American Crude (2007/Sony DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: D Feature: D
Office Space (reviewed elsewhere on this site)
is a film that has slowly gained popularity and rightly so, with fans hoping
that Ron Livingston might finally find success in another comedy that
works. Writer/Director Craig Sheffer’s American Crude (2007) is NOT that film and not much of anything
at all as he plays a guy sick of his life and willing to risk it on a crazy
idea that will set him for life.
Unfortunately,
a long line of oddballs show up to possibly stop him, with the arrival of Rob
Schneider as one of them stops the film from having any hope of working on any
level. Jennifer Esposito and Michael
Clark Duncan also show up and are as sadly wasted as we are for all 98 minutes
of boredom this dud offers. I bet the
executives were yawning at the final cut too.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image is color and detail weak, with poor
compositions throughout and night as well be a bad TV movie. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is no better,
dialogue/joke-based with a limited soundfield and not the best recording to
boot. Deleted scenes are the only extra,
which is more than expected after sitting through this.
- Nicholas Sheffo
