Imogene (Girl Most Likely) (2012)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Trailer-x 2 for other films
Rating
Year Of Production	2012
Running Time	98:51
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Shari Springer Berman Robert Pulcini
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Kristen Wiig Annette Bening Darren Criss Matt Dillon Christopher Fitzgerald Brian Petsos
Case	?
RPI	?	Music	Rob Simonsen

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     In New York Imogene Duncan (Kristen Wiig) has it all; she is an almost successful playwright, has a plush apartment, intelligentsia friends, a job at a prestigious magazine and a handsome live-in boyfriend whom she adores. But it all comes crashing down; her boyfriend leaves her and she loses her job so Imogene attempts an almost suicide to win him back. Taken to the psychiatric ward at the hospital, her friends and boyfriend want nothing to do with Imogene so she is released into the care of her mother Zelda (Annette Bening), an ex-go-go dancer with a gambling problem. Zelda drives Imogene, via the casino, to the family home in Ocean City, New Jersey. There Imogene finds her mother has rented out her room to Lee (Darren Criss) and that Zelda has a younger live-in boyfriend George (Matt Dillon) who may, or may not, be a CIA operative and / or a samurai. Also still at home is her nerdy younger brother Ralph (Christopher Fitzgerald) who is into all things crustacean and who has invented a metal crab shell for humans.

     When Imogene was nine she had been told by her mother that her father had died, but she now discovers that he is in fact alive, a respected published non-fiction author living in New York. Imogene embarks upon a search to find her father, at the same time trying to come to terms with her life and to discover what is important to her. There are a number of surprises along the way, and things don’t exactly turn out as she expected.

     Imogene (also known as Girl Most Likely) is co-directed by the husband and wife team of Shari Springer Bergman and Robert Pulcini. The film did disappointing business and it may well be that after the smash hit Bridesmaids (2011), which Kristen Wiig co-wrote and starred in, people were expecting more over the top comedy from Wiig. She is much more restrained in Imogene but she is still excellent, funny and very watchable, and she receives wonderful support from Annette Bening, who has been nominated four times for Oscars, including for American Beauty (1999), but who is sadly yet to win; Zelda could have been the stereotype mother from hell but Bening makes the role something altogether more interesting. Also fabulous is a dead-pan Matt Dillon who gives is hilarious.

     There are laugh out loud moments in Imogene and some good funny / b****y lines but the humour is based more often around realistic situations to do with friends and especially family. In some places the plotting is quite predictable, with only one sequence near to the end, involving Matt Dillon, feeling unreal and belonging in another film. But all things considered, Imogene is a funny, bitter-sweet film and entertaining about dreams, rejection, loss, hopes and family with a feel good ending.

Video

     Imogene is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, the original theatrical ratio being 1.85:1, and is 16x9 enhanced.

     Shot using Arri Alexa cameras this is a nice looking print. Detail, whether close-up or wide, is crisp and the colours glossy, but natural. Blacks are solid, shadow detail fine, skin tones natural, contrast and brightness consistent.

     There was aliasing evident on vertical lines and during some of the wide cityscape shots when buildings shimmered but otherwise artefacts and marks were absent.

    English subtitles for the hearing impaired are available in a largish white font. Smaller yellow subtitles automatically translated a couple of sentences of non-English dialogue.

     The layer chance at 59:55 was during a scene change.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

     Feature audio is an English Dolby Digital 5.1 at 448 Kbps, plus there is an English descriptive audio, Dolby Digital 2.0 at 224 Kbps.

     The dialogue was clear and easy to understand. This is a film with a lot of interior scenes and conversations so there was not a lot in the surrounds and rears except music. The exceptions were during one thunderstorm, the music performance and especially the club scene when the rears were full of music and noise. The subwoofer supported the music, club scene and the thunder.

    Lip synchronisation is fine.

    The score by Rob Simonsen was fine if unremarkable. However, integrated into the score and the film’s soundtrack are some classic pop songs by the likes of Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Linda Ronstadt, Blonde and The White Stripes that are heaps of fun.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Trailers (4:11)

     Trailers for The English Teacher and Some Girl(s) play on start-up. They cannot be selected from the menu.

     The Region A US Blu-ray of Imogene contains some minor extras: a gag reel (2:29), life in a human shell featurette (3:14), making of (8:44) and deleted scenes (2:39) so I can only assume that the US DVD has the same. These extras are reported to be unremarkable so while they give the US release the edge it seems hardly worth importing.

     I was not sure what I was going to make of Imogene but I ended up enjoying it. The film does have a serious side about rejection and loss and is fairly predictable but it has, in the end, a positive message about dreams and family. While not a broad comedy, I was amused by the situations and found myself laughing out loud a number of times and loved watching Kristen Wiig, Annette Bening and Matt Dillon.

     The video and audio are good, the extras from the US are missing.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall