Plot: What’s it about?
Just as Ashton Kutcher’s movie “My Boss’s Daughter” was released a few years after it was made, so was “Marci X”. The movie, made in 2000, sat on shelves of Paramount studios and maybe it’s better if it should have remained there. Though, I’m sure the thinking was that this is the last season for “Friends” and that Lisa Kudrow’s star might begin to fade after the series concludes. One thing is for certain, movies like this won’t make her star rise, say like…Jennifer Aniston. I remember during the early years of “Friends” when Kudrow was thought that she would have the most successful movie career with her good choices like “The Opposite of Sex” and even the dim-witted “Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion” has a cult following. Any way you slice it, this movie doesn’t really have any positive characteristics to it. The plot has been done so many times before (rich white girl falls for her total opposite from the other side of the tracks…) that we certainly have to think that some twist will be thrown in. No such luck. But, for the sake of reviewing, here is what happens…
Marci Feld (Lisa Kudrow) is your typical Jewish American Princess. Her father, a philanthropist and head of a large corporation, has just been given humanitarian of the year award and all seems well. All seems well until Senator Mary Ellen Spinkle (Christine Baranski) decides to go on a crusade against rapper Dr. S (Damon Wayans). It seems that the physician’s lyrics don’t ring too well with the Senator and she takes issues with songs entitled “Shoot the Teacher”. Ben Feld (Richard Benjamin who also directed the movie) has a heart attack at the thought of losing all of his money, so it’s up to his sweet little daughter to take over the company and make Dr. S. apologize for his obscene lyrics (presumably to take the heat off Mr. Feld). White meets black, quite literally and things don’t go as expected. Marci, complete with her trio of friends who constantly kiss up to her, must find a way to not ruin daddy’s company. In a film that’s only 83 minutes long, it doesn’t take long to discover what the plot is or even figure out how it will end up. This one should have stayed on the shelves and I think that there will be plenty of them on shelves in stores near you. I’d like to say something positive about this, but I can’t find anything…save your money.
Video: How does it look?
As bad as the story is, you’d figure that at least the technical aspects of the disc would be better. They are, but still aren’t up to Paramount’s usually high standards. The transfer is an anamorphic 1.85:1 image that appears oversaturated and somewhat grainy during some scenes. When we first meet Dr. S, there is an unusual amount of red in the scene (to mimic the nightclub atomosphere) and it tends to wash everything out. The colors seem way too out of place here. There is little edge enhancement and artifacting isn’t a problem either, but I just felt that the transfer wasn’t what I would expect. For a new movie (“new” being 2000 in this case), I was expecting a bit more. It’s not terrible or un-watchable, but I was expecting a bit more. In a rare move, Paramount has included a full-frame and widescreen version on the same disc.
Audio: How does it sound?
The audio is the highlight of the disc (movie and all). The 5.1 soundtrack quite simply rocks from the opening credits all the way through. Though Wayans and Kudrow’s real voices were used, the lyrics are very strong and the LFE will get quite a workout. The dialogue, which you should try to ignore at all times, is clean and lacking in any distortion. While the surrounds kick in at times, mainly during songs (raps), this is mainly limited to the front soundstage. All in all, it’s a great-sounding track, but a soundtrack is only as good as the movie it accompanies…right?
Supplements: What are the extras?
No supplements have been included, unless you count the full-frame and widescreen versions of the film on one disc a supplement. Some trailers for actual recent movies are also shown at the beginning of the disc.
