Mr and Mrs Osbourne: Happy Ever After (2003)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Drama	Main Menu Audio
Rating
Year Of Production	2003
Running Time	48:57 (Case: 55)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Derek Hallworth
Studio Distributor	Avenue One Warner Vision	Starring	Ozzy Osbourne Sharon Osbourne
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$34.95	Music	Luke Gray

     Mr & Mrs Osbourne: Happy Ever After is a fairly short talking-heads interview exploring the enduring love affair between former Black Sabbath musician Ozzy and the irrepressible Sharon Osbourne.

    There is a fairly touching story here, and a tale of a marriage which has survived a tempestuous ride. Sharon and Ozzy are both very down to earth, so the language used is rather ripe at times. The two sit amidst the opulent furnishings of their English home, backed by a wall of framed albums, and tell the camera all about their lives together. Whilst Ozzy seems sober, and looks relatively healthy at the time, the slurring and shaking are still evident - and slightly saddening. Sharon is clearly the rock of this relationship and her deep love for Ozzy is self-evident.

    There really isn't too much more to say about this piece. The couple are admirably devoted to each other and they are prepared to speak very openly about the good and the bad times. Despite the wealth and celebrity they enjoy, they seem like a very genuine, grounded couple. For those who find Ozzy's interminable slurring and addled mental state endearing this could be worth a watch. For most people this is a fairly pointless exercise in entertainment, but fans of The Osbournes may find it mildly appealing.

Video

    The material is presented in a slightly unusual aspect ratio of around 1.50:1 and is letterboxed, and therefore not 16x9 enhanced. I am guessing this is close to the original aspect ratio of the source material as the framing looks fine.

    The transfer is acceptably sharp, albeit with a touch of pixelization evident and an overall digital video feel to it. Being rather softly lit it is encouraging to see that black levels are solid with no low level noise. Shadow detail is limited, but is not really required. Colours are warm in the opulent upholstered surroundings, and the documentary has a slightly orange "fireside" feel to it. Skin tones are fine.

    Compression artefacts are evident in the form of minor pixelization and a slight shimmer through much of the image. Edge enhancement is noticeable but I didn't find it to be distracting - even on a large projected image. Aliasing was not noted on my set-up.

    Film artefacts are negligible.

    There are no subtitles available.

    Unsurprisingly, given the brief running time of 48:57, this is a single-sided, single layered disc (DVD 5), so there is no layer change to detect.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The unremarkable audio transfer is serviceable - no more and no less. The sole audio track is an English Dolby Digital 2.0 affair, encoded at 224 kbps.

    Dialogue is clear - bearing in mind the constraints placed on it by Ozzy's slurring - and there were no noticeable problems with audio sync.

    The music is limited to brief soundbites between the various "sections" of the interview and is credited to Luke Gray.

    The soundstage is totally frontal, with the surround speakers and subwoofer unused. This is a talking-heads piece...you can hear the talking. If you have a Pro Logic II enabled system, there will be some activity from the surrounds when the musical bites are heard - but they are irrelevant to the substance of the piece.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    There are no extras on this disc.

Menu

    The menu is a photo of the DVD cover accompanied by a looped guitar riff. The slim choices on offer are playing the feature or selecting one of the seven available chapters.

    The Region 2 release of this DVD appears to be essentially the same, but with the following additional feature:

• Biographies

    I cannot find any release details for a Region 1 version. Given the limited content, I would suggest you buy whichever is cheaper.

    Mr & Mrs Osbourne: Happy Ever After may be of interest to fans of Ozzy or The Osbournes in general. It will only be of passing interest to anyone else for casual viewing.

    The video quality is adequate for a short documentary.

    The audio quality is adequate for a short documentary.

    There are no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall