Stars:
Cameron Diaz, Christina Applegate, Selma Blair, Thomas Jane, Jason Bateman, and
Parker Posey
Writer:
Nancy M. Pimental
Director:
Roger Kumble
Feature
length: 90 minutes
Extras:
Featurettes, Storyboard Comparison, Director and Cast Commentaries, Filmmaker
and Talent Credits, Trailers
Languages:
English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and French Dolby Surround 2.0
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions and French Subtitles
Packaging:
Amaray Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 28
Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Surround Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 2002/DVD Release: 2002
Theatrical
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Home
Video Distributor: Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: Not Rated
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
While
watching “The Sweetest Thing” I kept thinking hearing the song “Girls Just
Wanna Have Fun” in my head and that is what I think this film is more or less
about. In a refreshing change of pace we have a story about three
twenty-something women coping with the San Francisco singles scene. There is
Christina (Cameron Diaz) who is afraid of commitment and so she and her girl
friends (played by Christina Applegate and Selma Blair) go club hopping with the
philosophy, “we’re not looking for Mr. Right, we’re looking for Mr.
Now.” Then one night Christina meets a potential Mr. Right and her friends
make sure her life is never the same again.
The
comedy has some inspired moments and does it’s best to push the envelope with
sophomoric and gross out humor that I will refrain from going into any detail
here because some of the gags (no pun intended) have to be seen to be believed.
The comedy falters in that it never finds a balance between the raunchy humor
and the romantic aspects. Quite frankly it just is not as “sweet” a film as
“There’s Something About Mary,” which despite the obvious tone difference,
cannot escape comparison especially since both featured Cameron Diaz and similar
humor.
Columbia
TriStar Home Entertainment’s DVD edition features a bright and clear
anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) presentation with a nice and full English Dolby
Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack. A French Language Dolby Surround Soundtrack and
English Captions and Closed Captions for the hearing impaired and French
Language Subtitles are also encoded on to the DVD as options. There is a feature
length audio commentary with Director Roger Kumble and Actors Cameron Diaz,
Christina Applegate, Selma Blair, and Jason Bateman. The commentary is just all
of them goofing on each other and at times get somewhat annoying to listen to
because they keep doing fake fart sounds with whoopee cushions and inhaling
helium and doing silly voices. It’s great that they are having a good time
doing the commentary track and not just sitting somber and quiet, but sometimes
the squeaky helium voices and whoopee cushion sounds coupled with these three
beautiful and successful women lamenting about getting close to turning thirty
gets a bit tiring.
The
8-minute featurette entitled “Politically Erect: Behind-The-Scenes On The
Sweetest Thing” is just a cute title for the standard promotional documentary.
There is also a 20-minute featurette entitled “A Day In The Life Of Nancy M.
Pimental,” who has been a Writer for “South Park” and this short is
actually a comedy spoof on the writer herself with guest appearances from some
of her show business friends as various characters. There are two storyboard
comparisons for the “Motorcycle” and “Bird” scenes with the storyboards
on top and the completed scene on the bottom for both. In addition there are
select cast and filmmaker credits and no less than 9 widescreen theatrical
trailers that include “The Sweetest Thing,” “Charlie’s Angels,”
“Cruel Intentions,” “Enough,” “Mr. Deeds,” “My Best Friend’s
Wedding,” “Panic Room,” and “Wild Things” with most of the trailers
featuring Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound.
The
menus feature animated transitions to standard interactive still frames and the
scene selections in the menus and on the insert inside the DVD keep case are
marked to show if there is material not previously seen in the R-rated America
cut. This cut is actually the version distributed in Europe where the film was
more successful.
“The
Sweetest Thing” will debut on DVD on Tuesday, August 20, 2002 from Columbia
TriStar Home Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2002 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.