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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Nine Months (1995)

Nine Months (1995)

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Released 17-Jun-2003

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Comedy Theatrical Trailer
Rating Rated M
Year Of Production 1995
Running Time 99:05
RSDL / Flipper RSDL (51:09) Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 2,4 Directed By Chris Columbus
Studio
Distributor

Twentieth Century Fox
Starring Hugh Grant
Julianne Moore
Tom Arnold
Joan Cusack
Jeff Goldblum
Robin Williams
Case ?
RPI $31.95 Music Hans Zimmer


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
French Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
German Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles Dutch
English
French
German
Italian
Spanish
French Titling
Greek Titling
Italian Titling
Spanish Titling
Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits Yes, baby photos of cast

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

Plot Synopsis

    Even now, Nine Months will probably be best remembered as the film Hugh Grant was making when he was arrested for lewd conduct after the police found him with Divine Brown, a prostitute, in his car. Was it a moment of madness, or was it a daring publicity stunt for the new film? I guess we will never know, but in any case, I'm sure a few people went to see the film just to catch a glimpse of the notorious actor.

    It is just as well that the film got a bit of a (possibly unintended) publicity boost, for otherwise this film is fairly forgettable, and definitely not one of Hugh's better efforts. The plot is fairly formulaic, and plods along fairly predictably, lightened only by some well executed humorous scenes.

    Samuel Faulkner (Hugh Grant) is a child psychologist with the perfect life. His career is doing well, he lives in a comfortable apartment with city views, drives a Porsche, and has a perfect relationship with girlfriend Rebecca Taylor (Julianne Moore).

    That is, until a chance encounter with a boisterous family - the Arnolds - spoils a picnic by the beach and makes Rebecca start thinking of wanting to have a child.

    This makes Sam extremely nervous. His life is perfect as it is, and he doesn't want change. In fact, he is terrified of the impact a baby would have on his lifestyle. So terrified, in fact, that when Rebecca announces she is pregnant, he immediately crashes the Porsche on a trip to the Napa valley to visit his friend Sean Fletcher (Jeff Goldblum).

    Sam and Rebecca meet the Arnolds again, as they are also staying at Sean's house for the weekend. Wife Gail (Joan Cusack) is Sean's sister. Husband Martin (Tom Arnold) and Sam end up clashing over a lunch table, but somehow you know they will end up as friends.

    The rest of the film explores Sam's reluctant acceptance of his impending fatherhood, but not before we get lots of contrived humorous scenes, plus lots of angst and hurt feelings due to various misunderstandings. Robin Williams plays a great cameo role as the bumbling Dr. Kosevich.

    I suppose this might be a good film to force your husband/boyfriend to watch if he's commitment-phobic or scared of parenthood, but I suspect your average not-quite-so-Sensitive-New-Age guy will run away at the mere mention of this film. On the other hand, if your new baby is wearing you down with its incessant demands and you're wondering why you were stupid enough to have a baby in the first place, watching this film might just remind you.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    This is another excellent Twentieth Century Fox transfer, presented in widescreen 2.35:1 (the intended aspect ratio) and 16x9 enhanced.

    Detail levels are high, and colours are almost perfectly saturated despite the film being nearly eight years old. Grain is well under control and virtually unnoticeable. The film source also looked fairly clean.

    I did not notice any compression artefacts, but then considering the short duration of the film I wasn't expecting to find any.

    There are quite a few subtitle tracks on this film including Dutch, English for the Hearing Impaired, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. In addition, French Titling, Greek Titling, Italian Titling, Spanish Titling subtitle tracks are also available. Due to the presence of the titling tracks, user selection of subtitles is prohibited, and the only way you can select a subtitle track is through the menu. I turned on the English subtitle track briefly to verify its presence. Dialogue transcription accuracy seemed about average, and there was minimal dialogue attribution.

    This is a single sided dual layered disc (RSDL). The layer change occurs in Chapter 16 at 51:09. It is reasonably well placed as it occurs during a natural pause in the scene.

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

Audio

    There are multiple audio tracks on this disc: English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s), French Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded (192Kb/s), German Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded (192Kb/s), Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded (192Kb/s), and Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded (192Kb/s). I listened to the English audio track.

    I guess I did not expect this film to have lots of surround activity given the plot, but this is one of those films that raises my hopes at the beginning by displaying minor but noticeable surround activity at the beginning. Then, for virtually the rest of the film, we get no surround activity at all. Finally, right at the end, for some strange reason the background music is mixed almost exclusively to the rears leaving the front channels for dialogue and Foley effects.

    Dialogue was reasonably clear throughout and I did not notice any issues with audio synchronization.

    The background music seems to consist of light instrumental and vaguely classical sounding music (from composer Hans Zimmer). In addition, we also get a number of pop songs used as background music and also as an integral part of the plot, such as Van Morrison playing These Are The Days.

    The subwoofer is only lightly used.

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

Extras

    Extras are very minimal - just the theatrical trailer.

Menu

    The menus are 16x9 enhanced but static.

Theatrical Trailer (2:08)

    This is presented in widescreen 2.35:1 (16x9 enhanced) and with Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) audio. I suspect the audio track is surround-encoded, although it is not flagged as such.

Censorship

    There is censorship information available for this title. Click here to read it (a new window will open). WARNING: Often these entries contain MAJOR plot spoilers.

R4 vs R1

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

    The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;

    The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;

    Both versions seem pretty similar apart from a few extra trailers on R1 and more languages on R4. I would rate this a draw.

Summary

    Nine Months feature one of Hugh Grant's lesser acting efforts. It is a story about a man's gradual acceptance of his impending fatherhood.

    The video transfer is excellent.

    The audio transfer is good, but not particularly distinguished in any way.

    The only extra is a theatrical trailer.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Christine Tham (read my biography)
Monday, June 30, 2003
Review Equipment
DVDDenon DVD-2900, using Component output
DisplaySony VPL-VW11HT LCD Projector, ScreenTechnics 16x9 matte white screen (254cm). Calibrated with Video Essentials/Ultimate DVD Platinum. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials/Ultimate DVD Platinum.
AmplificationDenon AVC-A1SE (upgraded)
SpeakersFront and surrounds: B&W CDM7NT, front centre: B&W CDMCNT, surround backs: B&W DM601S2, subwoofer: B&W ASW2500

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