A Few Words About A few words about...™ Parents -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Robert Harris]

I'm not certain that I get the point of this film.

It seems to be about a typical, probably mid-western American family, whose son may be having some psychological problems, and for that reason may feel that they're odd.

Bob Balaban, who you'll know from his superb work on the other side of the camera, directs.

I mean, seriously, doesn't every normal family serve leftovers?

The Blu-ray is on par with other of the Lionsgate Vestron Collector's Series, in that it appears to be derived from a quality element, and of reasonably recent vintage.

Nary a problem in sight, with good grain, black levels, color et al.

Also typical of the Vestron series, Lionsgate gives the viewer commentaries and featurettes.

Image - 4.25

Audio - 5 (original 2.0 stereo)

4k Up-rez - 4.5

Pass / Fail - Pass

RAH

 

[bigshot]

I was put off by this movie too. I love black comedy, but the comedy here seemed to never connect properly. It also suffers from over-artdirectionitis. The whole thing feels phony. I wanted to like it, but I didn't. It's like John Waters with absolutely no sense of humor.

 

[Rob W]

The very title of this movie brings me to near-rage. I was a theatre manager back in the day when this was first released, and my theatre hosted the promotional screening of the film shortly before it came out. The distributor even had Randy Quaid in town to do publicity, and he was brought to the theatre to introduce the screening. When he arrived, he was shuttled upstairs to my office to wait for the audience to get settled, while I remained on the floor with the theatre staff handling the crowd. Hanging on the wall of my office was an unframed one-sheet for The Last Emperor, signed by Bernardo Bertolucci. (Our theatre had played the 70mm engagement of Last Emperor for months upon months.) Many of you will remember it, as the image of Pu-Yi's head with the Forbidden City in the background was used for many video releases of the film over the years.
After the film started, Quaid left and I went upstairs to my office to do some paperwork. Quaid had taken a pair of scissors and completely cut out Pu-Yi's head from the poster and left it lying on the floor. When I raged at the distributor for what he had done, they sent me a bottle of wine as an olive branch.
Quaid's mental problems have been well-documented over the years, but this was the first time I had any inkling of them.

 

[sleroi]

I'll probably pick this up, just because its so odd. The last time I saw this was during its initial run, at the River Oaks theater in houston. My reaction was similar to Mr. Harris', I didnt quite get the point. It wasnt particularly funny or scary, just weird. Though two moments did make me laugh out loud, the questioning about what the leftovers were, and the golf club. Im hoping it plays better the second time around, but if nothing else I can weird out my 21 year old daughter. Shes still leery of movie night after I played Being John Malkovich a couple of months ago.

 

[Matt Hough]

The very title of this movie brings me to near-rage. I was a theatre manager back in the day when this was first released, and my theatre hosted the promotional screening of the film shortly before it came out. The distributor even had Randy Quaid in town to do publicity, and he was brought to the theatre to introduce the screening. When he arrived, he was shuttled upstairs to my office to wait for the audience to get settled, while I remained on the floor with the theatre staff handling the crowd. Hanging on the wall of my office was an unframed one-sheet for The Last Emperor, signed by Bernardo Bertolucci. (Our theatre had played the 70mm engagement of Last Emperor for months upon months.) Many of you will remember it, as the image of Pu-Yi's head with the Forbidden City in the background was used for many video releases of the film over the years.
After the film started, Quaid left and I went upstairs to my office to do some paperwork. Quaid had taken a pair of scissors and completely cut out Pu-Yi's head from the poster and left it lying on the floor. When I raged at the distributor for what he had done, they sent me a bottle of wine as an olive branch.
Quaid's mental problem have been well-documented over the years, but this was the first time I had any inkling of them.

Thanks for sharing that fascinating personal story.

 

[Steven Good]

Saw this at a theater in college in its initial run. Raved about it to everyone who would listen. They all questioned my taste in film after that incident...

Still love this film. It is off-putting in all the right ways. Owned the DVD. Ready to upgrade.