Sony brings the Julia Roberts favorite rom-com My Best Friend’s Wedding to 4K UHD Blu-ray that includes a few new special features.
The Production: 4/5
In 1997, Julia Roberts returned to the movie genre that kickstarted her career in the romantic comedy My Best Friend’s Wedding. Directed by P.J. Hogan (Muriel’s Wedding, Confessions of a Shopaholic) from a screenplay by Ron Bass (Snow Falling on Cedars), Roberts plays food critic Julianne Potter, who back in college met sportswriter Michael O’Neal (Dermot Mulroney). They had a one-month fling that ended when Julianne no longer wanted a commitment, but they stayed in touch over the years as best friends and made a pact that if both were unwed by the age of 28, they would marry each other. With her 28th birthday fast approaching, she takes a call from Michael in hopes that it is a wedding proposal. As it turns out, that is only partially correct, as Michael’s call was to announce that he is getting married next week to socialite Kimberly Wallace (Cameron Diaz) who is eight years younger, and needs Julianne as his moral support to get through the fancy big wedding Kimberly’s father, Walter (Philip Bosco), the owner of a sports cable network and the Chicago White Sox baseball team, is throwing for them. When she arrives in Chicago, Kimberly immediately asks Julianne to be her maid of honor. Stunned and hurt, Julianne quickly devises a plan to break them up before the wedding in hopes of catching Michael during the rebound. Julianne’s editor and other best friend, George (Rupert Everett), tries to convince her to just tell Michael how she really feels about him and let him decide whether to go through with the wedding or not. Of course, Julianne does not take George’s advice, and instead does just about everything to sabotage the wedding.
In the hands of just about any other actress, most would be instantly put off by Julianne’s antics, but Roberts uses her charming on-screen personality to pull off most of the comedy here. Diaz is also very good as the bride to be, portraying a young innocence that is too distracted by young love to see what is going on. Mulroney’s Michael is, unfortunately, a dullard and his character underwritten, which tends to bog the movie down at times. The standout, though, is Everett as the gay best friend, who steals just about every scene he appears in, so much so that the filmmakers had to reshoot the ending to include George after the original ending (included on this disc for the first time) that had Julianne possibly finding love at the wedding tested poorly. The other standout is the fun opening credits sequence set to the Burt Bacharach and Hal David penned Wishin’ and Hopin’ and choreographed by Toni Basil.
Video: 5/5
3D Rating: NA
My Best Friend’s Wedding was photographed on 35mm film stock by Laszlo Kovacs using Panaflex cameras and lenses by Panavision, completed on 35mm film in the 2.39:L aspect ratio. Sony has remastered the film by scanning the original camera negative in 4K (likely the same master used for the 2015 “Mastered in 4K” Blu-ray release), and the 2160p HEVC-encoded transfer on this UHD Blu-ray release includes both Dolby Vision and HDR10 high dynamic range (a 1080p Blu-ray disc is not included). This is a very film-like transfer, with a light layer of natural film grain present throughout. Detail is excellent, from fabric textures and facial features to the seams in the backdrop during the opening title sequence. Colors are vibrant and natural without appearing overly saturated. Contrast is also excellent, with deep blacks that retain strong shadow details and bright highlights that never appear washed out.
Audio: 4.5/5
Being a comedy, this is a fairly straight forward Dolby Atmos track based on the original 5.1 theatrical mix (available here in DTS-HD MA as a second option). The Atmos track does open up the mix to be a bit wider and more dynamic, allowing for sounds to feel more immersive and travel more fluidly. The 5.1 mix was never very active to begin with, so there’s not a whole lot more the Atmos mix can do. Dialogue is clear and understandable throughout.
Special Features: 3.5/5
This is a single-disc 4K UHD release that ports over all of the special features from the 2015 Blu-ray release, plus adds a few “new” features.
**NEW** Deleted Scenes (1080p; 19:56): Eighteen scenes have been included.
**NEW** Alternate Ending (1080p; 4:35): The movie’s original ending with music removed and featuring an uncredited John Corbett as Julianne’s dance partner.
On the Set: “My Best Friend’s Wedding” (upscaled 1080p; 19:42): The cast and crew discuss various aspects of the movie.
“My Best Friend’s Wedding” Album (upscaled 1080p; 7:16): Behind the scenes footage with trivia.
Wedding Do’s and Don’ts (upscaled 1080p; 4:38): Tongue-in-cheek advice on how to plan a wedding.
Unveiled: “My Best Friend’s Wedding” (upscaled 1080p; 15:14): More behind the scenes interviews on the making of the film.
“I Say a Little Prayer” Sing-Along (upscale 1080p; 2:32): The scene from the movie with karaoke-style lyrics.
**NEW** Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:23)
Digital Copy: An insert contains a code to redeem a digital copy (in UHD where available) on Movies Anywhere. At the time of this review, none of the retail partners included a Dolby Atmos soundtrack, and only iTunes/Apple TV included Dolby Vision HDR. The studio has advised in the original press release that later pressings may not include a digital copy.
Overall: 4/5
My Best Friend’s Wedding has never looked or sounded better than it does on this new 4K UHD release, and Sony has included some long-requested Deleted and Alternate scenes.
My Best Friend’s Wedding [4K UHD]
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Todd Erwin has been a reviewer at Home Theater Forum since 2008. His love of movies began as a young child, first showing Super 8 movies in his backyard during the summer to friends and neighbors at age 10. He also received his first movie camera that year, a hand-crank Wollensak 8mm with three fixed lenses. In 1980, he graduated to "talkies" with his award-winning short The Ape-Man, followed by the cult favorite The Adventures of Terrific Man two years later. Other films include Myth or Fact: The Talbert Terror and Warren's Revenge (which is currently being restored). In addition to movie reviews, Todd has written many articles for Home Theater Forum centering mostly on streaming as well as an occasional hardware review, is the host of his own video podcast Streaming News & Views on YouTube and is a frequent guest on the Home Theater United podcast.
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