100 Mile Rule (2002)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Main Menu Audio Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	2002
Running Time	89:11
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Brent Huff
Studio Distributor	Road Rules Prods Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	Jake Weber Maria Bello David Thornton Michael McKean Shawn Huff
Case	?
RPI	$24.95	Music	Tor Hyams

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	Unknown	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    I am a fan of Michael McKean's work, especially in the films of Christopher Guest, and accordingly I decided to take a look at this film. I had the impression that this film was a black comedy, however, do not be misled - it is a drama with some thriller touches.

    The title refers to a rule espoused by one of the characters, Jerry (David Thornton), which says that if you are more than 100 miles from your wife you can do anything you want and get away with it. Jerry, his fellow salesman Bobby Davis (Jake Weber) and their Sales Manager, Howard (Michael McKean), go to a two week sales conference together in Los Angeles. They are normally based in Detroit which, for those not good at geography, is more than 100 miles from Los Angeles. Bobby is a committed family man with a wife and children. Howard is a world-weary, seen-it-all-before guy who tries to let nothing phase him. While they are attending the conference, Bobby is propositioned by a beautiful cocktail waitress, Monica (Maria Bello), and eventually succumbs to her advances. From there, the plot follows through a few minor twists and turns towards a fairly uninspired ending.

    There is nothing which particularly makes this film stand out and it seems fairly derivative of films such as Very Bad Things, which is even referenced by one of the characters during the film. Having said that, it is not a bad film either, and I did enjoy Michael McKean's portrayal of the Sales Manager. He delivers the one funny line in the film. It does not seem to have received a theatrical release either here or in the US despite being screened at a number of film festivals including Cannes. To me, it seems like a good quality direct to DVD movie rather than a major release.

    Overall, if the subject matter interests you, this film might be worth a rental.

Video

    The video quality is very good.

    The feature is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced which is probably the original aspect ratio although I cannot find any evidence to prove this.

    The picture was generally clear and sharp throughout, with no evidence of low level noise, however there was some light grain. Shadow detail was very good with night scenes showing most details.

    The colour was very good throughout with all colours being well saturated and free from colour bleeding. The skin colouring was very natural. This was not a terribly colourful film, however, the colours involved were well rendered.

    The only noticeable artefacts were very small black and white specks which appeared from time to time.

    There are no subtitles.

    This is a single layered disc and so there is no layer change to contend with.
    

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The audio quality is very good with excellent use of the surrounds and subwoofer.

    This DVD contains two audio options, a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack encoded at 448 Kb/s and a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack encoded at 224Kb/s. Obviously the Dolby Digital 5.1 track is superior.

    Dialogue was generally clear and easy to understand, however, when someone was having a phone conversation, if the person on the other end was not on-screen their dialogue was slightly difficult to hear.    

    There were no problems with audio sync.    

    The score of this film by Tor Hyams is quite good and suits the film well, adding tension as required.

    The surround speakers were used quite a lot for directional effects and a significant portion of the music tracks. It quite often felt like the music was coming from the surrounds and the dialogue and so forth was coming from the front speakers, which worked quite well.

    The subwoofer was used for music and for some specific effects such as a character's heartbeat while under stress.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

    The menu included a scene selection function and music which utilised the surround speakers.

Theatrical Trailer

    The only extra is a theatrical trailer which as usual gives away the entire plot. Don't watch it first.

    The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;

• Commentary from Director & Producers
• Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary
• Behind the Scenes Featurette
• Selection of Trailers for Other Movies

    The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;

• Theatrical Trailer

    On the basis of the above differences, the Region 1 version of this DVD would seem to be the version of choice.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is very good.

    The disc has only a theatrical trailer in the extras department.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall