Run Ronnie Run! (2002)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Dolby Digital Trailer Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	2002
Running Time	80:56
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Troy Miller
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	David Cross Bob Odenkirk
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$39.95	Music	Eban Schletter

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (320Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
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	Yes, an assortment of outtakes.

    I generally find reality television to be the most mind-numbing of entertainment, and the motivation for me to watch less and less TV programming and more and more DVDs in recent years. You simply can't switch on your TV after 7pm on a weeknight without seeing somebody tiling a bathroom or voting out a team member, and the phenomenon has spread to the film industry whether we like it or not. Some films carbon-copy a format to the big screen, while others, like the classic black comedy Series 7, parody it - and this is where Run Ronnie Run! fits in.

    Ronnie Dobbs (David Cross) is a jobless, mullet afflicted loser that spends most of his waking hours getting drunk or arrested. When his trailer-park bound three-time ex-wife rejects his fourth marriage proposal he begins to realise that he needs to make something of his life, but what can he do with the obvious talents that God bestowed upon him?

    Enter Terry Twillstein (Bob Odenkirk), an infomercial producer from L.A. who is looking for a new pitch to get himself out of financial ruin. Terry spots Ronnie being arrested on an episode of Fuzz (an hilarious Cops parody) and sets out to make Ronnie the star of his own television series. The road to fame and riches is fast and perilous, as Ronnie discovers that life at the top isn't easy - that includes hosting celebrity parties and bedding your dream girl. But, Ronnie begins pining for his childhood sweetheart and sets out to win her back, but the law has other plans.

    This is by no means the greatest comedy film ever, but there are plenty of hilarious moments to be found in this comedy from David Cross and Bob Odenkirk, the creators of the HBO television series Mr. Show. As well as Fuzz, there is a classic Survivor parody called Elimination Island, in which the contestants dispose of their unwanted teammates via very unconventional methods. There are also some genuinely funny musical segments, one of which features School Of Rock star Jack Black in an hilarious Bedknobs & Broomsticks-style chimney sweep song.

    This film was produced years ago and was held back from release by New Line for undisclosed reasons. I actually had the opportunity to view a work print of the film in 2001 and have been eagerly awaiting this DVD since. The work print contained a few minor differences in cuts, but is generally the same film.

    This is a good comedy, with not a lot to challenge viewers - but gags-a-plenty. Think of mixing the buck-toothed, mulleted losers on Jerry Springer with the series Cops and the skit format of The Kentucky Fried Movie, and you might be close to visualising this film.

Video

    The video transfer is presented in 1.85:1 and is 16x9 enhanced. This is identical to the film's theatrical aspect ratio.

    The level of sharpness is good, with a lot of detail evident in foreground and background objects. Shadow detail is as good as you would expect for a recent film, with solid black levels. I didn't notice any low level noise during the feature.

    Colours appeared bright and consistent, with no signs of oversaturation or bleeding. Skin tones also appeared true.

    I didn't notice any compression problems during the feature, and aliasing was very well controlled to the point where it was very rare and barely noticeable. Film artefacts were totally absent apart from a minor blemish at 42:09.

    The English subtitles were activated by default on my Pioneer DV-525. The subtitle stream accurately transcribed the dialogue of the film and was paced accurately with the flow of the spoken word.

    This disc is DVD-5 formatted and as a result does not contain a transitional layer pause.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    There are two English audio options; a Dolby Digital 5.1 and a Dolby Digital 2.0 track - both of which are virtually identical.

    Dialogue quality was always excellent and easy to understand. There are a couple of characterisations that feature annoying accents, but these are not at all hard to follow. Audio sync is perfect, as is the ADR work.

    The film's soundtrack features many recognisable classic tunes from rock bands such as Lynyrd Skynyrd, Poison, Molly Hatchet, Ted Nugent and Judas Priest.

    The surround channels and subwoofer were not utilised at all during the Dolby Digital 5.1 track, making it sound virtually identical to the stereo option. There are plenty of examples of left-to-right panning throughout the film, just none to the rears I'm afraid.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

Trailer (1:54)

    No, not the type that Ronnie's ex-wife lives in - this is the theatrical trailer, showing the highlights of the film and trying to make out that the story has a moral - that's Hollywood, I guess.

    Seriously, though - for the RRP of the single-layered Region 4 release you could almost import two copies of the Region 1 disc. Charging consumers $40.00 for a single-layered disc with no extras cannot be considered good value for money.

    The video transfer is great and has very few problems.

    The audio transfer is generally unimpressive.

    The only extra is a trailer.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall