Cadillac Man (1990)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	1990
Running Time	93:10
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Language Select Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Roger Donaldson
Studio Distributor	MGM	Starring	Robin Williams Tim Robbins Pamela Reed Fran Drescher Zack Norman Lori Petty Annabella Sciorra Paul Guilfoyle Bill Nelson Eddie Jones Mimi Cecchini Tristine Skyler Judith Hoag
Case	?
RPI	$14.95	Music	J. Peter Robinson

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	Auto Pan & Scan Encoded	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) German Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired German for the Hearing Impaired French Italian Spanish Dutch Portuguese Polish Greek Hungarian	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	Yes
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Robin Williams is the funniest comedian I have ever seen. I love the Monty Python troupe, but for sheer over the top comedy I have never laughed as hard as watching Robin Williams' Live on Broadway DVD. I am also one of the few people who thought Death To Smoochy! was a classic comedy. I have also seen Robin Williams in some utter crap such as Popeye, Bicentennial Man and Patch Adams. This film falls somewhere between these two extremes, but I certainly enjoyed seeing it again, and got some laughs out of it.

    This film features Williams as the leading character, Joey O'Brien, a crass, womanising car salesman. Joey works for Turgeon Autos, a upmarket car dealership in New York. As the film opens we get an idea of Joey's character, based upon the way he handles the situation of a broken down hearse, while on its way to a burial. Soon we also are introduced to the fact that he is continuing relationships with at least two women in addition to his recent ex-wife, Tina (Pamela Reed). The other two are Joy Munchak (Fran Drescher before The Nanny), the wife of a wealthy man, and Lila (Lori Petty) a young, badly dressed hairdresser. To add to his troubles, he owes money to the mob. All of these issues take a back seat, however, when he is told that he must sell 12 cars on the big sale day to keep his job. Part way through the day the car dealership is taken over by a gunman, Larry (Tim Robbins), the husband of the dealer's receptionist, Donna (Annabella Sciorra). Larry thinks that some or all of the salesman have been having sex with his wife and intends to find out who.

    This film has a great cast and an interesting enough premise but just doesn't seem to quite take off. There are some funny lines, especially from Williams, and the rest of the cast do good work in support, although it's certainly not Tim Robbins' crowning achievement. I think the screenplay is a little under-developed and could have done with some more work to really make this a good film. Williams does not really show us his over the top style in this film and he is quite believable as the philandering car salesman. Having said that, I think his character's arc through the film changed the character more than would be realistic.

    Anyway, it is fun and mildly entertaining in a low-key sort of way and I enjoyed seeing it again, despite the awesome collection of 1980s clothes and hairstyles on show.

Video

    The video quality is very good.

    The feature is presented in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced which is probably the original aspect ratio, although I don't have any evidence to prove it. It is also encoded with auto pan and scan information, should you find the black bars annoying.

    The picture was clear and sharp throughout, with no evidence of low level noise. There was some light grain throughout. The shadow detail was fine but as nearly the entire film takes place in daylight hours, there is not much of it on show.

    The colour was generally good, however, it was a little flat, with no vibrant colours.

    Artefacts are quite minimal with only the fairly ubiquitous small specks and flecks of dust and some occasional minor aliasing such as on the car at 50:42, a grille at 51:55 and the canopy at 54:55.

    There are subtitles in 10 languages including English & German for the hearing impaired. The English subtitles were clear, easy to read but a little summarised from the spoken word.

    There is no layer change as this is a DVD5 single-layered disc.
    

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The audio quality is reasonable but quite flat, lacking in dynamism.

    This DVD contains five audio options, an English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack encoded at 192 Kb/s and the same in German, French, Spanish & Italian.

    Dialogue was generally clear and easy to understand although very occasionally dialogue was slightly drowned out by the music.

    The score of this film by J Peter Robinson does the job without really excelling.

    The surround speakers and subwoofer were not used.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

    The menu included stills from the film and a scene selection function.

Theatrical Trailer (1:37)

    This is quite a funny trailer and probably oversells the film. It includes some scenes which are not in the actual film.

    This film has been released in Region 1 & 2 in the same format except for PAL/NTSC differences. You may as well go for the local edition which is available at a budget price.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is reasonable.

    The disc has only a theatrical trailer as an extra.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall