Kiss the Bride (2002) |
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Kiss the Bride (2002) |
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| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Drama |
Gallery-Photo Filmographies-Cast Trailer-Japanese Story, The Rage In Placid Lake, I'm With Lucy Trailer-Laurel Canyon, My Wife Is An Actress, The Best Man's Wedding Trailer-Who Knows, Respiro |
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| Rating |
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| Year Of Production | 2002 | ||
| Running Time | 87:24 | ||
| RSDL / Flipper | No/No | Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 1,2,3,4,5,6 | Directed By | Vanessa Parise |
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Studio
Distributor |
 Twentieth Century Fox |
Starring |
Amanda Detmer Sean Patrick Flanery Burt Young Talia Shire Alyssa Milano Brooke Langton Vanessa Parise Monet Mazur Johnathon Schaech Johnny Whitworth |
| Case | ? | ||
| RPI | ? | Music | Jeremy Parise |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None | English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) | |
| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
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| Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles | None | Smoking | Yes, Including drug use |
| Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
| Action In or After Credits | No | ||
Kiss The Bride is the first feature length film written and directed by Vanessa Parise. Herself a member of an Italian-American family from Westerly, Rhode Island, and the middle child of a sprawling brood, her story line hasn't strayed too far from her own background.
Danisa 'Danni' Sposato (Amanda Detmer) is the home-loving, virginal middle child who is about to get married to the love of her life, Geoff Brancato (Johnathon Schaech). All she wants is to marry with all her family around her, so the call has gone out to gather the clan of siblings back to the family nest. Meet eldest daughter Niki (Brooke Langton), a prodigious overachiever who abandoned her brilliant academic career to pursue the bright lights of Hollywood. She arrives with spivvy boyfriend/manager Marty Weinberg (Johnny Whitworth) who has the dubious honour of having made for her a small screen career on the woefully bad TV show Pacific Black (a sort of Baywatch with cops). Next comes Chrissy (Vanessa Parise herself). She has grown from her rebellious beginnings to become a high ranking executive on Wall St. But her jealousy of Niki has never really been addressed. Finally the baby of the family, Toni (Monet Mazur) arrives with her new toy, Amy Kayne (Alyssa Milano). They are welcomed back into the fold of Mama & Papa (Talia Shire and Burt Young respectively), but all is not well, as unresolved conflicts bubble and fester amongst the sisters.
This film feels extremely self-referential, and the plot is laden with too many allusions and far too few conclusions. The script is rather pedestrian and there is precious little true character development to satisfy. Consequently, I felt somewhat distanced from the story and at best, indifferent to the plight of the protagonists. Perhaps Parise just bit off a bit more than she could chew - writing, directing and co-starring in this production. It feels clumsily edited and somewhat lacklustre as a piece.
For some audience members, this may be entertaining, however, I found it rather disappointing and ordinary.
The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 16x9 enhanced, which is its correct theatrical aspect.
The transfer itself is quite acceptable. Grain levels are acceptably low and there is no low level noise. The contrast levels are crisp and the vision is quite sharp.
The colours are very bright and punchy with a full tonal range.
This presentation is largely artefact free with the exception of some minor speckling.
This is a single sided, single layered disc, so there is no layer change.
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The soundtrack is delivered in English Dolby Digital 5.1 but there is so little directional activity one wonders why they bothered. There are times when the top notes of the soundtrack are uncomfortably shrill, and there is a hiss that wanders through the soundtrack occasionally.
The dialogue is a little muted at times and there are audio sync problems which progressively worsen through the presentation. There are no subtitles available.
The original music is by Vanessa Parise's brother Jeremy Parise and it's really quite good.
The use of surround sound is minimal, and subwoofer activity is virtually nonexistent.
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| Audio Sync |   |
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| Surround Channel Use | |
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| Overall | |
The menu is static and silent.
21 photographs from the film.
Film lists for Amanda Detner, Sean Patrick Flanery, Alyssa Milano, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Monet Mazur, Brooke Langton and Johnathon Scheach.
Trailers for Japanese Story, The Rage in Placid Lake, I'm With Lucy and Laurel Canyon.
Trailers for My Wife is an Actress, The Best Man's Wedding, Va Savoir and Respiro.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
It appears there is only an R4 version of this DVD available.
Rather ordinary and pedestrian I thought - but perhaps I'm being too harsh. There are better films with similar themes out there.
| 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 | fronts-paradigm titans, centre &rear Sony - radio parts subbie |