Green Card (1990)

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General		Extras
Category	Romantic Comedy	Main Menu Audio & Animation Theatrical Trailer Interviews-Cast & Crew- Peter Weir (Director) and Gerard Depardieu Featurette-Interview With Cast And Crew Trailer-The Cars That Ate Paris, The Plumber
Rating
Year Of Production	1990
Running Time	102:32
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Peter Weir
Studio Distributor	Umbrella Entertainment	Starring	Gérard Depardieu Andie MacDowell Bebe Neuwirth Gregg Edelman Robert Prosky Jessie Keosian Ethan Phillips Mary Louise Wilson Lois Smith Conrad McLaren Ronald Guttman Danny Dennis Stephen Pearlman
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$19.95	Music	Hans Zimmer

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    I know there are some that do not like this particular film, as they regard it as formulaic and in some places not well acted. I have to disagree with these people. Yes, the basic storyline has been covered in many forms quite a few times before: princess/upper class girl slowly falls in love with strong man that just happens to be a peasant/lower class chap. There is also usually a wimpy upper class man that is supposed to be the correct match for the girl.

    This particular version I think is done very well. Gerard Depardieu plays his part very well (no surprise, as it was written for him). Depardieu has been in some great films in the past - the highlight of his career for me is his brilliant portrayal of Cyrano de Bergerac. Matched against Andie MacDowell this is unashamedly a feel-good film, a romantic comedy with the main parts both played by good solid comedic actors.

    Georges (Gerard Depardieu) is an illegal alien in the United States. One way to gain the coveted 'green card' that will allow him to get employment in the US and make a living is to get married. Bronte (Andie MacDowell) requires a husband to be eligible for a particularly nice apartment. It would appear that the rental market is particularly tight and this particular apartment has a wonderful atrium full of plants, one of the loves of Bronte's life. This seems to be a match made if not in heaven at least in convenience. The problem arises when the immigration department suspects that this marriage may not be for love but for immigration purposes. This brings the two married strangers back together, as they must pass a marriage test, one that probes into every corner of their lives together. While they are learning everything about each other they begin to see past their first impressions and start to fall in love.

    While Bronte's character is a little shallow this is probably intentional, reflecting the lack of depth in her life. Georges has a rich and interesting history that is interesting as it is revealed. The comedy is good and arises from the situation that both characters find themselves in. It is handled well by both leads.

Video

    The film is presented at its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.

    The image could be sharper and evidences some softness throughout the film. Shadow detail is good and there is little low level noise. There is a slight drabness to the transfer, both in contrast and in colour saturation.

    Colours are clear of any noise but are not particularly bright.

    There are no obvious MPEG artefacts visible in the image. There is some visible grain and the occasional white fleck but nothing major.

    Unfortunately, there are no subtitles on this disc.

    This is an RSDL disc but there is no layer change during the main feature. I assume that the movie is all on one layer and the special features on the other.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    Both dialogue quality and audio sync are good.

    The music sound stage has been expanded by using the surrounds but there is little other activity present in the surround channels.

    There is little for the subwoofer to do in this film.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

Theatrical Trailer (2:15)

    Presented at 1.33:1 they have saved a few bytes in the encoding of this trailer which, along with a questionable source master leaves us with a picture that is less than the best. There are the usual film artefacts including some quite large pieces of dust as well as encoding problems such as pixelization and blurred scene changes. The trailer itself is a fair representation of the film, and although I am not a particular fan of trailers that play clips out of order from the film it works reasonably well in this case.

Interview featurette with cast and crew (8:23)

    The usual pay TV extended trailer intercutting short interviews with footage from the film along with a voiceover talking about the film. There are some interesting sections during the interviews. Of about the same quality as the trailer though there are less film artefacts.

Interview with director and Depardieu (12:34)

    A more in-depth talk about the film. Depardieu's English is a little shaky, highlighting the fact that this was his first English language film. Better quality video than the previous features.

Umbrella Propaganda

    Consists of two film trailers. The Cars That Ate Paris (3:28) is presented letterboxed at 1.85:1 and accompanied by a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. This clip is in poor condition with a lot of film artefacts. The second trailer is for The Plumber (2:20), presented at 1.33:1 and also accompanied by a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. In better condition that the first clip but still showing its age.

    The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on:

• nothing

    The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on:

• all the special features.

    This gives us a clear R4 winner.

    A great film to grab when you and your partner wish to snuggle up on the couch and have a quiet evening at home.

    The video is good.

    The audio is good.

    The extras are a nice inclusion.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall