Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Ben (Seth Rogan) and Alison (Katherine Heigl) have nothing in common. He is a stoner meandering his way through life without a job or any long-term goals. She is an up-and-coming career-minded girl recently promoted to host a show on E!. To celebrate, she and her married sister (Leslie Mann) venture out for some drinks when they meet Ben in a bar. Although Alison isn't physically attracted to Ben, he makes her laugh. They have quite a few drinks together, ending the night drunk and in bed. When the condom doesn't work due to operator error, both are in for the surprise of their lives when the pregnancy test is positive eight weeks later.

Stop the presses—a Judd Apatow film I actually enjoyed watching! Surprisingly, it has some likable—although somewhat over-the-top—characters, which is a rarity in his other productions. The premise is decent, but the implausible hookup of the hot Heigl and the not-so-hot Rogan is a stretch. Also, the run time of 129 minutes (133 for the unrated version) is a bit much for a comedy, and some fine-tuned editing could have gone a long way.

The AVC encode is solid with above-average detail—only the occasional scene or two borders on soft. Color saturation is exemplary, especially compared to other Apatow productions, but the flesh tones waver between a greenish and reddish tone, which was the same on the HD DVD. The edge enhancement that plagued The 40-Year-Old Virgin is nowhere to be found—thankfully!

The DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack provides clear and concise dialog firmly rooted in the center speaker. Dynamics are surprisingly strong for a romantic comedy, especially during the earthquake scene, which rattled the windows in my own home—a little too realistic for this Californian! The surround channels provide some minor ambience and are rarely noticed.

A bevy of bonus features grace the BD50 disc, including an audio commentary with Judd Apatow, Seth Rogan, and Bill Hader, deleted/extended scenes, a BonusView PIP U-Control feature, and a boatload of other features too numerous to list. Regrettably, the supplements are in standard definition.

When my only complaint about an Apatow movie is the extended run time, that says a lot! The presentation is above-average and worthy of a rental just to see Katherine Heigl in HD.

Release Date: September 30, 2008

Movie: 7 out of 10
Picture: 8 out of 10
Sound: 8 out of 10

Review System

Source
Pioneer Elite BDP=05FD

Display
JVC DLA-RS1 projector
Stewart FireHawk screen (76.5" wide, 16:9)

Electronics
Onkyo PR-SC885 pre/pro
Anthem PVA-7 Amplifier
Belkin PF60 power conditioner

Speakers
M&K S-150s (L, C, R)
M&K SS-150s (LS, RS, SBL, SBR)
SVS PC-Ultra subwoofer

Cables
Monoprice HDMI cables (source to pre/pro)
Best Deal analog-audio cables
PureLink HDC Fiber Optic HDMI Cable System (15 meters) from pre/pro to projector