According to the press release for 2004’s The Birthday, the movie went unreleased for 20 years and earned “near-mythic status among cult film enthusiasts”. I never heard of the movie until this disc landed on my doorstep but that grandiose blurb piqued my curiosity.

Set in 1987, socially awkward Norman Forrester (Corey Feldman) loves his girlfriend Alison Fulton (Erica Prior). When he attends an opulent birthday party for her super-wealthy father Ron (Jack Taylor), he finds himself challenged to deal with her family.

This takes many unexpected turns as well. As the evening evolves, Norman finds himself in the middle of some crazed circumstances.

Back in the 1980s, Feldman delivered solid performances as a child actor before he morphed into a teen idol by the early 1990s. For a variety of reasons – many self-inflicted – Feldman’s career deteriorated from there and he now exists more as the butt of jokes than as a respected performer.

Honestly, Feldman long ago turned into such a caricature that it can become tough to remember how good he was in his early career. With all the hype behind this release of Birthday, I wondered if the film might indicate that Feldman could still provide a quality performance more than 20 years into his career as of 2004.

Within five seconds of our introduction to Norman, it becomes clear that Feldman would fail to live up to his talented childhood. He creates a character who exists as nothing more than clumsy tics and a cartoony voice.

Granted, some of this follows the movie’s tone. Co-writer/director Eugenio Mira clearly wants a broad comedy that evokes memories of the Coen Brothers and David Lynch.

However, Feldman just doesn’t seem up to the task. He creates a role without the appropriate sensibility and just seems like he tries too hard to go “against type” without the skill to back up this part’s requirements.

Even with a better-acted lead character, though, Birthday would falter. Mira bites off a lot more than he can chew, as he tells a barely coherent story that appears to exist more as a collection of quirky characters and events than a real narrative.

A superior filmmaker might bring this together into something evocative and involving. Mira can’t.

Instead, we find a rambling tale that struggles to find any kind of groove. It throws oddball moments at us and challenges to keep our attention as we wait for these elements to eventually come together.

Which they do, but the amount of time Birthday requires to get there becomes a real impediment. 120 minutes feels like easily a half-hour more than this story warrants.

That said, even with a shorter running time, Birthday meanders so much that a screening becomes an endurance test. This feels especially true because it feels like Mira came up with a Slambang Ending to the movie and then formed 100 minutes of content to get us to that point.

Birthday does take a shift around the one-hour mark, as it becomes less ambling and more plot driven. I wish this worked but it feels contrived and artificial.

All of this builds toward the aforementioned Slambang Ending that feels like the filmmakers’ main objective. Given that the prior 100 minutes or so became a meandering mess, I hoped that at least the flick would conclude on a vivid note.

Nope, as Birthday winds up with an over the top finale that fails to work in its own right. Somewhere in here a quality movie might exist, but those involved with Birthday can’t pull off that feat.

The Birthday appears in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Though not a great presentation, the movie usually looked pretty solid.

Overall delineation seemed fine for the most part. Some shots came across as a bit on the soft side – perhaps to reflect the film’s surreal tone – but most of the flick felt accurate.

Neither jagged edges nor shimmering materialized and I saw no edge haloes. Print flaws also remained absent.

Birthday opted for a palette that leaned toward amber as well as some garish reds and greens. These came across as intended and looked fine.

Blacks seemed dark and tight, while low-light shots delivered appealing clarity. The softness knocked down my grade to a “B” but the final result nonetheless satisfied.

Similar thoughts greeted the movie’s positive but less than ambitious DTS-HD MA 5.1. The soundscape lacked a whole lot to create real involvement, but it suited the oddball story.

This meant a pretty good array of environmental elements with music that spread around the room in a positive manner. We got some directional dialogue and a mix that delivered a reasonably engaging soundfield, even if not one with a ton of real involvement.

Audio quality worked fine, with speech that remained distinctive and natural. Music felt vivid and full.

As mentioned, effects lacked a lot to do, but they seemed accurate and with good range. This turned into a perfectly workable mix for a surreal tale.

A few extras flesh out the disc, and we open with an audio commentary from co-writer/director Eugenio Mira and actor Corey Feldman. Both sit together for this running, screen-specific look at story/characters, cast and performances, sets and locations, music, influences and related domains.

On the positive side, Mira and Feldman create a chatty track. Also, Feldman seems much less self-involved than expected, so he comes across as more likable than I figured he would.

However, they tend toward a lot of happy talk and don’t provide a ton of quality info about the film. While we get sporadic insights, the level of detail remains modest so don’t expect an especially illuminating piece.

Three video programs follow, and these start with the 17-minute, 17-second The Shape of a Miracle. Here we locate additional info from Mira.

The filmmaker looks at the movie’s origins and development, story/characters and influences, budget restrictions, sets, cast and performances, exhibiting the flick in 2004 and its re-issue. Inevitably, Mira repeats some info from the commentary, but we get a good amount of new material as well and “Shape” ends up as a tight overview.

Pathology runs 16 minutes, 42 seconds and features Mira as he “breaks down” the way he prepared and constructed some scenes. Mira digs into these choices and techniques well.

Shot at Austin’s “Fantastic Fest” in 2024, we get a Q&A. It goes for nine minutes, 57 seconds and brings back Mira and Feldman in front of an audience.

They tell us about the production, their relationship and the movie’s delayed release. Feldman decides to appear in character and that makes this an annoying chat despite Mira’s attempts to offer useful tidbits.

Along with both original and “20th Anniversary” trailers, the set concludes with an Image Gallery that provides 19 shots from the film. It becomes a forgettable compilation.

As a warped mix of comedy and horror, The Birthday shoots for goals it can’t achieve. The movie seems clumsy and dull too much of the time. The Blu-ray provides generally good picture and audio along with a mix of supplements. A contrived stab at a David Lynch-style project, The Birthday doesn’t get where it needs to go.