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Roger Dodger
Stars:
Jennifer Beals, Elizabeth Berkley, Jesse Eisenberg, Isabella Rossellini,
Campbell Scott
Writer:
Dylan Kidd
Director:
Dylan Kidd
Feature
length: 106 minutes
Extras:
Audio Commentaries, Deleted Scene, Featurettes, Trailer
Languages:
English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and English and French Language Dolby
Surround 2.0
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions and Spanish Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 21
Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround and Dolby Surround 2.0
Year
of Theatrical Release: 2002/DVD Release: 2003
Theatrical
Distributor: Artisan Entertainment
Home
Video Distributor: Artisan Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: R
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
Campbell
Scott stars as Roger, an advertising copywriter with a sharp tongue and an eye
for the ladies. His nephew (Jesse Eisenberg) comes to stay with him with the
hope his uncle can teach him how to meet women. What follows is an odyssey into
New York’s nightlife from the Manhattan bar scene to hidden parties and even
brothel. As much as Roger can talk a good game, he is a shark losing his bite
and ultimately this tale of a quest older than seeking fire becomes a fable
about the difference between age and maturity.
Campbell
Scott is a standout as “Roger,” a character unlike anything I have ever seen
him play before. He is a character whose blunt and often clever views on the
opposite sex ultimately deliver for him the opposite result. However Roger is
playing against the odds and one can argue that just because his advice
doesn’t work for him doesn’t mean he is wrong because his advice certainly
brings his nephew knowledge and a crash course in self confidence that enables
him to find his own comfort zone for a 16 year old boy. As shallow as some might
think Roger is, he actually is a man with a deeper sensitivity that is hidden
beneath his fast thinking brain and fast-talking mouth. In Roger’s world he
can survive because of his gifts up until recently it has helped him swim with
the other sharks and survive, but it is the mutual trading of experiences that
occurs between Roger and his nephew that leaves the viewer some hope that his
nephew will eventually get over his insecurity and retain his genuine sense of
self while Roger will find a medium between his attitude and his true
compassionate self. I want to note that Jesse Eisenberg is a terrific actor in
this film. He embodies all the awkwardness of a teenager and yet he has great
potential if he can show viewers that he is more than just a guy who can play a
boy with depth. We’ll have to see.
Artisan
Home Entertainment and Writer and Director Dylan Kidd have worked hard to make
this DVD more than just standard DVD with extras. Dylan Kidd sees to it that the
viewers who buy or rent this DVD will get a clear understanding that filmmaking
is about teamwork as much as it is about telling a good story and so he has made
an effort to make the extra features educational and entertaining beginning with
a screen specific technical audio commentary that goes into a shot by shot
analysis of why he made the film as he did with his Cinematographer Joaquin
Daca-Asay. He also has a second more entertaining feature length audio
commentary track with Actors Campbell Scott and Jesse Eisenberg. He also
provides optional commentary for a deleted scene (2:57) that still appears in
the film partially, but wisely has been truncated to keep the story pacing up.
He
also provides a videotaped introduction to the special features (1:59) that
leads into several featurettes covering “Composing and Mixing” (7:09),
“Producing” (3:42), “The Executive Producer and Director” (5:14), “A
Scene Examination” (11:45), “A Tour Of The Locations From The Film In NYC”
(7:16), which is actually the weakest supplement on the DVD, the theatrical
trailer (2.32), and DVD Credits (: 33). The featurettes give a chance for his
crew to shine beside him as they share the challenges of producing their
respective parts toward getting this film completed.
The
image quality is quite good for an independently produced feature with an
anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1) aspect ratio coupled with a well mixed and lively
English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack as well as English and French
Language Dolby Surround Soundtracks and English Captions and Closed Captions
along with Spanish Language Subtitles encoded onto the DVD as options. The main
menu is animated with motion transitions to standard interactive still frame
menus and all are easy to navigate.
“Roger
Dodger” is a great DVD viewing experience that will debut on Tuesday, March
18, 2003 from Artisan Home Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2003 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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Roger Dodger