My Blue Heaven (1990)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1990
Running Time	91:32
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Herbert Ross
Studio Distributor	Warner Home Video	Starring	Steve Martin Rick Moranis Joan Cusack
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$14.95	Music	Ira Newborn

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/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 English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Steve Martin really is a comedic genius. His timing and delivery are impeccable. This film showcases him at what is arguably the peak of his career. This role is tailor-made for him, providing the perfect vehicle for his style of comedy and allowing him to shine as the cocky, brash, over-confident, but completely likeable Mafia figure turned informant, Vincent "Vinnie" Antonelli. The story as narrated by Vinnie is set in the idyllically peaceful suburban town of Fryburg, where Vinnie is escorted by FBI Agent Barney Coopersmith (Rick Moranis) to begin a new life under a new identity, as part of the FBI's witness protection plan. But if Barney expects that Vinnie will be content to just lie low and keep out of trouble until his final testimony in court - as other criminals-turned-informant might be tempted to do in such circumstances - then he is in for more than a few headaches. Vinnie of course has no intention of keeping out of trouble and so immediately attracts the attention of the town's young Assistant District Attorney, Hannah Stubbs (Joan Cusack), who is as equally flabbergasted at the brash but charming Vinnie as she is attracted by the new FBI Agent who keeps pulling rank on her to prevent Vinnie from being  prosecuted for his numerous petty crimes. Pretty soon we have Vinnie running riot in this small town, Vinnie helping Barney to break out of his conservative shell, and Vinnie match-making the exasperated Hannah with Barney. Oh, and also Vinnie completely winning over the hearts of Hannah's baseball-mad sons and eventually the whole town into the bargain! What we end up with here is a mixture between a traditional buddy movie, a traditional light romance and more than a healthy dose of the over-the-top, goofball humour that makes a Steve Martin film so much fun. It's all very clean, innocent, heart-in-the-right-place kind of humour that surely cannot fail to entertain.

    It is probably true that this style of unsophisticated comedy wouldn't work if made again today. Maybe the world was indeed a much more naive place back in 1990, enabling its audiences to be more readily absorbed into the forget-your-troubles cocoon that a film like this provides. But even if the comedy in this film is rather naive and light-hearted by today's modern standards, then perhaps it just goes to show that we might have lost something along the way since. I for one am more than happy to sink into the world of My Blue Heaven again and again for repeat viewings. If only all comedy could still be this clean and this simple, and yet still deliver with this much fun.

Video

    The presented aspect ratio is 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced, which is close enough to the original theatrical ratio of 1.85:1.

    The quality of the transfer is surprisingly high for a thirteen year-old print of a medium-budget film. Sharpness and shadow detail are eminently acceptable. Resolution is quite sharp, with only minimal film grain and no real low level noise issues to detract.

    Colour in the transfer is very warm and tending to quite striking in parts. Director Herbert Ross and cinematographer John Bailey have opted for bold colours to convey the idyllically green grasses and blue skies of this idyllic suburbia. The DVD's video transfer captures these bold colours very well. Black levels are also quite solid and there are no colour bleeding issues, even in one bar/nightclub scene that employs harsh, brightly coloured fluoro lighting. The only complaint to make with the colour in this transfer is that skin tones are often over-cooked, coming across at times noticeably too red.

    There are no MPEG artefacts to worry about. Film-to-video artefacts consist of numerous instances of mild aliasing and some minor telecine wobble around the opening credits. Film artefacts consist of numerous little film flecks sprinkled throughout the feature, but all are extremely minor and so not distracting in the least.

    Both English and English for the Hearing Impaired subtitle streams are provided. I sampled the former for a good portion of the feature and found the subtitling to be clear and relatively accurate, although the subtitle stream itself is placed annoyingly high up in the frame.

    This disc is single-layered, so there is no layer change time to note.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    There is only one audio track, an English Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround mix (encoded at a rather paltry 192 Kb/s). This would appear to be the original theatrical audio mix.

    This is a dialogue-driven movie, and so dialogue quality is crucial. The audio transfer delivers, with clean, clear vocals from the centre channel. There are no instances of muffled lines or missed gags. Audio sync is also fine.

    The soundtrack to this film is relatively scarce, consisting only of the odd, well-chosen song to break up the dialogue in key scenes, for example when Vinnie takes Barney shopping or when the pair end up in the nightclub. Apart from these few songs, there is virtually no music score. The DVD's audio transfer captures the stereo of the songs well, albeit just rather loud in comparison to the surrounding dialogue scenes. Given the importance of the use of these songs in, say, the nightclub scene, the increase in volume for these songs would appear to be intentional. The audio transfer provides ample dynamic range and clarity.

    The use of stereo in the mix is however disappointing, given that the film is dialogue-intensive, all driven out of the centre channel, and with next to no sound effects panning employed across the left and right channels. In fact, apart from some minor ambient sound effects at low volume, the only times the left and right front channels jump to life is to deliver the stereo in the songs, which they then do quite effectively, before dying down again as soon as the song finishes.

    The use of the surround channels is also minimal and exactly the same comment may be made; that is, for the most part, the surrounds are only used at very low volume for ambience, but they do jump to life effectively to fill out the soundstage during the songs.

    The subwoofer virtually has the night off - not surprising given the nature of this movie and its complete lack of any demanding LFE. Even in the occasional action sequences where some sound effects are called upon, we only get gutless, low-budget, library sound effects. Have a listen to the rather wimpy gunshots in Chapter 27 and you'll hear what I mean.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    This title is yet to be released in Region 2, but if/when it is it will be identical to our Region 4 disc, noting that our PAL disc has been dual-zoned for this purpose.

    The current Region 4 version is the clear winner.

    It is presented here on a bare-bones DVD with absolutely zero extras (the bad news), but at least with a great video transfer, a decent audio transfer and a bargain basement price (the good news). This disc should find a home in any serious comedy DVD collection.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall