One Night at McCool's (2001)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Menu Animation & Audio Scene Selection Anim & Audio Theatrical Trailer TV Spots-4 Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Director's Making Of McCool's Music Video-Velvet-A-Ha Music Video-Love Is Alive-Joan Osbourne Deleted Scenes-5 +/- Director's commentary Featurette-Wardrobe, Hair & Make-Up Tests Featurette-Very First Cast Read Through Featurette-Where Did We Shoot That Storyboard Comparisons-2 Featurette-How Did We Kill Paul Reiser?
Rating
Year Of Production	2001
Running Time	89:06
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (69:53)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Harald Zwart
Studio Distributor	Paramount Home Entertainment	Starring	Liv Tyler Matt Dillon John Goodman Paul Reiser Michael Douglas
Case	?
RPI	$39.95	Music	Marc Shaiman

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    A cop, a hitman, a murderer, a bartender and a lawyer are all drawn together because of a single event that occurs One Night At McCool's.

    Randy (Matt Dillon) is a bartender at McCool's whose life is turned upside down one night when he rescues an attractive woman, Jewel (Liv Tyler). After coming to her aid, Randy's life starts to unravel as Jewel becomes more involved. Jewel knows that her physical appearance can affect men and she uses this to help manipulate people to get what she desires. In an effort to please Jewel, Randy will become involved in multiple murders, lose his house, his job and his friends.

    I am unsure if this film was theatrically released in this country but if it was there was very little associated advertising. This is surprising as the cast is impressive and widely recognized, including Liv Tyler, Matt Dillon, John Goodman, Paul Reiser and Michael Douglas. While this movie will definitely not be considered a classic I found it contained competent performances from all the lead actors and was reasonable entertaining.

Video

    This is a fantastic looking transfer with very few artefacts visible at any time.

    The transfer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.

    The transfer is constantly sharp throughout and always shows high levels of detail. No low level noise was detected at any time during the transfer. Excellent levels of shadow detail are displayed during the film with high levels of detail always visible during the dark scenes.

    The colours displayed during the transfer are always vibrant and well saturated. The palette is always very natural looking but during a number of flashbacks and dream sequences, the colours are intentionally altered to appear oversaturated with an emphasis upon a certain range such as red.

    No MPEG artefacts were seen during the transfer.

    A number of minor aliasing artefacts may be seen during the transfer. Some examples of these artefacts may be seen at 6:36, 9:43, 60:28, 62:30, 70:39 and 72:35. Each of these artefacts are quite small and are only very minimally distracting to the viewer.

    A small number of minor film artefacts were present during the transfer. Some examples of these artefacts may be seen at 9:23, 22:04, 31:27, 33:50 and 37:37. All of these artefacts are very small and are never distracting to the viewer.

    A single set of white English subtitles are included on this disc. I extensively sampled these subtitles and found them to be consistently accurate.

    The layer change occurs at 69:53 part way through Chapter 14. This change is placed between scenes and is not disruptive to the viewer.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The dialogue is clear and easy to understand at all times.

    No dropouts were detected at any time during the transfer. A slight dialogue sync problem may be seen at 9:08 and may be the result of ADR work. This problem is very short and is only very slightly distracting to the viewer.

    The musical score by Marc Shaiman is effective and always suits the on-screen action.

    The surround and subwoofer channels are used to create a subtle but enveloping soundfield. This is never aggressive but is used effectively throughout the transfer for both effects and the musical score.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

    The animated menus are presented at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 or 1.33:1 depending upon your player setup.

Trailer (2:15)

    This trailer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with a Dolby Digital 2.0 surround soundtrack. This trailer does contain some spoilers so I would suggest watching it only after seeing the main feature.

TV Spots (1:52)

    This is a collection of four different TV advertisements presented at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. These TV spots contain some spoilers so I would suggest watching them only after seeing the main feature.

Behind The Scenes: Director's Making of McCool's (9:15)

    This featurette is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with a Dolby Digital 2.0 surround soundtrack. A set of English subtitles are also included. This features a number of short interview segments with various cast members as well as footage taken on the set of the film.

Music Video: A-Ha "Velvet" (4:09)

    This music video is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with a Dolby Digital 2.0 surround soundtrack.

Music Video: Joan Osborne "Love Is Alive" (3:34)

    This music video is presented at an approximate aspect ratio of 1.80:1 with a Dolby Digital 2.0 surround soundtrack. This music video does contain some spoilers so I would suggest watching it only after seeing the main feature.

Deleted Scenes

    These five scenes are presented at an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with a Dolby Digital 2.0 surround soundtrack and are of relatively low technical quality as is often seen for deleted scenes. The original production audio and a director's commentary is provided and a set of English subtitles is also included for both tracks. The following scenes are included: Randy and Carl at McCool's (1:06), Randy Calls Carl (2:17), Dehling's Vision of the Shooting (0:42), Dehling at the Hot Dog Stand (0:42), Alternate Depressing Ending (3:32).

Featurette: Wardrobe, Hair and Make-Up Tests (1:29)

    This featurette is presented at an aspect ratio of approximately 2.0:1 with a Dolby Digital 2.0 surround soundtrack and a set of English subtitles. This is a collection of shots of Liv Tyler with a voice-over by costume designer Ellen Mirojnick.

First Cast Read Through (2:53)

    This is an interesting feature with shots and audio from the first reading combined with shots from the final production. This is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with a Dolby Digital 2.0 surround soundtrack and a set of English subtitles.

Where Did We Shoot That

    This is a map of L.A. with eight different locations marked. When selected, each section provides images of the location as well as a short description by the director provided via a Dolby Digital 1.0 soundtrack and a set of English subtitles.

Shot By Shot: Storyboards to Finished Film

    This feature displays both the storyboards and the finished film in the upper and lower parts of the screen. This is provided for both the opening (1:24) and closing sequences (8:37) of the movie. This feature is provided at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with a Dolby Digital 2.0 surround soundtrack and a set of English subtitles.

How Did We Kill Paul Reiser (1:19)

    This is an explanation of how the scene where Paul Reiser is killed was produced. This is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with a Dolby Digital 2.0 surround soundtrack and a set of English subtitles.

    Both versions of this film appear to be identical and I therefore would have no preference for either version.

    One Night At McCool's is an entertaining comedy that contains enough interesting moments and well acted performances to keep the viewer's attention.

    The video transfer for this film is excellent and falls just short of reference quality.

    The 5.1 surround audio mix is well designed and constantly suits the on-screen action.

    An interesting collection of extras provides some insight into the making of the film and will be appreciated by any fans of the film.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall