To Do List, The (Blu-ray) (2013)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Audio Commentary-Writer/director Maggie Carey and Bill Hader Deleted Scenes-x 3 Featurette-Maggie Carey: Directing Her To-Do List (2:59) Featurette-Dirty Mouth (2:07) More…-The Re-Do List (Gag Reel) (2:55) Trailer-x 3 for other films
Rating
Year Of Production	2013
Running Time	103:45
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Maggie Carey
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Aubrey Plaza Sarah Steele Alia Shawkat Bill Hader Johnny Simmons Rachel Bilson Scott Porter Connie Britton Clark Gregg
Case	?
RPI	?	Music	Raney Shockne

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 2.0
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     Brandy Klark (Aubrey Plaza) is Miss Perfect; she is a nerd who has won student awards all the way through school in Boise, Idaho, she is first in her 1993 high school graduation class, she is organised and makes lists of what she needs to do and is probably friendly to children and small animals! But unlike her friends she is still a virgin. So Brandy decides she needs to become more experienced before she goes to college and makes a “To Do List” of sexual experiences to try. With the help of her best friends Wendy (Sarah Steele) and Fiona (Alia Shawkat), and tutoring from her older sister Amber (Rachel Bilson), Brandy sets her sights on attracting pool lifeguard and hunk Rusty (Scott Porter) while working through some experiments with Cameron (Johnny Simmons), a boy she treats as a friend but who is in love with her. Of course as Brandy works her way through her list things do not go to plan.

     The To Do List is a comedy based upon Brandy’s total innocence of sexual matters as she embarks upon her “fact finding” mission. It is funny in places although predictable, although some of the dead pan humour courtesy of Connie Britton and Clark Gregg, who play Brandy’s parents, and Bill Hader (writer / director Maggie Carey’s real life partner), as the sloppy and frequently stoned pool manager, works better. Thirty year old Aubrey Plaza is OK, although she does not quite convince as an impossibly naïve teenager, while Sarah Steele and Alia Shawkat as her friends fare better.

     The To Do List does include a couple of gross out moments and a few cringe-worthy scenes, but there is no nudity and the sexual activity is sedate and played for laughs. The film certainly has its share of “F” words but they are not overdone and I am surprised at the “R” rating the film received in Australia. While films depicting graphic violence can get an “MA” it seems a film that discusses sex for laughs gets an “R”.

Video

     The To Do List is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, close to the original 1.85:1 ratio, in 1080p using the MPEG-4 AVC code.

     This print is fine. Detail is strong and clean, colours deep and natural. Blacks and shadow detail are very good, skin tones natural. Brightness and contrast are consistent.

     Marks are not evident.

     English subtitles for the hearing impaired are available.

Video Ratings Summary

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Audio

     Audio is an English DTS-MA HD 5.1 and there is also an English commentary and English descriptive audio by a female voice, both in Dolby Digital 2.0.

     While some sentences were occasionally a bit hard to hear, generally the dialogue is clear, centred and understandable. The surrounds mostly carried the music and pop songs, with occasional ambient effects such as voices in party scenes and at the pool. The subwoofer added some bass to the music.

     The original score by Raney Shockne is barely noticeable. Instead, the soundtrack features frequent pop songs by a variety of artists, including Tears for Fears, M.C. Hammer, Salt-N-Pepa and the Jackson 5, most of which refer to sex in one way or another.

     Lip synchronisation was fine.

Audio Ratings Summary

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Trailers (6:26)

    On start-up the following trailers play: The English Teacher, Lovelace and Some Girl(s). These trailers cannot be selected from the menu.

Audio Commentary by Writer/Director Maggie Carey and Bill Hader

     Writer / director Maggie Carey and her husband Bill Hader provide a chatty commentary, with Carey doing the majority of the talking. They mention scripting, casting, the wardrobe, songs, locations, on-screen goofs, deleted scenes and plotlines, but a lot is Carey mentioning which parts of the film are based upon her own experiences while growing up and going to high school in Boise, Idaho. This is one of those non-technical commentaries; lightweight but not too bad.

Deleted and Extended Scenes

     Three deleted/ extended scenes, nothing essential:

• Driving to the Party Extended (1:19)
• I’m Sneaking Out (1:09)
• New Computer (1:24)

Maggie Carey: Directing Her To-Do List (2:59)

     Some film and behind the scenes footage plus a few superficial comments from writer/director Maggie Carey.

Dirty Mouth (2:07)

     Colourful language from the film collected into two minutes.

The Re-Do List (Gag Reel) (2:55)

     Goofs and gags on set.

     The Region A US Blu-ray of The To Do List has the same extras and adds only a Spanish dub and Spanish subtitles. Buy local.

     The To Do List is predictable. It is funny in places, there is no nudity, the sexual activity is chaste and played for laughs and there are only a couple of gross out moments, so the film is rather inoffensive compared to some gross out sex comedies on the market.

     The video and audio are good and we get the same extras that are available in Region A.

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