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Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Five-Year Engagement, The (Blu-ray) (2012)

Five-Year Engagement, The (Blu-ray) (2012)

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Released 26-Sep-2012

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Romantic Comedy Audio Commentary-Feature length with cast, director and producer.
Featurette-Making Of-(41:47) Excellent two-part documentary.
Featurette-Making Of-(5:07) The Making Of Gastrocube - deleted sequence.
Featurette-Behind The Scenes-(5:01) The Making of Turkey - deleted sequence.
Deleted Scenes-(44:54) Ten scenes of varying lengths.
Deleted Scenes-(45:41) Nineteen extended and alternate scenes.
Outtakes-(9:24) Gag reel
Outtakes-(22:30) Five short collections of improvs and outtakes.
Rating Rated MA
Year Of Production 2012
Running Time 131:17 (Case: 124)
RSDL / Flipper No/No Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 4 Directed By Nicholas Stoller
Studio
Distributor

Universal Sony
Starring Jason Segel
Emily Blunt
Chris Pratt
Alison Brie
Rhys Ifans
Jacki Weaver
Brian Posehn
Chris Parnell
Case Standard Blu-ray
RPI $39.95 Music Michael Andrews
Van Morrison


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Spanish dts 5.1
French dts 5.1
English Dolby Digital 2.0
English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 2.0
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 1080p
Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures Yes
Subtitles English for the Hearing Impaired
Spanish
French
Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits Yes, Title two minutes in.

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

     After the deplorable What to Expect When You're Expecting a few weeks ago, my faith in modern big-screen comedy is restored by Universal's release The Five-Year Engagement. This is the latest from English born, American raised, director/screenwriter Nicholas Stoller. Stoller's previous directorial outings provided us with the pleasures of Forgetting Sarah Marshall followed by Get Him to the Greek, two modern comedies that showed originality, intelligence and depth. In his latest comedy he again presents us with real, believable characters that we care for as they teeter on the fine line between comedy and tragedy. What is even better, is that in this film I actually laughed out loud more than once.

     Tom Solomon (Jason Segel) is a fairly successful sous chef in a trendy San Francisco restaurant, where he works with his best friend Alex (Chris Pratt). After a year of dating, Tom and Violet (Emily Blunt), a psychology PhD graduate, become engaged. At the engagement party Violet's sister, Suzie (Alison Brie), clicks sexually with Alex and soon an unexpected pregnancy finds Alex and Suzie marrying in haste, while Tom and Violet delay their wedding plans. While they await their postponed nuptials, Violet learns that she has been accepted into a post-graduate programme in Michigan, and Tom agrees to move with her despite the fact that he has a promotion impending in the restaurant. Once in Michigan, Violet begins her studies under Professor Winston Childs (Rhys Ifans), while Tom searches for a position comparable to the one he left in San Francisco. After a series of humiliating knock-backs, Tom ends up making sandwiches at Zingerman's deli. A frustrated Tom makes an unlikely friend - Chris Parnell and he is excellent - taking up hunting while allowing his personal life, and hygiene, to deteriorate. On the other hand, Violet's horizons are broadening, in more ways than one, under her attentive professor. While there are no real surprises in the lives of Tom and Violet, we are really involved because we have come to care for them as real people.

     Stoller, in his screenplay and direction, moves with assurance between comedy and moments of searing reality. Beside the two charming and involving leads, we are given a tapestry of characters to flesh out the lives of Tom and Violet. Everyone is excellent, either as a result of perfect casting or superb direction, or both. Jason Segel has never been more human, real, vulnerable and touching, while Emily Blunt continues to be the most reliable and delightful of today's young actresses. These two are perfect, with palpable screen chemistry whether the scene is serious or comic. I have to make special mention of the superb Chris Pratt who has some of the movie’s priceless comedic moments. And wait till you hear him sing in a scene that is inspired in its conception and execution. This scene is one of the best of the year. Pratt is wonderfully partnered in comedy by Alison Brie, and their ultimate vocal duet is pure joy. There is a huge ensemble cast providing impeccable comedic performances, but I would be remiss not to single out the delightful contribution of Jacki Weaver, one of Australia's best-ever actresses, as Violet's mother. How great to see her, at this stage of career, matching the best comedic talents around.

     Stoller is one of those rare filmmakers who seems to be comfortable wearing the dual hats of writer and director. He would undoubtedly benefit from some external discipline - maybe an editor with some restraint - and we would then not have a romantic comedy coming in at over two hours, and that's not the unrated version which adds an extra seven minutes. There are also some excesses of taste that could do with some trimming, but despite these missteps there is much more that is genuinely fine to outweigh the disappointments. The script is quick, witty, intelligent and funny. This comedy provides many smiles, and even a few laugh out loud moments, as well as scenes with real dramatic impact.

     Rounding out the sheer pleasure of watching this film is the excellent presentation. It looks great, with beautiful location filming in Michigan, and particularly in and around San Francisco. The city absolutely sparkles, with gorgeous saturated images in streets, parks and nearby countryside. Then there is the music, with excellent use made of the music of Van Morrison. This is a most enjoyable treat of a movie. Not perfect, but one that left me with a number of happy memories that has me looking forward to a second viewing.

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Transfer Quality

Video

     The entertaining content of the film is made even more enjoyable by the just about perfect transfer.

     The feature is presented at the original ratio of 1.78:1 with a beautiful 1080p image.

     There is magnificent detail in just about every scene, with some of the establishing shots providing absolutely WOW momenta. The locations are used magnificently, with San Francisco positively glowing in incredible detail. Never have I seen the Golden Gate look so spectacular, but even mundane street scenes are glorious with magnificent detail and colour. In interiors the detail is evident in the decor, and the very texture of textiles and cloths. Though most of the film is sunny and bright, in the occasional darker scene such as the alley chase between Jason Segel and Rhys Ifans, there is excellent shadow detail. The colour spectrum is wide, with many scenes vibrant and stunning. There is a tendency at times towards orange, but generally skin tones are excellent.

     I could see no sign of video artefacts.

     This film is a feast for the eyes, with adds another layer of enjoyment to an otherwise highly entertaining experience.

     As well as Spanish and French subtitles, there are subtitles available in English for the Hearing Impaired. These are very good, though they use only white, and utilise some helpful positioning of the text around the image.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     This disc contains five audio streams: English 5.1 HD Master Audio, Spanish 5.1 DTS, French 5.1 DTS, English 2.0 Descriptive Voice Service and English Dolby Digital 2.0 Commentary.

     The audio provides the finishing touches to a perfect presentation of a way above average romantic comedy.

     Dialogue is basically front and centred with every syllable crystal clear. There are no sync problems.

     As with most romantic comedies, there are no real opportunities for stunning audio action, however most is made of location shooting and crowd scenes to fill the sound stage with ambient sounds galore. The music is also given excellent treatment from the surrounds, particularly the catalogue works from Van Morrison, used so effectively throughout.

     The Descriptive Narration for the Vision Impaired is unusual in that it is delivered by a youngish female - no doubt because the audience for this fare would be judged to be mainly female. The voice is a bit breathless at times, but does show a little more warmth than is the norm for these tracks.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

     The extras here are very generous, with a feature length commentary and just under three hours of "making of" material.

Menu

     The menu is presented over a scene from the film with the two leads dancing, with music from the original score.

Commentary

     The feature length commentary is provided by writer/director Nicholas Stoller and actors Jason Segel, Emily Blunt, Chris Pratt and producer Rodney Rothman - with a short phone in from Alison Brie at about the two-hour mark. This laugh-filled commentary begins by those participating questioning why anyone would ever bother listening to one of these commentaries - if, in fact, anyone ever did. The conclusion seems to be that the only likely audience would be film geeks and nerds with nothing better to do. Guess that includes me! Any misguided listener/viewer is urged to "turn it off" and to "go out into the woods and play". As this might suggest, what we get for over two hours is this handful of talented, happy people reacting, generally favourably, to what they see themselves doing on the screen. Don't expect to learn one iota of intelligent information about the making of the film, but if you have enjoyed the film, as I have, you will probably get a few laughs out of listening to this jovial reminiscence by those responsible for this very enjoyable film.

Featurette: The Making of The Five-year Engagement (41:47)

     This documentary is split into two sections: Part 1 : Michigan (28:11) and Part 2 : California (13:36).

     Filmed in very good quality, looking a little overexposed without processing, this documentary of the making of the film also makes use of excellent black and white production stills. We see an early table dialogue rehearsal, with Emily Blunt emoting for all she's worth, and move on to the first day of shooting on April 26th last year at the MGM Grand in Michigan. We follow the production through to the last day of the shoot, taken on a very enjoyable trip through the production with the amiable, young writer/director as our guide. The production begins in Michigan for the first almost half hour, the highlights probably being the detailing of the few stunts employed in the production. Emily Blunt being shot with an arrow is an especially interesting bit - in its physical simplicity and absence of technology. The second section moves us to Sonoma, a beautiful wine district of California and then finally to San Francisco where we progress to the final day of shooting. I guess there is nothing extraordinary here, but my enjoyment of the film made me more than ready to enjoy the company of these likeable people as they work on their film. The behind-the-scenes filming seems totally genuine, and the overall effect is that the documentary is unaffected and genuine. This is a perfect conclusion to a most enjoyable film.

Featurette: Gastrocube : The Making of (5:07)

     This is an interesting five minutes spent showing the development and execution of a sequence ultimately abandoned completely. Involved is a restaurant Gastrocube, which the Jason Segel character opens in Michigan financed with the life savings of the Emily Blunt character. We see the execution of an explosion, the mechanics of which are interesting, although it's on a very small scale. Split screen is used, even up to four separate images at once. The image quality is very good, though unprocessed. This is five minutes well spent.

Featurette : Turkey : The Making of (5:01)

     Here we get a second sequence ultimately not used in the final film. This one involves a Thanksgiving dinner with Jason Segel and a talking stuffed turkey puppet - voiced and manipulated by Brian Posehn. It is interesting again to see adult creative minds at play, and this sequence is truly funny. It was abandoned by the director because he didn't think it fitted the tone of the film. Wise man. The quality is excellent - though raw and unprocessed.

Deleted Scenes (44:54)

     Here we have ten scenes of varying lengths, all presented in quality comparable to the film, with the colour much more muted - pre any processing and adjustments.

Extended and Alternate Scenes (45:41)

     More scenes as above, this time nineteen of them. These scenes, combined with the Deleted Scenes above, give an indication of directions being considered by Segel and Stoller. Obviously there is a mess of over-shooting, with the film ultimately created in the cutting room.

Gag Reel (9:24)

     Various cast members are captured breaking up and generally wrecking takes.

Line-O-Rama (8:38)

     More gag errors somewhat thematically unified.

Experiment-O-Rama 2:39)

     A collection of improvised dialogue from Professor Winton's "students".

Weird Winton (2:25)

    Rhys Ifans is seen in a number of brief clips mugging and improvising as Professor Winton.

Gonorrhoea Trouble (4:37)

     With a lead-in from Jim Piddock and Jacki Weaver, we see Piddock and Emily Blunt struggling through take after take to keep straight faces for a scene.

Top Chef : Alex Eilhauer (4:11)

     This is an amusing faux episode of "Top Chef", with Chris Pratt on the panel of judges in character as Alex Eilhauer, his role in the film.

Bookmark : My Scenes

     The viewer has the capability of bookmarking favourite scenes.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    The local release is evidently identical to that released in the U.S.

Summary

     Rejoice ! A comedy that is funny, as well as being touching. Tremendous work from every actor on screen, with Jason Segel and Emily Blunt making an excellent pairing. The secondary leads, Chris Pratt (wonderful) and Alison Brie (delightful) are excellent as well. The photography is sensational in a superb high def transfer that has a number of breathtaking shots. This will make you laugh, touch you and have you rooting for the unlikely duo at the centre of it all. The soundtrack is great too - mostly Van Morrison. There is a stuffed bag of entertaining extras making this a very worthwhile addition to any movie library.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Garry Armstrong (BioGarry)
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Review Equipment
DVDSONY BLU RAY BDP-S350, using HDMI output
DisplaySamsung LA55A950D1F : 55 inch LCD HD. Calibrated with THX Optimizer. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to DVD player. Calibrated with THX Optimizer.
AmplificationOnkyo TX-DS777
SpeakersVAF DC-X fronts; VAF DC-6 center; VAF DC-2 rears; LFE-07subwoofer (80W X 2)

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