Synopsis
Syd (Chris Evans) is still mourning his break-up with London (Jessica Biel), drowning his sorrow in booze and cocaine. When he hears that she is leaving New York, and there’s a going-away party for her, he decides to crash the scene, dragging along Bateman (Jason Stratham), a businessman from whom he has just scored more coke. Arriving at the party before the guest of honour (and just about everybody else), the two men retreat to the spacious bathroom where they will spend much of the film, …nhaling vast quantities of drugs and opining about everything under the sun.
Jason Statham is one of those actors who can make even the most risible material sound intense and funny. He does his level best here, and steals every scene he’s in, even if he’s just standing still, but what he has to work with is pretty woeful. Our protagonist is so unsympathetic that one doesn’t want to spend any time in his company. None of the other characters are really any better, and I’ll confess that I’ve never understood the whole Jessica Biel thing. At any rate, much yammering, little interest.
Audio
If you can put up with all that coke-fuelled talk (which is interesting only to those who are speaking it), you can appreciate the fact that the dialogue is certainly very clear. The music sounds terrific, the mix placing individual elements in a very engaging and interesting fashion. There isn’t a lot by way of surround because of the spare, stage-like nature of the film, but the environmental effects are decently done when called for.
Video
The transfer doesn’t leave much room for complaint. The colours are very good, with solid contrasts, blacks and flesh tones. There is some minor artifacting in shots with a red lighting, but otherwise things look good. There is no grain to speak of, and the image is sharp. Things are frequently rather dim, but the look is never murky.
Special Features
The commentary is by director Hunter Richards and associate producer Ross Weinberg, and the effort is pretty standard fare (how such and such was done, how great so and so were, and so forth). The behind-the-scenes featurette is promotional, but a bit more informative than many. There are four deleted scenes and a whopping 11 trailers. The menu is basic.
Closing Thoughts
Watch a lot of pretty people and grow to hate them. Very quickly.
Special Features List
- Audio Commentary
- Behind the Scenes Featurette
- Deleted Scenes
- Trailers
