Domestic
Disturbanceon DVD
Domestic Disturbance is one of the most unique films we've seen in quite
some time.
Its story, characters, and style are all completely clichéd, but
it still manages to be somewhat enjoyable.
It's about a divorced dad, Frank (John Travolta), whose ex-wife, Susan
(Teri Polo) is getting remarried, but the new guy, Rick (Vince Vaughn)
might not be what he appears to be. Frank's son Danny (Matt O'Leary) claims
he saw Rick kill a man, but the boy has a history of lying so no one other
than Frank believes him.
It sounds like a pretty standard formula for a thriller, and indeed it
is. In fact, there isn't a single original idea in the entire film. Fortunately,
it has a solid cast to back it up, and the performances are what makes
it watchable. Travolta is very good as the desperate dad trying to help
his son, but Vaughn steals the show. He plays the creepy new step-dad
brilliantly, switching back and forth from good guy to bad guy as the
script demands.
We must point out something we noticed while watching the movie, deleted
scenes, and trailer: About half of the material that was shown in the
trailer was neither in the movie, nor the deleted scenes. From what the
trailer shows, we could have been watching a completely different movie.
This raises the question of "where did all these other scenes go?"
Is there a Hollywood black hole that sucks up random movie scenes just
for fun? Let's just say it did raise some very interesting questions.
Domestic Disturbance is good Saturday matinee entertainment. It's not
really worth giving up a Saturday night for, but definitely an afternoon.
Just don't expect to be blown away.
As is common for Paramount, the DVD features an average transfer and
minimal supplements. It wasn't a huge release that made boatloads of money,
so we shouldn't have expected a great disc.
The video transfer (1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen), is pretty sub par.
It's dark, grainy, and seems to switch back and forth between acceptable
and good. However, the quality does give it more of a made-for-TV look,
which is how much of the movie feels.
The audio is pretty much the same. It's 5.1 Dolby Digital, but feels
a lot more like stereo. The surrounds are not used much at all (if at
all), and this kind of thriller could have really done well to use them.
But it didn't.
The only extras include some deleted scenes with optional commentary
by the director, and the trailer. The deleted scenes are okay, but once
again, they made me wonder what happened to many of the scenes from the
trailer.
Domestic Disturbance, from Paramount Home Entertainment
89 minutes, anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) 16X9 enhanced, 5.1 Dolby Digital
Starring John Travolta, Vince Vaughn, Teri Polo, Matt O'Leary and Steve
Buscemi
Produced by Donald De Line, Jonathan D. Krane
Screenplay by Lewis Colick
Directed by Harold Becker
Tell us at TechnoFile what YOU think
