Daddy and Them (2001) |
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General | Extras | ||
Category | Romantic Comedy |
Dolby Digital Trailer-Train Theatrical Trailer |
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Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 2001 | ||
Running Time | 97:22 | ||
RSDL / Flipper | No/No | Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Menu | ||
Region Coding | 4 | Directed By | Billy Bob Thornton |
Studio
Distributor |
Roadshow Home Entertainment |
Starring |
Billy Bob Thornton Laura Dern Diane Ladd Kelly Preston Andy Griffith Sandra Seacat John Prine Jeff Bailey Jim Varney Brenda Blethyn Tuesday Knight Ben Affleck Jamie Lee Curtis |
Case | Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip | ||
RPI | $39.95 | Music |
Larry Paxton Marty Stuart Kristin Wilkinson |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 2.0 (320Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) |
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Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
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Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles | English for the Hearing Impaired | Smoking | Yes |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | No |
My sister-in-law-in-waiting comes from Mobile, Alabama. And that (and the fact that Billy Bob Thornton is one of my favourite performers, and his direction of Sling Blade was impressive) drew me to reviewing Daddy & Them - another BBT project. But dip me in honey and throw me to the Appalachians! This movie is TERRIBLE.
It is a rambling, incoherent, insulting, inane waste of jolly good talent that makes Anna Nicole Smith look cool and sophisticated by comparison!
In essence, this is a family reunion story where Claude and Ruby Montgomery (Billy Bob Thornton and Laura Dern) are thrust together with the other dysfunctional members of their clan in an attempt to help Uncle Hazel (Jim Varney) who's been accused of murder. But no sooner are they assembled than they begin dissembling each other - jealousies, feuds and bad blood flowing in a poisonous stream that catches every cliché in its wake.
BBT must have pulled in a lot of favours in garnering his cast - it's a stellar bunch indeed, with the likes of Jamie Lee Curtis, Brenda Blethyn, Ben Affleck, Diane Ladd and Kelly Preston all along for the sorry ride.
This is a film that looks like it got made backwards - as if they knew how they wanted it to end, and worked back to the beginning. In fact, the scene between Claude and Ruby at the end of the film hints at a kind of charm that is completely lacking from the remainder of the production.
The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 16x9 enhanced.
Sharpness levels and luminance are actually reasonably good, with clean shadow detail and fine grain.
The colours are rich, warm and accurate, with a broad palette utilised.
The aliasing present in this production is very pronounced, sometimes strobing out the entire scene. Other artefacts are relatively minimal and unobtrusive.
Subtitles are occasionally tardy and a little confusing with their split perspective, but they are generally accurate.
This disc is a single sided, single layered disc.
Sharpness | |
Shadow Detail | |
Colour | |
Grain/Pixelization | |
Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
Film Artefacts | |
Overall |
There are two audio tracks on this DVD. The default is an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. There is also an English Dolby Digital 2.0 track.
With the obvious challenge with tuning one's ear into the accents, dialogue was generally quite good. Audio sync was also not a problem.
The musical score was a somewhat predictable and stereotyped mash of bluegrassy twangy guitars.
The surround presence was generally pretty mild, and there was virtually no subwoofer activity, but there was an added annoyance of several distortions, pops and crackles that were most irritating.
Dialogue | |
Audio Sync | |
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
Surround Channel Use | |
Subwoofer | |
Overall |
The menu is static and silent.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
There appears to be no difference in the 2 presentations, so it's a local choice.
A waste of celluloid.
Video | |
Audio | |
Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | Singer SGD-001, using S-Video output |
Display | Teac 76cm Widescreen. Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. |
Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
Amplification | Teac 5.1 integrated system |
Speakers | Teac 5.1 integrated system |