Plot: What’s it about?
Lily (Christine Taylor) is about to make her move toward the man of her dreams, but little does she know what her quest will involve. She lives in San Francisco and strives to become a writer, so she has imagination, though she can be kind of introverted. But when she is invited to attend a wedding reception with her dream guy Jonathan (John Corbett), she throws caution to the wind and prepares to take action. As the reception takes place in Los Angeles, she contacts her friend Frances (Paget Brewster) and as she is the prime example of a clubbin’ socialite, she should be able to guide Lily through the area. So it seems as though everything has started to fall into place, until one mistake happens, though it is an important one. The invitation winds up missing and that leaves the girls in a mad rush, as they explore the underground scene of Los Angeles, hoping to run into Jonathan. As time passes, they miss him by mere seconds several times, but will Lily be able to make her move, or is fate aligned against her on this night?
As you might expect from the title, Reckless + Wild is about a mad series of events, but in the end, it amounts to a below average picture. I wanted to like this movie though, as we have tons of wild “guys night out” flicks, but this looked like it could be female version of Swingers, though it never comes close. In addition, it has a definite Los Angeles flavor, so it drops names of clubs and such, which outsiders might not be able to understand. This lessens the humor and flow of some scenes, but not too much, all things considered. It is fun to watch Christine Taylor, Paget Brewster, and Claudia Schiffer interact at times and the film does have a lot of humorous cameos, but it still falls short of what it could have been. I recommend taking Reckless + Wild as what it is, a dumb, but sometimes likable movie, as if you expect much else, you’ll be let down. But for those interested, a rental is all I can suggest, since Fox has chosen to include only a full frame transfer and minimal extras, making this a real stinker of a disc.
I was first drawn to this film because of Christine Taylor, a beautiful & talented performer who is usually given smaller, supporting level roles. But as I browsed the information on Reckless + Wild, she seemed to have an actual lead part and as such, I looked forward to seeing how well she could handle the additional burden. While she does share her screen time with her costars, I do think this is a larger than usual part for Taylor and while she is limited by the material, she is still fun to watch and showcases her charms. If nothing else, she proves her that if given the chance, she can take on more prominent roles, without question. Other films with Taylor include The Wedding Singer, Zoolander, Overnight Delivery, The Craft, and The Brady Bunch Movie. The cast also includes Paget Brewster (The Specials, Hollywood Palms), Claudia Schiffer (Friends & Lovers, In Pursuit), and John Corbett (Tombstone, Serendipity).
Video: How does it look?
Reckless + Wild is presented in a full frame transfer. Although some reviewers (including ones on this very site) have begun to look the other way when major studios issue full frame only treatments, I simply cannot remain silent. I mean, Fox is a big studio with tons of cash, so there is no reason this disc didn’t sport an anamorphic widescreen transfer, or at least a letterbox edition to give us an option. But it looks as though this visual effort was rushed in all respects, as the image is rather soft and provides little to compliment. Some scenes look brighter and show more refinement, but on the whole, this is a low rent, unimpressive visual treatment.
Audio: How does it sound?
Although the video here was given no attention it seems, the audio works out pretty well, with a more than solid Dolby Digital 5.1 track found here. That’s not to say this is an excellent audio mix, but it does have some nice presence and should please viewers. The main surround use comes from the music, but with a movie like this that spends much time inside of clubs, that means plenty of atmosphere. Aside from that, this is a basic, but effective track with clean vocals and well presented sound effects. This disc also includes a 2.0 surround option, as well as English subtitles, should you need those.
Supplements: What are the extras?
This disc includes some talent files, as well as the film’s trailer.
