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While not as prestigious as having you name up on the big-screen marquee, television directing was not a bad career move on Lehmann's part - having The Larry Sanders Show and Homicide: Life On The Street on your resume sure has to beat Toxic Avenger 5 or Puppetmaster XXX! Besides, you have to pay the bills. But in 1994 Lehmann finally returned to the big screen with the dopey comedy Airheads. Little did he, or anyone else, for that matter, know what he was about to let loose on the unsuspecting public...

Brendan Fraser, Steve Buscemi and Adam Sandler star as the three airheads of the title, and for Fraser, this cemented his reputation as being an entertaining nutball. While he's had success with serious roles in such dramatic fare as With Honors and Gods & Monsters, he's best know for being the adorable goof in such films as The Scout, Blast From The Past, and of course, George of the Jungle. Steve Buscemi, who has built an impressive resume working with the likes of the Coen Brothers and Tarantino, plays a much more grounded character as Rex, Chazz' right hand man. Finally we have Adam Sandler before he was a megastar as Pip, Rex's slow pool cleaning brother, who has an incredible way with the ladies.

These three struggling rock 'n rollers deiced it time to take control of their lives, and make it to the big time. Chazz and Rex come up with the absurd idea of breaking into the local radio station to get their demo tape heard. After the clowns sneak their way into the radio booth with Ian, the local DJ for "Rebel Radio," their plans go awry and our lovable losers take everyone hostage... with uzi water guns filled with pepper sauce.

Beside our main characters, the rest of the colorful cast includes Michael McKean as Milo, the weasel station manger, with intentions of firing everyone after changing the station format. Judd Nelson is Jimmie Wing, another weasel who happens to run Palentine Records, and has rejected Chazz multiple times. Ernie Hudson is Sergeant O'Malley, the officer in charge, trying to keep everyone at bay; while Marshall Bell is Mace, the leader of the SWAT team who wants to go in guns blazing. Chris Farley, Michael Richards and David Arquette also show up in supporting roles.

Video: How Does The Disc Look?

Airheads was originally shown theatrically at an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, which is preserved correctly on this anamorphic DVD. While the technical specs I looked up noted that this film was shot with 35mm film, I believe it may have been shot in super 35mm, since the trailer is presented in scope. (See the supplements section below for more.) Spread across a dual layer DVD, the image is fairly solid throughout. The colors seem very natural and fleshtones never waver. Blacks and contrast are also very solid, and detail is generally good. The transfer is also free of any signs of digital artifacting, not even during the interior scenes of the nightclub filled with smoke, which normally wreck havoc on most DVDs.

Audio: How Does the Disc Sound?

When Airheads was released in theaters, it was presented digitally in a process known as "Spectral Recording." But although digital, it was not a full blown 5.1 mix, rather only 4.0 (the three front channels and a mono surround track.)

This DVD features a new discrete mix and a traditional 2.0 surround track in English. Unlike most films, the music is the key to Airheads, and this remix finally does it justice. A combination of blaring heavy metal and a rather spunky score by Carter Burwell, the music is almost demo material. On the discrete mix, the music comes across in true stereo, with a limited amount of rear channel bleed, while the standard surround sound mix collapses primarily into the center channel. The other elements of the soundtrack have also been properly recorded, such as the dialog and addition sound effects, but they come across much cleaner than in the surround sound mix, where they become a bit buried under the music. Still, a solid new mix.

Also included is a French 2.0 surround track, English Closed Captions, and English and Spanish subtitles.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

As part of Fox's new bargain line of DVD's, the supplements are limited. The original Theatrical Trailer is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen, while the TV Spots are presented in their original full frame broadcast ratio. Also included are 2 music videos, "Born to Raise Hell" by Motorhead and "Feed the Gods" by White Zombie.

Perhaps the best extra is the featurette Airheads Special Report. While I normally hate prepackaged studio fluff, this 10-minute blurb is actually entertaining. Similar to the news reports designed for Independence Day, Mark Thompson plays a reporter coordinating the behind the scenes footage into a nice compact package. Lehmann is portrayed as a documentary filmmaker, while Judd Nelson, Michael Richards and others are all in character for this little spoof.

Parting Thoughts