After starring in Rob Reiner's comedy hit The Sure Thing in 1985,
John Cusack suddenly became a bankable proposition at the box office.
After a string of comedies of varying quality, Cusack returned to
familiar territory with this long-forgotten comedy, yet again playing
a college student traveling cross country. (What the hell, it worked
for Eastwood and his westerns, right?) When bad grades prevent Dan
(Cusack) from taking a free dream vacation to Jamaica with his college
girlfriend, he has to haul ass to catch up with her and her stuffy
parents, already on route to paradise. Yep, it's gonna be one Hot
Pursuit.
What works in this schlocky comedy mishmash? Not
much. Some of the locals are more interesting than the leads, and
whenever possible, director of photography Frank Tidy gives the lush
Jamaican scenery picture perfect compositions. But unlike The Sure
Thing, Cusack is simply unappealing here, his raging frustration and
blundering setbacks as dopey as his picture on the cover art. It is
kind of interesting to see a really young Ben Stiller in his major
motion picture debut as a sleazy bad guy, and Robert Loggia takes the
perverted "fairy godmother" role of a crusty ex-pirate to
new heights. But the script is a mess, a silly subplot about Caribbean
underground hit men hiding drugs on the girlfriend's parents' boat
sinking the film by the time it reaches the patently illogical
conclusion. Oddly enough, after his super-cool 1982 hit TRON,
Steven Lisberger wrote and directed this misfire. Though Lisberger
keeps the pace up and delivers some good gags, it's obvious that a mix
of comedy and action just aren't his forte. At best, Lisberger gets
good performances out of his actors, this one has to rate as an oddity
in his rather short oeuvre at best. Still, if you've got lots of time
to kill (like being in prison), give this one a spin.
Video: How Does The Disc Look?
The film is presented
in 1.85:1 widescreen and anamorphically encoded. The film source is in
fine shape, with colors vivid, crisp and strong. The variety of
lighting styles do much with the fleshtones, but otherwise they appear
very natural. Blacks are quite deep and contrast solid, which helps to
give the film a more detailed and sharp look that does justice to
Frank Tidy's fine photography. Grain is present but generally fine,
although evening scenes (especially near the end) display fading and
heavier grain. Action scenes and all the fog don't suffer from any
noticeable no compression break up, and edge enhancement is very rare.
Baring minor flaws, this is a very good transfer.
Audio: How
Does The Disc Sound?
The film's audio was originally
recorded in "Ultra-Stereo" and is presented here in 2.0
Dolby Digital Surround. This is a reasonable mix given the budget and
age of the film. Dialogue is generally clear with reasonably seamless
ADR. The score by Rareview is reasonably presented, with just a bit of
bleed into the rears at times. The surrounds are often active with
ordinary ambiance, and come on a bit stronger during the more action-
filled climax. Low frequencies affect the woofer despite the absence
of a dedicated .1 LFE channel, but overall low bass is average as
expected. A perfectly fine audio mix that shouldn't generate any
complaints.
No other audio mixes are included, but English
Closed Captions and English subtitles are provided.
Supplements: What Goodies Are There?
No supplements are
included.
DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop
the disc in your PC?
No ROM extras have been included.
Parting Thoughts
This long-forgotten early-90's farce
is probably only worth a look for John Cusack fans. The plot is far
from original and collapses under the weight of an unbelievable,
contrived climax. The disc itself is bare bones, although the nice
transfer and solid soundtrack means it might be worth considering at a
discount. Otherwise, stick with a rental.
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