A Guy Thing appears in both an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This was a problematic transfer.
Sharpness was one of the issues. Most of the movie displayed decent delineation, but the image was never especially concise, and mild softness popped up on more than a few occasions. Jagged edges and shimmering weren’t an issue, but I noticed some edge haloes, and the print seemed dirtier than expected. Grain was oddly heavy, and I quite a few marks and specks.
Colors tended to be mediocre. The hues were never ugly, but they seemed somewhat muddy and lacked much pop. Black levels appeared acceptably dense and tight, but shadow detail offered another weakness. Low-light sequences were somewhat murky and thick on occasion. The result was watchable enough for a “C-“, but it was a disappointment that almost fell to “D” level.
The DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack of A Guy Thing suffered from no overt flaws, but it displayed a distinct lack of ambition. The mix remained oriented toward the front the vast majority of the time. In that domain, good musical delineation appeared, and the soundfield showed pretty nice movement and activity when appropriate. The rears mostly contributed general ambience. A little split-surround material cropped up, but the back speakers generally stuck with light reinforcement of the forward channels.
Audio quality appeared positive overall. Speech sounded a little stiff at times, but dialogue mostly came across as fairly natural and distinct. I noticed no concerns with intelligibility or edginess. Music demonstrated nice dynamics and sounded consistently bright and vivid. Effects played a limited role in the production, but they worked well also. They were clean and accurate as a whole. Bass response popped up most favorably in regard to the music, and low-end seemed tight and warm in general. The audio for A Guy Thing dropped to a “B-“ just because it displayed such a bland soundfield, but the mix seemed fine for this sort of movie.
How did the picture and audio of this Blu-ray compare to those of the 2003 DVD? Any improvements were minor. The audio was pretty much the same, as the lossless DTS-HD track couldn’t do much with the lackluster source material. The picture was a little tighter but still pretty messy and bland. I suspect the Blu-ray just took the DVD’s transfer and slapped on this disc.
Most of the DVD’s extras repeat here. We start with an audio commentary from director Chris Koch plus actors Jason Lee, Selma Blair, Julia Stiles and Thomas Lennon. All five sat together for this running, screen-specific piece. I don’t know if I’d call the commentary the worst I’ve ever heard, but it’s in the running for that dubious honor.
In the same spirit as the atrocious actors’ commentary from American Pie 2, this one offers precious little information. Instead, it substitutes obnoxious behavior. Blair fills the Mena Suvari role as the village idiot. I’ve always liked Blair as an actress, but I lost gobs of respect for her after I heard her chat here. She comes across as ridiculously moronic and annoying, and the others don’t fare much better. People belch in unison, make lame sex-related gags, and talk over each other constantly. Do we learn anything about the film? Occasionally we get a morsel about a location, but mostly this seems like little more than a conglomeration of extremely random thoughts. This isn’t a commentary – it’s a train wreck.
A general “making-of” program, Inside A Guy Thing lasts 18 minutes and 35 seconds as it presents movie clips, some shots from the set, and interviews. In the latter domain, we get remarks from director Chris Koch, actors Jason Lee, Julia Stiles, Selma Blair, Thomas Lennon, producer David Ladd, writers Greg Glienna, Pete Schwaba, Matt Tarses and Bill Wrubel, and editor David Moritz. The piece follows the film from its inception through rewrites, casting, and the shoot. A moderate amount of concrete information appears, and this helps elaborate on the process behind the movie. We also get some wacky comments, but thankfully, these don’t dominate the program ala the awful commentary. “Inside” lacks great substance, but it provides a reasonably useful look at the creation of the flick.
For a general discussion of the subject, we move to Bachelor Party Confidential. It runs nine minutes, 12 seconds and features remarks from director Koch, producer Ladd, actors Lee, Lennon, Blair, James Brolin and Victor Varnado, editor Moritz, and writers Wrubel and Tarses. They reflect on the possible history of bachelor parties and their own experiences with them. It’s not a deep program but it’s entertaining, especially when Lennon reveals he once went to one that lasted four days in Amsterdam and the others react to this announcement.
To get a closer look at one element of the movie, we check out Groovy Gravy: Making the Scene in A Guy Thing. The five minute and 24 second featurette examines the creation of the segment in which some folks get stoned on spiked gravy. We hear from director Koch, writers Tarses and Wrubel, producer Ladd, and actors Stiles, Brolin and Lee. Some decent footage from the set makes this moderately interesting, and we get a little information about improvs, but mostly this feels self-congratulatory and not very useful.
The next portion of the disc covers seven deleted scenes. After an 18-second intro from director Koch, we can check out these segments individually or together via the “Play All” option; if you go that way, they last 16 minutes and 42 seconds. Koch introduces all the clips themselves and tells us why he cut them. (This seems odd since his first intro challenges us to figure out why they dropped them; we don’t get the chance, since he tells us before we watch them.) Nothing here appears very interesting, so don’t expect any “lost gold”, and most of the clips appear awfully tedious; a few just go on forever.
After this we discover three alternate endings. Also introduced by Koch, these run a total of eight minutes, 11 seconds. The Space Needle one isn’t bad, but none of these seem superior to the ending used for the final film.
Another Koch introduction starts out the gag reel. The piece offers 11 minutes and 45 seconds of the usual goofs, bloopers and nuttiness. If you dig that stuff, knock yourself out. It’s not my bag, and the extended running time doesn’t help this assortment; almost 12 minutes of flubs is a lot to take.
Lastly, we find the film’s theatrical trailer. The Blu-ray omits a few features from the DVD. It drops a trivia track, an interactive quiz and a photo gallery.
A Guy Thing offers nothing more than another Farrelly brothers wannabe, with little humor or spark on display. The Blu-ray presents flawed picture, decent sound and an array of supplements that works once you get beyond an awful audio commentary. The picture quality is the weakest link here, as it presents the film in an ugly manner.
To rate this film, visit the original review of A GUY THING
