I Love Trouble (1994)

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General		Extras
Category	Action	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1994
Running Time	117:41
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Language Select Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Charles Shyer
Studio Distributor	Walt Disney Studios Home Ent.	Starring	Nick Nolte Julia Roberts Saul Rubinek James Rebhorn Robert Loggia Kelly Rutherford Olympia Dukakis Marsha Mason Eugene Levy Charles Martin Smith Dan Butler Paul Gleason Jane Adams
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$19.95	Music	David Newman

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/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 English for the Hearing Impaired Spanish Swedish Norwegian Danish Finnish	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    I Love Trouble is a lightweight romantic comedy of helium-filled proportions. It is effectively a vehicle for everyone's favourite movie darling of the early 1990s, Julia Roberts, to have some fun and look lovely while getting one up on the dastardly male lead played by Nick Nolte.

    Nolte plays Peter Brackett, a veteran newspaper columnist for the respected Chicago Chronicle.  Ever the ladies man, Brackett can do little wrong in the eyes of the bevy of woman he attracts, his loyal readers, and even his grumpy editor. He manages to fly by the seat of his pants with deadlines looming and get his stories filed on time, every time (even if it does mean plagiarising himself!). Having just released a novel, Brackett is about to hit the book tour circuit, and life is looking good for this charming, yet slightly sleazy bachelor. This is of course until journalistic competition, in the form of the lovely Sabrina Peterson (Julia Roberts), comes along with her quick wit, sharpened pencil, keen nose for a story, and obligatory short skirt.

    Petersen works for the opposition newspaper, The Chicago Globe, and she has the unfortunate pleasure of first meeting Brackett when he tries to hit on her while they are both covering a major train derailment in Chicago that has caused several deaths. Brackett treats the story as though it were beneath him and files some simple, unimaginative copy, insisting to his editor that there is nothing sinister about the crash. But he's a little peeved when the next day he learns that rival Petersen has scooped him on the story and has uncovered some more sinister allegations. What ensues is a battle of one-upmanship as the two hacks spend the next few days trying to scoop each other. Their further questioning of the many people involved in the crash leads them to discover someone is trying to have them eliminated before they ask too many questions about what is looking less like an accident. They both realise there is more to this story than either of them first thought, and they are forced to admit that by pooling their resources and time they may actually be able to get to the bottom of a case that is certainly beginning to look interesting. Of course they still don't trust each other completely, and while a small spark of romantic interest is starting to ignite, the battle to get the story first is still the number one priority for both of them. All manner of bizarre plots are uncovered as the pseudo-sleuths dig deeper and deeper.

    In the end, this film runs out of steam and the ludicrous and contrived ending is probably 30 minutes too late in arriving. The actual train crash plot becomes secondary to the romantic battle between the two leads, which rarely sparks into anything other than light-hearted banter and some clichéd one-liners. There are plenty of awfully large plot holes in the story, some wide enough to fit Julia Roberts' smile through sideways, and you will probably find yourself laughing out loud at some of the contrived scenarios. If it was an effort to recapture some of the past glories from the screwball comedies of the late 1930s, it failed miserably.

Video

    This is not a startling transfer by any means, but it is without major fault and is certainly more than adequate.

    The original aspect ratio of 1.85 is presented here, complete with 16x9 enhancement.

    The image is not what I would call super or standout sharp, with some scenes being quite soft, and very minor edge enhancement popping up in many scenes, though it is not overly bothersome. There are no problems with shadow detail, though grain is somewhat problematic on some of the darker scenes. There is no low level noise.

    Colours are adequate without being startling and are without any major problems. Skin tones are defined well and blacks are solid.

    There are no compression artefacts. Aliasing is absent and while there are many film artefacts, they are small enough to ignore.

    There are numerous subtitle options present. I watched with the English stream on for a good chunk of the film and found them accurate enough to convey most of the plot.

    This is a single layered disc, so there is no layer change.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    There are two full 5.1 Dolby Digital tracks present on this disc, these being English and Spanish. I listened to the English track and simply verified the presence of the other. Overall this isn't a bad 5.1 surround soundtrack, but is hardly one to compare to a modern offering.

    Dialogue is excellent with no audio sync problems.

    The score by David Newman is really quite unremarkable.

    There is a little surround use. Most notably, they are used for general streetscape fill-in effects and during the climax at the chemical company.

    The subwoofer is used sparingly, but this is hardly what I would call a thumping soundtrack anyway.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    There are no extras on this disc.

   The R1 version misses out on:

• 16x9 enhancement.
• Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack.

• Theatrical Trailer.
• French Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

    With the lack of 16x9 enhanced video, the Region 4 offering is far superior and easily the version to recommend.

    I Love Trouble is not one of Julia Roberts' more successful films. It is overly long for the style of film with a contrived and drawn-out climax. The best parts are certainly in the first half when the battle-of-the-sexes between Petersen and Brackett is just hotting up.

    The video quality is acceptable without knocking your socks off.

    The audio is also functional, with some decent surround activity, though is hardly what  I'd call demo material.

    There are no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall