What's new

Blu-ray Review Movie 43 Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

Matt Hough

Reviewer
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2006
Messages
26,152
Location
Charlotte, NC
Real Name
Matt Hough
Movie 43 Blu-ray Review

Where do rejected sketches on Saturday Night Live go to die? Well, some of them go straight to air anyway, but the ones that violate too many of the FCC regulations against language and vulgarity must have gotten stapled together and assembled around one of the lamest framing devices in the history of anthology films. Toss in some big name stars to play in these five to ten minute blackout sketches, and you’ve got the execrable Movie 43. Would that a lack of comedy was the film’s only problem, but as a complete and utter waste of ninety minutes of a person’s life, the film has few equals. Proceed with it at your own risk.

Posted Image


Studio: Fox

Distributed By: N/A

Video Resolution and Encode: 1080P/AVC

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1

Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HDMA

Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish

Rating: Not Rated, R

Run Time: 1 Hr. 34 Min., 1 Hr. 38 Min.

Package Includes: Blu-ray, DVD, Digital Copy

keep case with slipcover

Disc Type: BD50 (dual layer)

Region: A

Release Date: 06/18/2013

MSRP: $39.99




The Production Rating: 1.5/5

Since the disc offers the theatrical cut and an alternate cut, the framing device for each is different. For the theatrical release, Dennis Quaid plays a screenwriter/director who’s pitching his movie to studio executive Greg Kinnear. Since each idea elicits a negative reaction from the boss, he tries again and again with increasingly ridiculous scenarios. In the alternate version, two teens are trying to pay back one of their geeky little brothers for hacking their computer session, so they persuade him to search the internet for the elusive feature known as Movie 43, a film so unbelievable that it’ll change his life forever all the while loading his laptop computer with virus-infected porn. Hence each sketch he logs onto promises to lead him to Movie 43. Neither framing device is at all funny or particularly effective. Unlike Woody Allen’s Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid To Ask, Movie 43 really has no core that binds these silly scenarios together, and that’s not surprising since the closing credits offer up a rogues’ gallery of different writers and directors responsible for each of these enormous missed opportunities.Some of the skits are complete duds: Richard Gere as the CEO of a company that manufactures iBabes, an MP3 player that does bodily harm to guys who try to have sex with their player while it’s operating, Terrence Howard as the coach of an all-black basketball team whose players doubt their own talent on the court playing against a team of Caucasians, Halle Berry and Stephen Merchant playing an increasingly out of control game of Truth or Dare on their blind date, Emma Stone and Kieran Culkin having a dirty talk session over a supermarket intercom, Josh Duhamel as a particularly loving master to his cat Bezel. Others have the kernel of a good idea that the writers aren’t inventive enough to exploit past the conception stage: Hugh Jackman as a man with a scrotum where his Adam’s apple should be, Jason Sudeikis as a dim, controlling Dark Knight who can’t leave his Robin (Justin Long) alone long enough to enjoy a blind date (and which wastes the talents of Kristen Bell and Bobby Cannavale), Seann William Scott and Johnny Knoxville who have leprechaun Gerard Butler (good sight gag) tied up and demand his crock of gold, and Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber who have an unusual approach to home schooling. And then there are the pure raunch festivals: Anna Faris who wants a scat experience with boy friend Chris Pratt, Chloe Grace Moretz as a teen having her first menstrual cycle around a pack of clueless males.Whether the skits are unusually conceived or complete misfires, the one thing they all most definitely have in common is a concentration on bodily functions and an aversion to human physiological oddities (the Halle Berry skit really pushes that into No Man’s – or Woman’s – Land). Gone is almost any semblance of wit, satirical cleverness, or, of course, subtlety. Garish grossness is the order of the day without a flicker of real humor or grace. Did you think Meet the Spartans was at the bottom of the comedy barrel? Meet its new compatriot.


Video Rating: 4.5/5 3D Rating: NA

The film has been slightly reframed for video at 1.78:1 and is presented with 1080p resolution using the AVC codec. The picture is mostly crystal clear with perfectly dialed in contrast and excellent sharpness (which only goes off track with some of the framing sequences in the alternate cut). Color is deeply saturated but always in complete control with realistic skin tones. Black levels are rich, and shadow detail is strong. The film in both the theatrical and alternate cuts has been divided into 16 chapters.



Audio Rating: 4.5/5

The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 sound mix varies from skit to skit with some displaying stronger surround envelopment than others. An apocalyptic moment in the alternate cut really juices the fronts and rears and LFE channel with an amazing display of surround firepower. Dialogue is always well recorded and is easily heard emanating from the center channel.


Special Features Rating: 1/5

Find Our Daughter (4:45, HD): a discarded skit finds parents Julianne Moore and Tony Shalhoub describing their missing daughter to a private detective.Theatrical Trailer (2:23, HD)Promo Trailers: The Heat, 21 & Over, The Oranges.DVD and Digital Copy Disc


Overall Rating: 1.5/5

A dire comic anthology film that completely wastes an all-star cast and misses the comedy while ladling on the raunch, Movie 43 is a hopeless mess. Rent or buy at your own peril.


Reviewed By: Matt Hough


Support HTF when you buy this title:

 

jauritt

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Mar 13, 2011
Messages
124
Location
Warrington, PA
Real Name
Jay Auritt
I never saw the movie, but after reading the universally negative reviews it received, I feel like I need to renounce whatever credibility I thought I ever might have had insofar as my taste in movies goes, because I found the trailer to be hilarious. Was I the only one?
 

TravisR

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2004
Messages
42,426
Location
The basement of the FBI building
jauritt said:
I never saw the movie, but after reading the universally negative reviews it received, I feel like I need to renounce whatever credibility I thought I ever might have had insofar as my taste in movies goes, because I found the trailer to be hilarious. Was I the only one?
There were some things that made me chuckle (if only for shock value). With the cast involved, I figured that they must have just had a lousy marketing campaign or the movie was so dirty that they couldn't advertise it properly. I see a lot of movie and I'm not usually swayed by reviews but the ones on this movie kept me from even giving it a chance.
 

CraigF

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2002
Messages
3,117
Location
Toronto area, Canada
Real Name
Craig
jauritt said:
... because I found the trailer to be hilarious. Was I the only one?
I saw the trailer quite a few times on TV, and also thought it looked pretty funny. Even some of the scenes Matt slightly described sounded funny to me...

Look, comedy is very personal, and you can tell as much from how much a specific reviewer hated a comedy, as you can tell by how much they loved it. So you have to know your reviewer: whatever they say helps your decision. I'm not saying Movie 43 is good comedy, I couldn't know yet, just saying...
 

jauritt

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Mar 13, 2011
Messages
124
Location
Warrington, PA
Real Name
Jay Auritt
CraigF said:
I saw the trailer quite a few times on TV, and also thought it looked pretty funny
If you saw it on TV, then I'd have to assume that you didn't see the R-rated version that was shown in theaters and, of course, available on the internet....I would think that the impact of the sick humor would have been greatly diluted.
 

Michael Elliott

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
Messages
8,054
Location
KY
Real Name
Michael Elliott
This movie is a lot better than most are giving it credit for. It just seems like every once in a while a film will come along and every critic will jump on it and beat it to death. I'd question these critics to watch INAPPROPRIATE COMEDY or SCARY MOVIE V and tell me MOVIE 43 isn't a classic compared.

This certainly isn't a "good" movie but I never understood some comparing it to stuff like EPIC MOVIE, DATE MOVIE or whatever all of those things are called. This here has A list actors/actresses and did anyone every think we'd see Kate Winslet with a guys balls bouncing off of her face?
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Latest Articles

Forum statistics

Threads
356,814
Messages
5,123,734
Members
144,184
Latest member
H-508
Recent bookmarks
0
Top