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  Specs
  • Widescreen 1.85:1
  • 16:9 Enhanced
  • Dual Layer ( )
  Languages
  • English: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
  Subtitles
    English - Hearing Impaired
  Extras

    Little City

    Roadshow Entertainment/Roadshow Entertainment . R4 . COLOR . 86 mins . M15+ . PAL

      Feature
    Contract

    I wasn’t expecting much here and that’s what I received. Not bloody much but a slightly sore neck and 86 minutes of my life I can’t get back no matter how hard I complain.

    Still, I’m gonna give it a red hot go.

    Written in that infernal style of several storylines intersecting perfectly to create a private universe, Little City sure rhymes with a better word to describe it. And it’s not ‘witty’. The story is filled with a bunch of dislikable, poorly developed characters and the dialogue is trite and unfunny. I’m not sure if it is supposed to be or not, but it sure isn’t. Before the end, the film just gets annoying and the ‘time remaining’ button on my remote got a bit worn out. Oh well.

    Let’s see how much I remember.

    Kevin (Bon Jovi living on a prayer) is a crappy bartender with a best friend named Adam. He’s boning Adam’s girlfriend behind his back. Adam, meanwhile, is still hung up on his ex-girlfriend, Kate. Kate left Adam for a lesbian, Anne, who is cheating on Kate with new girl in town Rebecca. And Rebecca just started working with Kevin, who wants to shag her as well. But then Adam, a cab driver and clichéd struggling artist, just picked up Rebecca as a fare and they’ve felt something.

    And I think there’s some more.

    While performances are okay for the most part, Bon Jovi sucks and should stick with his fragile radio rock career. But it’s not all his fault. The writing is shithouse with some contrived lines that attempt to appear witty, but are in fact flat. However, there’s one marginally interesting thing about the film and while it’s a novel (although well-used) angle, it’s overdone and lazy.

    This is how each character has a confidante in which they can pour out all their feelings, saving the scriptwriter/director the difficulty of having to direct the characters to act their feelings. The confidantes are all different to each character too, which adds to the contrivance. A support group (even clichéd in itself with every character smoking), a diary, a therapist, the cab dispatcher on CB and even a church confessional. The lesbian doesn’t get to confide because she’s a sexual predator. Most likely.

    Anyway, it’s a severely average film with little to recommend it. You’d think too, with so many characters trying to get into bed together (and even succeeding a lot), there’d be some decent sex scenes to spice it up a bit. Nup. The American release was rated R for some reason, but here it must have been trimmed to appeal to someone, anyone, as it doesn’t even have this to create interest. Average film, average to below average performances and way average writing.

      Video
    Contract

    Rubbish film gets good transfer (huh… another cliché). This was made in 1997 and the intervening years haven’t really hurt the film grade in any way. While there are occasional film artefacts, these aren’t too bad and are practically invisible. Everything else looks fairly clean and natural. The 1.85:1 cinema aspect ratio is anamorphically enhanced and does lend to the nice sweeping San Francisco shots, but these are a tad overused. Honestly, how many people must climb up to the roof of their apartment building to have a personal conversation?

      Audio
    Contract

    For some reason they’ve given this DVD a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix that is entirely wasted. There is barely anything coming through the surrounds at any given point. This dialogue-driven film doesn’t need it so what’s the point of doing it? Extra appeal to the consumer perhaps? Well, there’s nothing in it a good stereo mix couldn’t have done, so it smacks of polish to me.

    Someone named Mader (one name, like Cher) has scored the music, but what little there is throughout the film isn’t anything spectacular or even memorable. There are stacks of musical tracks included here, however, but even this isn’t all that great. I am thankful though that there aren’t any obligatory Bon Jovi tracks included. I’m also thankful he doesn’t sing in this film, although that would have been marginally better than his acting.

    Marginally.

      Extras
    Contract

    Thankfully not a lick here. I’m not sure I could have stomached the writer/director patting himself on the back and kissing the star’s arses. Oh no, wait, sorry there’s the Dolby Rain trailer. My mistake.

      Overall  
    Contract

    Entirely average as a film, Little City is a yawner with little to recommend it. Even the moderately experienced cast struggle with the rather crap scripting here and are even phoning it in at times. I was glad when it was finally over and even more glad there were no extras to pore through.

    Perhaps fans of the stars might enjoy it, but I found it too deliberate in it’s writing and too simplistic in its delivery.


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      And I quote...
    "Remember when Michael Jordan tried baseball, was crap at it and went back to basketball? Jon Bon Jovi and acting are the same. Except he’s also crap at music."
    - Jules Faber
      Review Equipment
    • DVD Player:
          Teac DVD-990
    • TV:
          Sony 51cm
    • Speakers:
          Teac PLS-60 Home Theatre System
    • Centre Speaker:
          Teac PLS-60 Home Theatre System
    • Surrounds:
          Teac PLS-60 Home Theatre System
    • Subwoofer:
          Akai
    • Audio Cables:
          Standard RCA
    • Video Cables:
          Standard Component RCA
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