Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (1992)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Main Menu Audio & Animation Scene Selection Anim & Audio
Rating
Year Of Production	1992
Running Time	83:35
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (48:18)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Language Select Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4,5	Directed By	Roger Spottiswoode
Studio Distributor	Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	Sylvester Stallone Estelle Getty Jobeth Williams Roger Rees Martin Ferrero Gailard Sartain John Wesley Al Fann Ella Joyce Nicholas Sadler Dennis Burkley Ving Rhames Jana Arnold
Case	?
RPI	$19.95	Music	Alan Silvestri

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) German Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Italian Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	Unknown	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English French German Italian Spanish Portuguese Dutch Swedish Danish Finnish Hebrew Arabic Russian Turkish Greek Norwegian	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	Yes
		Action In or After Credits	No

    This is not your typical Sylvester Stallone movie but a mid-budget comedy that relies more on the script and acting rather than on muscles alone. Sure, he still holds a gun in this movie, but this is the most dialogue you will ever hear from Sly in one sitting. Don’t think of that as a negative thing, though. In fact it’s quite the opposite.

    As a comedy, this is not bad either, helped along immensely by Estelle Getty, who plays the mom. And what a mom she is, but I am glad she is someone else's. The poor dear is so caring and concerned for the wellbeing of her son, Sgt. Joe Bomowski (Sylvester Stallone), that she cannot see that she really is smothering, and not mothering.

    For five years, Joe's mum, Tutti Bomowski (Estelle Getty), has been trying to visit to see her only son. For five years Joe has called her at the last minute to cancel because he was too busy to have a visitor. This time she is coming, and nothing is going to stop her. And because Joe likes pineapples, she has packed a whole suitcase full of tinned pineapple pieces.

    When Tutti finally arrives she drives Joe crazy and (unintentionally) embarrasses him at every opportunity. She even finds time to interfere with Joe's love life, which is already complicated because the woman in question happens to be his superior, Lt. Gwen Harper (JoBeth Williams).

    The last straw comes when she cleans Joe's gun with acids because it is black and oily. To make it up to him she sets out to buy a new one but does not like the "cooling off" period at the gun stores. She comes across some guys selling weapons cheap out of the back of their van, and now Joe has to go catch the offenders, and discipline Mum at the same time.

    Sure it's a simple plot, but there are far worse movies out there to watch than this one. If you have a quiet afternoon or evening to kill then I would recommend this one.

Video

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced.

    The image is sharp and clear. Shadow detail is quite good and during the dark intro from 1:00 to around 4:30 the depth of the blacks was sensational. From this point on there are very few instances where there are any low-light scenes. Film grain was obvious on occasion, but thankfully this was mild. There is no low level noise.

    Colour is rendered well, with realistic appearance for the actors and objects.

    There were no MPEG artefacts seen. Aliasing is very rare and very mild when it does occur. Film artefacts are visible throughout the whole movie, but thankfully these are predominantly black in colour, small, and not distracting at all. The exception is the small white specks that show up. They can get distracting at times.

    There is a wide selection of subtitles. The English version that I checked must have been a rushed translation. A lot of the sentences miss several words compared to the spoken version. While it makes the subtitles easier to read, it does lack accuracy. The complete subtitle list is: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, Turkish, Greek and Norwegian.

    This disc is an RSDL disc, with the layer change placed at 48:18, midway into Chapter 12. It has the potential to be disruptive to the flow on slower players but I feel it was the best placement in this area of the disc. The next chapter stop has music flowing from Chapter 12 to 13 so that would be worse. At least Joe is hunched over the desk and waiting for a reply to his question where it is placed. With no sound, and a pause to the motion, it may not be noticed but is commented here for accuracy. My player slid right over the layer change without skipping a beat.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    There are five audio tracks on this DVD. The default is an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. There are also French Dolby Digital 5.1, German Dolby Digital 5.1, Italian Dolby Digital 5.1 and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks to choose from.

    The dialogue was clear and easy to understand at all times.

    Audio sync was not a problem at all with this transfer, and was completely spot on.

    The musical score is by the legendary Alan Silvestri, who has also done musical work for such movies as Lilo & Stitch, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, Stuart Little 2, The Mummy Returns and Cast Away, to name just a few. It was well mixed and a fitting zippy choice. The volume levels did not drown out the dialogue at any point during the movie.

    The soundtrack is better than a lot I have heard lately, with good use of the surrounds for ambience, music and special effects. Directional effects are placed well within the sound field and were the norm throughout the movie.

    The subwoofer was active during the action sequences, and placed an excellent bottom end on these sections.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

    This is quite a mysterious title, as I have been unable to find any reference to a non-Region 4 title for comparison.

    It has been some time since I last saw this movie, and it was more humorous that I remembered. The actors work well together and keep this simple but enjoyable story rolling along.

    The video quality is far superior to what I was expecting, and a real credit to the team that transferred it to DVD.

    The audio quality is also great and the rears get quite a bit of use.

    There are no extras, but at this price, and with this transfer quality, it's still a bargain.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall