In 1973, filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich paired real-life father and daughter Ryan and Tatum O'Neal for Paper Moon. A big hit with audiences and critics, Bogdanovich reunited with Ryan and Tatum for 1976's Nickelodeon.

Set in the 1910s, Chicago lawyer Leo Harrigan (Ryan O'Neal) doesn't seem very good at his job, a fact that leads to negative repercussions from irate clients. In an unlikely turn of events, he ends up hired by movie producer HH Cobb (Brian Keith) to write scenarios for silent films.

Along the way, Leo gets promoted to director and he works with actors Kathy Cooke (Jane Hitchcock) and Buck Greenway (Burt Reynolds). Leo falls for Kathy but must compete with the leading man for her affection as all involved bungle their way through movie-making.

Missing from that synopsis: any mention of Tatum, even though one assumes the presence of the youngest-ever person to win a acting Oscar - and also the star of the same year's successful Bad News Bears - would've been a big deal.

Tatum plays Alice Forsyte, a precocious girl who also gets involved behind the scenes in the film industry. Honestly, her casting feels gimmicky, but given Nickelodeon seems wholly contrived anyway, that doesn’t really matter.

Given I was nine in 1976, I guess I wasn't really part of the movie's target audience, though I don't think Nickelodeon looked like a film that would alienate the kiddies. Anyway, I saw plenty of "PG" flicks not aimed at children back then so it feels like something I should've seen.

I didn't, and I honestly don't remember much about Nickelodeon other than the title. Years before a cable channel popularized the word, the original context of "nickelodeon" to mean a place that exhibited films was long forgotten by most in the 1970s.

As a filmmaker, Bogdanovich often seemed more interested in genre experiments than anything else. Fascinated by the history of movies, his efforts could feel like they existed as ways for Bogdanovich to demonstrate his comprehension of cinematic styles from earlier decades.

Bogdanovich takes this to an extreme with Nickelodeon, as the entire movie comes across as the director’s opportunity to revel in the slapstick comedy styles of the 1910s. This means that the plot synopsis I delivered earlier really doesn’t matter much.

Sure, the overview gives us some basics about where the tale goes. However, Nickelodeon mostly exists as a collection of wacky episodes with a loose connection.

All of this seems to satisfy Bogdanovich the movie nerd. It seems less likely to enchant audiences.

Oh, Nickelodeon comes with some entertainment value. The flick throws so much at the screen that some of it can’t help but stick.

We get a fine cast, though Ryan O’Neal feels miscast as Leo. He probably should seem nerdier than the handsome O’Neal.

Still, because the role doesn’t ask O’Neal to do anything other than depict a cartoony character, he does fine. He may not look the part but he acts out the nuttiness acceptably well.

The biggest problem with Nickelodeon remains the manner in which it feels more like Bogdanovich’s attempt to scratch his own particular cinematic itch. We really don’t get much of a movie here, as too much of the flick just comes across as self-indulgent.

Again, we get moderate entertainment along the way, so Nickelodeon doesn’t flop. It just fails to find much to say beyond its attempts to pay homage to a bygone era.

Nickelodeon appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This became a good but not stellar image.

Sharpness usually looked fine, but occasional soft spots materialized. While I suspect some of this stemmed from photographic choices, the inconsistency made me less sure.

No signs of jaggies or moiré effects popped up, and I saw no edge haloes. Grain felt appropriate and I witnessed no print flaws.

The movie’s palette leaned toward a nostalgic amber/yellow/red tone. The hues felt well-rendered given these choices.

Blacks seemed deep and rich, while shadows felt appropriate. Though not terrific, I still thought the image held up well.

Similar thoughts greeted the perfectly adequate DTS-HD MA monaural soundtrack of Nickelodeon. Speech appeared natural and concise, while music showed reasonable clarity.

Effects seemed thin but remained accurate enough. The mix suited the story and felt appropriate for its era.

This set includes the film’s theatrical version (2:02:01) and a Director’s Cut (2:04:47). How do the two differ?

The biggest change relates to color – or lack thereof, as the DC opted for a black and white presentation. One assumes the studio forced Bogdanovich to shoot in color, though that seems perplexing given his success with the B&W Paper Moon and Last Picture Show.

The extra two minutes, 46 seconds also adds a little more character information, especially related to romantic domains. Bogdanovich felt these scenes changed the tone of the flick but I don’t think they make much of a difference.

Alongside the Director’s Cut, we get an audio commentary from writer/director Peter Bogdanovich. He provides a running, screen-specific look at story/characters, cinematic inspirations, real-life influences, cast and performances, sets and locations, music, alterations for the Director’s Cut, and the movie’s reception.

Though he tended to bore when he talked about films made by others, Bogdanovich usually offered good tracks for his own flicks. To some degree, that becomes the case here, as Bogdanovich delivers a reasonable look at Nickelodeon.

However, Bogdanovich doesn’t seem very invested in the chat and that limits the commentary’s appeal. While useful to a moderate degree, the track seems a bit flat.

Also found on the DC disc, we get a Video Essay (16:31) from Bogdanovich biographer Peter Tonguette that looks at the director’s career and aspects of Nickelodeon. Tonguette brings us a good historical overview of these domains.

On the theatrical disc, we find the film’s trailer as well as an audio interview with writer WD Richter. Conducted by Tonguette, this accompanies the first 44 minutes, 44 seconds of the film.

Richter discusses the project’s origins and his original screenplay as well as how it got to Columbia, working with Bogdanovich and related topics. Richter packs a ton of info into the session and makes this a terrific look at the film.

Another attempt by Peter Bogdanovich to recapture the cinematic styles of earlier generations, Nickelodeon comes with sporadic pleasures. However, it feels more like a filmmaker’s indulgent fantasy than a fully-realized movie. The Blu-ray comes with generally positive picture and audio as well as a few informative supplements. Though not a truly bad production, Nickelodeon lacks consistency.