The Man Who Knew Too Little (1997)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1997
Running Time	89:46
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Jon Amiel
Studio Distributor	Warner Home Video	Starring	Bill Murray Peter Gallagher Joanne Whalley Richard Wilson Alfred Molina
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$14.95	Music	Christopher Young

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 Man Who Knew Too Little was produced in 1997, four years after Billy Murray's highly successful Groundhog Day. I've had the Region 1 version in my collection for over 2 years and have seen this movie many times. Watching the movie again for this review, I still found it very amusing and entertaining.

    The Man Who Knew Too Little is an entertaining story about a naive and generally clueless American tourist named Wallace Ritchie (Bill Murray). It is Wallace's birthday, and as a surprise he decides to visit his younger brother Jimmy (Peter Gallagher) in England. However, Jimmy is in the middle of the most important business dinner meeting of his life. Wallace is quickly offloaded for a couple of hours onto the hottest interactive audience participation theatre experience in London, called 'The Theatre of Life'.

    Things quickly go awry and become very amusing with one case of mistaken identity after another. Unbeknownst to the bumbling Wallace, he has become involved in a very real case of international blackmail, espionage and murder. Wallace, who by this time prefers to be called Spencer the secret agent so as to remain in character for the role he thinks he is playing, must rescue the damsel in distress, evade the Russian hitmen, lose the police, prevent a bombing at a peace conference and stop the world from slipping into another cold war. The only catch is that Wallace thinks it is all part of 'The Theatre of Life' script, but it is for real.

    To really enjoy this movie you first must believe that someone can be this utterly clueless. Once you have achieved this state of mind, check your brain at the door, sit back and try not to think too much and just enjoy the film. Bill Murray fans will love it. The rest of us, as long as we follow the above instructions, will enjoy it as well.

Video

    The video transfer is excellent, with only a few very minor flaws.

    The movie is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and is 16x9 enhanced. This differs marginally from both the stated aspect ratio on the back cover and the theatrical release ratio of 1.85:1.

    The transfer is clear and sharp from beginning to end, with no noticeable instances of grain. The majority of the movie is set at night so the quality of shadow detail is of prime importance. The shadow detail was excellent with all objects pertaining to the story clearly visible. There were no occurrences of low level noise.

    The colours were clear and sharp throughout with no problems evident. The blacks, which were very common, were very black and did not waver.

    There were no MPEG artefacts or film-to-video artefacts to be seen, not even the particularly noticeable and often annoying aliasing. Much to my surprise, film artefacts were also few and far between, the only noticeable but very minor instance being at 4:16.

    There are only two subtitle options on this disc; English and English for the Hearing Impaired. I sampled both options and they appeared to be accurate and timely.

    This is a single layered disc and therefore there is no layer change.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The audio transfer is acceptable, but is not of the same quality as the video.

    There is only one audio offering to be found, an English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) track.

    The dialogue was clear and easily understood throughout. There were a quite a few different accents throughout the movie and all were understood with ease. There was only one major flaw, which was a noticeable popping noise at 56:02. Audio sync was not an issue with this disc.

    The music score was written by Christopher Young and is one of the first things you notice about the movie. The score suits the movie extremely well and adds considerably to its overall feel and success. The music alternates between something similar to Get Smart or The Pink Panther and something from a serious Hitchcock spy movie, depending on the scene being played out on-screen. I just wish an isolated music score was available on this DVD, as it is on the Region 1 DVD.

    The surround speakers were only used sparingly. This is predominately a dialogue-driven movie, however, there were numerous instances where the surround speakers could have been utilised better.

    As with the surround speakers, the subwoofer is only used occasionally and not to its full potential.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    Disappointingly, there are no extras to be found on this disc.

    The Region 4 version of this DVD misses out on:

• Director's Audio Commentary
• Alternate Music Only Track
• Production Notes
• Four Theatrical Trailers
• Three TV Spots
• French Audio Track
• French and Spanish Subtitles
• Pan & Scan Video Option

    The Region 1 version of this DVD misses out on:

• Nothing

    The Region 4 has a slight edge in the picture quality but because of its lack of extras, particularly the Isolated Music track, I would have to recommend the Region 1 version.

    The Man Who Knew Too Little is an entertaining Bill Murray comedy about a simple, naive man in the wrong place at the wrong time, or maybe it's the right place at the right time - you decide. It has an excellent video transfer, acceptable audio, but sadly no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall