Plot: What’s it about?
After nearly ten years of the television show “Friends”, all of them (all six that is) have made their share of movies. Some have been pretty decent and enjoyable (and even successful) like Scream and Lost in Space. Lisa Kudrow, until recently, had been the one that most people would think would have some sort of career after the show ended (but who wants to quit at $1 million an episode)? Jennifer Aniston, however, has been making some wise career choices too. This, though, leads us to the male side of things…Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer and Matt LeBlanc haven’t had much success on the “big” screen as their female counterparts. So it’s with this latest effort of Serving Sara that things might finally change? No. Matthew Perry, as he has done in The Whole Nine Yards and Three to Tango, essentially plays a rougher and tougher version of his Chandler character (which, arguably, he does a very good job at). Pair him with Elizabeth Hurly and things get a bit interesting, though she seemed to be wearing a lot of clothes in the movie. Not good again.
Perry plays Joe Tyler, an agent whose sole purpose is to serve people with process warrants (so that they then must appear in court). Somewhat of a low-life job it seems, but he doesn’t really seem to care about anyone but himself and the winery he’s trying to grow in his living room (long story). Lately, he’s been on a bit of a bad streak, due to his partner Tony (Vincent Pastore) who has had a bit of an upswing in business. But Tony isn’t that bright and Joe gets the opportunity to prove himself once again by serving Sara (hence the name of the film, lest we forget) Moore with a warrant. The job pays $5000 and he’s in need of the money. Sara, having been tipped off by Tony, manages to elude Joe, but he’s trickier than it seems and does manage to eventually get her served. Now this is where a bit of a twist comes in, it even had me fooled for a while. Sara learns that had she served her husband for divorce first, the trial would be in New York and not Texas where he is. If the trial is in New York, then she stands a much better, almost solid, chance of getting half of his $20 million dollar estate; to which she would pay Joe 10% if he could overlook serving her first and help him get served. Sounds confusing, but it’s not as bad as it seems.
The chemistry is there between Perry and Hurly (who was pregnant during the filming), but the somewhat juvenile humor scattered throughout the film had me a bit turned off. While I do have to admit that I laughed out loud a few times, for the most part I kept looking at my watch waiting for it to be over (and it’s just a shade over 90 minutes, too). Though Hurly is good in small doses, we have to face the fact that she’s merely eye candy; and on rare occasions she is a good dramatic actress (Permanent Midnight). However, this isn’t one of those occasions. For fans of Perry, well he does more of the same here; so if you like Chandler Bing, then you’ll like Joe Tyler. Essentially, this does for stereotypes of New Yorkers and Texans what Fargo did for people “way up north”. There are certainly worse ways to spend 99 minutes, but much better too. Don’t go in expecting a lot and it should be fine.
Video: How does it look?
For a movie new to DVD, the transfer had me guessing from time to time. In some of the outdoor shots, there seemed to be a lot of compression artifacts, so much so that I had to take the disc out and check it. The disc did have some scratches on it, but that doesn’t affect the detail of what I was seeing. Most of the shots were clear and very clean, showing an almost 3-D like quality to them. However, this being a brand new DVD and with not too many supplements on it, I have to not give it the benefit of the doubt. Paramount has shown that when they want to offer a very high quality picture, they can. This just isn’t one of them (in as many aspects of the word).
Audio: How does it sound?
The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is not the most active out there. Romantic/slapstick comedies are a dime a dozen and their soundtracks usually aren’t that robust. This is no exception. The directional effects do come into play at several key moments, but for the most part the action is limited to the front channels. Dialogue sounds fine, very clear and the surrounds light up during a few scenes. Not the best soundtrack out there, but certainly not the worst.
Supplements: What are the extras?
Paramount has actually offered up a few nice supplements for this release. Perhaps they knew that this wasn’t going to sell itself, so they offered up a commentary track and some deleted scenes. A brief featurette is included as are some outtakes, deleted scenes and extended scenes (all seem somewhat of the same to me), though they can all be played at once and with or without director commentary (always a nice touch). The original theatrical trailer is also included. Lastly, if you pop the disc in, you get some sort of “Romantic” collage of Paramount movies (Roman Holiday, Titanic, Runaway Bride, etc.) as they’re expecting this to be some sort of new romantic comedy for the ages. While I’m not sure I agree, you can easily bypass it by pressing the menu button on the remote.
