Having been introduced to America on Saturday Night Live playing a host of zany characters, Bill Murray began his feature film career in Ivan Reitman’s Meatballs, an innocuous summer camp comedy which has as much heart as it does hilarity. It’s basically Murray’s show as the remainder of the rather large cast have what amounts to cameo roles of no real importance apart from one actor who has a rather auspicious debut in the film along with Murray. Made for a pittance, the film was one of the big box-office hits of the summer of 1979.
Meatballs (Blu-ray)
Directed by Ivan Reitman
Studio: Lionsgate
Year: 1979
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 1080p AVC codec
Running Time: 91 minutes
Rating: PG
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo English
Subtitles: SDH, Spanish
Region: A
MSRP: $ 14.99
Release Date: June 12, 2012
Review Date: June 6, 2012
The Film
3/5
As another summer season dawns, camp owner Morty (Harvey Atkin) welcomes his chief counselor Tripper (Bill Murray) and a host of CITs (counselors-in-training) to Camp North Star. It’s a ragtag group of counselors and campers who don’t have the luxuries of their rivals across the river Camp Mohawk, but they all intend to have a good time. All, that is, except for Rudy (Chris Makepeace) who feels like an outsider because he’s no good at sports and the butt of jokes by the others. But Tripper takes a special interest in Rudy to make sure that his summer camp experience is a memorable one.
Four hands (Len Blum, Dan Goldberg, Janis Allen, Harold Ramis) get screen credit for the movie’s ragged script, but one senses improvisation at work with many of the movie’s best scenes. Some bright ideas like a running gag with Morty’s cot being relocated to new, surprising places could have been exploited even more, and some of the time spent on a couple of lame and predictable contests with the rival camp (thankfully done in montage but still lasting too long) might have been cut with no great loss. There’s a real lack of interest with many of the couples who get close during the course of the movie (we don’t have enough time to get to know them and thus don't care about their hook-ups), even with lead couple Bill Murray and Kate Lynch playing Roxanne. They have a couple of playful scenes (one in which Tripper wrestles with her only to pretend to have been the victim of attack when Morty catches them is the best), but these seem more rudimentary than vital to the story. The film’s real interest comes from the wonderful camaraderie between Bill Murray’s Tripper and Chris Makepeace’s Rudy. All of their encounters, either jogging together or playing blackjack (where Tripper gets taken to the cleaners), are filled with an easy charm with two talented performers sparking off of one another. Mostly the film is scattershot comedy: throw a bunch of blackout comedy scenes out there and see what sticks, but what works is very funny, and Bill Murray’s sardonic screen persona gets nicely introduced to audiences here.
The most interesting thing about Bill Murray’s Tripper is his non-judgmental attitude toward the counselors and campers who appear to be outsiders. He’s kind and jovial not only to the ignored Rudy but also makes pals with Jack Blum’s nerdy, klutzy Spaz who under ordinary circumstances would be the butt of jokes for the entire summer. With Tripper’s acceptance, Spaz gains a kind of nobility that charms the rest of the staff and allows him to function without undue ridicule. Kate Lynch makes a refreshing love interest: neither overly endowed nor a conventional beauty but a wholesome and spunky tomboyish personality who’s a pleasure to view. Too bad more wasn't done to develop her character. Chris Makepeace makes a solid debut in the film as the unhappy Rudy, and he skillfully plays a youth who gains in confidence as the summer progresses. Harvey Atkin plays along humorously as Morty who not only must endure the practical jokes of his cot being moved but also the fact that the gang calls him “Mikey” rather than Morty all the time.
Video Quality
3.5/5
The film has been framed for this Blu-ray at 1.78:1 and is presented in a 1080p transfer using the AVC codec. Sharpness varies from poor to above average with many long shots appearing fuzzy and indistinct but close-ups better matching what one expects from a high definition transfer. Colors are well handled, and flesh tones are quite believable and consistent. Black levels are rather milky, however, making night scenes rather unimpressive visually. The film has been divided into 12 chapters.
Audio Quality
3.5/5
The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo encode is fairly typical for a low budget film from this era. Dialogue has been nicely recorded and is never hard to understand while Elmer Bernstein’s music score and a handful of songs offer decent if not impressive fidelity. Sound effects don’t carry much heft in the mix often betraying the low budget nature of the enterprise.
Special Features
1.5/5
The audio commentary is provided by director Ivan Reitman and producer Dan Goldberg. Though it was recorded twenty-five years after the fact, both men still can recall details of the film’s somewhat troubled production and are able to spot sequences which were additions to the movie after it was finished and cut together. Fans of the movie will want to hear their story, and it moves very well and never gets bogged down by describing what’s on the screen.
There are promo trailers for One for the Money, Employee of the Month, and Killers.
In Conclusion
3/5 (not an average)
Not the gross out comedy that it might have been (and that its sequels were) but a rather sweet and simple summer camp hodgepodge, Meatballs still offers small pleasures when seen today. The Blu-ray doesn’t offer the last word in sound and picture, but it’s likely the best this low budget effort will ever look and sound.
Matt Hough
Charlotte, NC
