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  Directed by
  Starring
  Specs
  • Widescreen 1.85:1
  • 16:9 Enhanced
  Languages
  • English: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
  Subtitles
    English - Hearing Impaired
  Extras
    Someone Like You (Rental)
    20th Century Fox/20th Century Fox . R4 . COLOR . 93 mins . M15+ . PAL

      Feature
    Contract

    When news got around that Ashley Judd and Greg Kinnear were going to be in a romantic comedy, of course ears pricked up everywhere. But then as soon as the film was released, those pricked ears suddenly went down. She had played the beautiful girl who escaped a psychopath in Kiss The Girls and also a convicted murderer in Double Jeopardy and then came her chance to play the female lead in a romantic comedy.

    When it was released in the cinemas, the reviews weren’t very good, and as most unfavourable reviews do, they make the figures suffer at the box office. But you must keep in mind that Pretty Woman was given terrible reviews by the critics upon its theatrical release, and look what its status is now! But all of that aside, and without comparing Someone Like You to any other film, it holds itself up... just. The opening few scenes build upon a clever idea which gives the film strength and originality, but the latter half of the film just doesn’t quite hit the mark. The original concept is still there, but there seem to be too many threads that haven’t been tied up. It would be interesting to read the novel upon which this film is based to see how that works.

    Judd is an interesting actor to watch, and her adorable face makes her the perfect person to play Jane Goodall. Kinnear (The Gift, Nurse Betty and Mystery Men) plays Ray, a real bastard, and just like his role in Nurse Betty and The Gift he pulls it off fairly well. It's funny to see that he is typecast with the bastard roles who appear to be innocent, emotive and loving when in fact... well you get the idea. Australian actor Hugh Jackman (X-Men, Paperback Hero) plays the third lead, Eddie, who looks superb on screen. His laid back character seems to be adopted so well by Jackman... does this have anything to do with the fact that he’s Australian?

    Jane Goodall is a producer for The Diane Roberts Show, and it's love at first sight when she sees a new associate Ray. While Jane falls helplessly in love with Ray, he breaks it off with his long-term partner and starts out new with Jane. Six weeks after meeting she is moving in with him. But as quickly as it had started, it's already over as Ray wants out. Jane, obviously hurt, moves in with co-worker Eddie, and according to the American romantic genre formula, the sparks start flying, but at first they deny them. OK, that is the basics for this, so if you want to know what else happens, rent the film!

    Prior to the film is a trailer, for Legally Blonde which cannot be skipped. But it’s a good trailer, so no losses here.

      Video
      Audio
      Extras
    Contract

    The video is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, and is 16x9 enhanced. The picture is sharp throughout with superb clarity.

    The colours are bright and vividly captured, with solid reds and rich, golden yellow and orange tones. Ashley Judd looks amazing on screen, and her skin tones, along with everyone else’s too, are realistic and life-like. Shadow detail is superb, with solid blacks and no low level noise. The richness in the image is great to see, making it enjoyable to watch.

    There is no film grain present, but there are some nasty cases of a dirty film print, with some large film artefacts occurring at 1:05, just at the start of the film - the credits haven’t even finished yet! There is also some minor aliasing throughout the feature, but nothing overly distracting.

    This is a single sided, single layered disc, which obviously doesn’t have a layer change.

    The audio is an English Dolby Digital 5.1 track. Dialogue levels are generally good, but you may need to keep the remote on hand to keep increasing the volume. The levels seemed to drop as the film went on, but anyway...

    The surround channels are fairly busy with music and ambient effects, which create a really enveloping soundstage. Dialogue comes from the centre speaker, with the front left and right and rear left and right being used for effects. The rear channels are very rarely discreet, and often share the exact same effect. But this is not a really large quibble as this genre of film doesn’t need a brassy-all-guns-blazing soundtrack.

    The subwoofer gets a small workout, even for a Fox title, but again, it is not required for this genre of film.

    Extra features? None are present... maybe they were hidden... oh that’s right, this is a rental disc... there we go, that explains it.

    Overall the film is watchable, with an original concept about cows. Yes, cows, but you'll have to see it to figure out what that is about. The video is nice, and so is the audio, but the lack of features is terrible - then again it is a rental only disc. It is definitely worth a rent to see what it's all about, and then for you to make your mind up about purchasing. A retail copy should be available mid-2002.


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  •   And I quote...
    "Greg Kinnear and Hugh Jackman in a romantic comedy – what more could you want? Oh, Ashley Judd is there too. It’s a pity about these rental only discs though…"
    - Martin Friedel
      Review Equipment
    • DVD Player:
          Nowa DS-8318
    • TV:
          TEAC 68cm CTV
    • Speakers:
          Teac PLS-60 Home Theatre System
    • Centre Speaker:
          Teac PLS-60 Home Theatre System
    • Surrounds:
          Teac PLS-60 Home Theatre System
    • Audio Cables:
          Standard RCA
    • Video Cables:
          standard s-video
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