transfer. At times the transfer is a little dark, most especially during the opening sequences, but this would seem to be a source material issue and not a transfer issue.
There did not appear to be any significant MPEG artefacts in the transfer. There are no obvious film-to-video artefacts in the transfer. There are no real film artefacts in the transfer either, mainly just a couple of obligatory flecks that are barely there.
This is an RSDL
formatted DVD with the layer change coming very late in the film at 74:48.
This is actually during the closing credits and whilst it is a little noticeable,
it certainly is not liable to disrupt the viewing experience.
Sharpness | |
Shadow Detail | |
Colour | |
Grain | |
Film-to-Video Artefacts | |
Film Artefacts | |
Overall |
The dialogue was generally clear and easy to understand throughout, bearing in mind that the whole film is evoking the feeling of fifteen year olds. This means that there is a degree of mumbling that does require a bit more concentration than usual to follow. There does not appear to be any problem with audio sync in the transfer.
There is no score as such in the film, but rather an extensive collection of dance tracks compiled under the eye of music consultant Judge Jules. Whilst the music is not my usually preferred fare, it has to be said that there is some really good dance music here and I am willing to bet that cranking this one up to eleven will annoy the heck out of the neighbours. Good stuff.
Naturally dance music needs a big sound and that
is what we get here. There is nothing really subtle about this soundtrack
and it does rock pretty well when needed, which makes it all the more disappointing
that the rear channels drop out completely in the mix at 34:06
and what was some really rocking club music at the time goes distinctly
softer. Thankfully this seems to be only a temporary issue and the rear
channels are back in the next club scene, but it is a bit disappointing
and also a tad unusual for this minor glitch to occur. Beyond that, we
get plenty of use out of the bass channel, plenty of use out of the surround
channels and a seriously rocking soundtrack when it needs to be. During
the non-dance club scenes, the nicely open soundtrack conveys the dialogue
and other activity well.
Dialogue | |
Audio Sync | |
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
Surround Channel Use | |
Subwoofer | |
Overall |
Video | |
Audio | |
Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
© Ian Morris (have
a laugh, check out the bio)
8th April, 2001
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DVD | Pioneer DV-515; S-video output |
Display | Sony Trinitron Wega 80cm. Calibrated with the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials. |
Audio Decoder | Built in |
Amplification | Yamaha RXV-795. Calibrated with the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials. |
Speakers | Energy Speakers: centre EXLC; left and right C-2; rears EXLR; and subwoofer ES-12XL |