Big Tease (1999)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Main Menu Audio Listing-Cast & Crew Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	1999
Running Time	82:52
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Kevin Allen
Studio Distributor	Warner Home Video	Starring	Craig Ferguson Frances Fisher Mary McCormack David Rasche Chris Langham
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$14.90	Music	Mark Thomas

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/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

    The Big Tease is a fitfully amusing comedy which presents a reasonable way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon. Starring Craig Ferguson (The Drew Carey Show) it tells the story of Crawford Mackenzie, a Glaswegian hairdresser who mistakenly believes he has been asked to compete in the Platinum Scissors world hairdressing championship in Los Angeles. Despite the highly original set-up, the film turns out to be a fairly formulaic underdog makes good story.

    When Crawford Mackenzie gets a letter from WHIF (the World Hairdressing International Federation) inviting him to Los Angeles, the Scottish hairdressing world is turned upside down. So prestigious is the Platinum Scissors event that famed documentary filmmaker Martin Samuels (Chris Langham) decides to follow Crawford on his Los Angeles odyssey. Not long after arriving in LA, Crawford discovers that he has misunderstood the letter - he was only invited to be a member of the audience. Undeterred, Crawford decides to acquire the necessary hairdresser's guild card and talk his way into the competition anyway.

    Crawford soon learns that LA is a little different to Glasgow, and realises that what is important in that town is not what you know - but who. Having said that, when he manages to impress Sean Connery's publicist, Candy (Frances Fisher), with his ability to diagnose her "alcoholic hair", Crawford finally manages to secure his guild card and after a tortuous struggle - a place in the competition. In it, he must face the might of three-times world champion, Norwegian Stig Ludwigssen (David Rasche), the UK punk icon Dave London and the former Japanese monk Dave Miyaki. Will he prove to have the fastest scissors in the West? Can his tong skills live up to his tongue skills? The slightly silly ending will reveal all.

    The Big Tease is a pleasant enough way to spend a couple of hours. Whilst there are only a few laugh out loud moments, and the outcome is hardly uncertain, there is enough humour in this picture to keep you entertained for the duration. It is reminiscent of a cross between Zoolander and Gregory's Girl. Recommended for hairdressers, Scotsmen or those seeking a gentle comedy diversion for a rainy evening.

Video

    The video quality of this transfer is generally rather good in most areas.

    The video is presented 16x9 enhanced at 1.78:1 which is only marginally altered from the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The overall transfer is a little soft but not distractingly so. There is no significant grain present although some of the background images are a little poorly defined.

    Most of the film is set during daylight hours, so black levels and shadow detail are not overly taxed, but they are perfectly fine where necessary. There is no low level noise evident. Colours tend to have an ever-so-slightly washed-out feel, although there is some opportunity for a more vibrant palette in some of the suburban Los Angeles shots. There is no sign of colour bleeding. Skin tones look a little pallid at times.

    There are no significant MPEG artefacts present. Edge enhancement is virtually absent and is only noticeable rarely on very close inspection (for example on Candy's jacket at 55:45). Aliasing was never noticeable on my system. Telecine wobble is absent.

    Film artefacts are occasionally visible as fleeting specks and minor scratches, but this is generally a clean transfer.

    The English for the Hearing Impaired subtitles contain numerous edits for brevity and the occasional error. For example at 1:35, the subtitles strangely read "Agent from outer space", rather than the "Pensioner from outer space" which is actually spoken. They are generally well timed and do include attribution for off-screen dialogue.

    This disc is in a single sided and single layered (DVD 5) format, so there is no layer change present.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The overall audio transfer is of good quality, being rather lively on occasion and suffering from no significant defects.

    The sole English audio track is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 encoded at 384 kbps. The dialogue is always clear, but some viewers may experience a little difficulty with the Scottish accents (they are not particularly broad however). There are no problems with audio sync.

    The original music was composed by Mark Thomas (Dog Soldiers), but it is a fairly unremarkable drum-driven affair. The bulk of the musical soundtrack is filled with pop numbers - most notably My Boy Lollipop and a recurring modern remix of California Dreamin'. This music is quite loud on occasion - possibly a little too loud as it almost overwhelms the dialogue at times - but it does give the film a modern, upbeat feel.

    The front speakers carry the vast majority of the dialogue and do so rather well. There is a very good spread of sound across the front soundstage. Overall, the soundstage is quite immersive - mainly thanks to the fairly forceful musical numbers. The surround speakers carry the musical numbers and create quite a vibrant, enveloping feel. They do also carry some directional panning and localised effects - for a comedy the soundstage is surprisingly engaging.

    The subwoofer carries some substantial bass from the musical numbers and includes some quite deep notes (for example the bass around 8:45). There is little in the way of true LFE sound, as might be expected for a comedy film.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    There are very few extras on this disc.

Menu

    The main menu has a static photograph from the DVD cover accompanied by a short loop of music from the score. It allows the choice of playing the movie, selecting one of thirty chapter stops, language and subtitle options and access to the following special features:

Cast & Crew

    A single, silent page of text outlining the main cast and crew.

Theatrical Trailer

    Running for 1:51 and presented 16x9 enhanced at 1.78:1 with a Dolby Digital 2.0 audio track encoded at 192 kbps.

    The Region 1 version of this film appears to be very similar to our own. It is presented with full frame (Pan and Scan) and 1.85:1 anamorphic versions of the movie on either side of the disc, with the same extras as our own. Interestingly the Region 1 version also includes an apparently very brief filmography for director Kevin Allen which is not present on our release. There is no compelling reason to prefer one version over the other.

    The Big Tease contains some witty observational humour. The Glasgow setting in the early part of the film offers plenty of opportunity for typical self-deprecating Scottish humour, whilst the LA setting allows for some nice "fish out of water" fun. There are few surprises to be found here, but this is a film which will undoubtedly raise a wry smile from all but the most hardened of viewers. Recommended as a rental.

    The video quality is pretty good.

    The audio transfer is surprisingly lively for a comedy.

    The extras are negligible.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall