Stars:
“Weird Al” Yankovic, Billy Barty, Kevin McCarthy, Michael Richards, David
Bowe, Victoria Jackson, and Fran Drescher
Writers:
“Weird Al” Yankovic and Jay Levey
Director:
Jay Levey
Feature
length: 97 minutes
Extras:
Audio Commentary With “Weird Al” Yankovic, Michael Richards, Emo Philips,
Victoria Jackson, and Director Jay Levey, Deleted Scenes, Behind-The-Scenes
Featurette, “UHF” Music Video, Production Stills, and Production Materials
Gallery
Languages:
English and French Dolby Surround 2.0 and Spanish Monaural
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions and French and Spanish Subtitles
Packaging:
Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 27
Sound:
Dolby Surround Sound and Monaural Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 1989/DVD Release: 2002
Theatrical
Distributor: Orion Pictures
Home
Video Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: PG-13
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
I
have to give MGM Home Entertainment credit when it comes to releasing films on
DVD, they really do endeavor to give a greater value for the consumer’s dollar
on even some of the more obscure and cult titles in their home video library.
“UHF” is one of the films MGM now holds the home video rights to from their
acquisition of the Orion Pictures film library and I think this would qualify as
a cult film of sorts because I am sure it has its fans out there. I’m not one
of them, but I respect the film for what it is: a series of spoofs of 1980s
movie and television pop culture for “Weird Al” Yankovic to satirize the way
he satirized contemporary music in the 1980s and early 90s.
The shell of a story has “Weird Al” Yankovic becoming a station
manager at a nearly bankrupt UHF station, which gives him a chance to make jokes
about films and television while telling the typical paradigm of the guy who
turns the station around with a comic twist. Some jokes work better than others,
in particular Michael Richards is positively hysterical in the film as a janitor
who now seems like a caricature of a Billy Bob Thornton character although this
film was made 13 year ago before Thornton was a movie star.
The
DVD features an anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) aspect ratio presentation on one
side and a (1.33:1) full-framed aspect ratio on the other side.
The picture quality on the widescreen side is pretty good considering the
film is over ten years old and not an “A” list title. The English Dolby
Surround Soundtrack is a little flat at times, but it is clear and more than
adequate for the nature of this film. A French Language Dolby Surround
Soundtrack and a Spanish Language Two-Channel Monaural Soundtrack are also
provided along with English Captions and Closed Captions and French and Spanish
Language Subtitles encoded on to both sides of the DVD as options.
There
is a feature length audio commentary track with “Weird Al” Yankovic and
Director Jay Levey that features Michael Richards, Emo Philips, and Victoria
Jackson. The film was released during one of the most competitive summers in the
history of films so while it tested well, it just could not stand up to
competition when you have films like “Batman” and the third Indiana Jones
feature to playing at the same time.
The
deleted scenes are on the full-framed side and for every other extra features
choice you get a video of “Weird Al” Yankovic walking on to the menu in an
ever increasing state of frustration telling viewers “To flip the disc
over.” “Weird Al” Yankovic looks a bit like Howard Stern now with longer
hair and bit more weight, but other than that he still appears to be the same
“Weird Al” people would probably expect. He introduces the deleted scenes,
which are presented in a (1.33:1) aspect ratio as one 19-minute reel. The rest
of the extra features are on the widescreen side. They include the “UHF”
music video, which is funnier than the entire film, the teaser and theatrical
trailer, a production photo gallery and a promotional photo gallery that
features one-sheet art, home video and even laserdisc packaging cover art. A
three-minute promotional featurette from 1989 wraps up the extra features on
this DVD.
The
menus feature “Weird Al” fussing about the menu options and are easy to
navigate. An alternate pre-credits opening and a quick shot of Michael Richards
in character from the film saying, “Be there!” are among the Easter eggs
hidden on the DVD.
The
suggested retail price is only $14.95, which means you can buy this DVD at
retailers on and off line for a lot less. “UHF” will debut on DVD on
Tuesday, June 4, 2002, from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Home Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2002 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.