Meet Dave
(2008/20th Century Fox Blu-ray)
Picture:
B Sound: B Extras: D Film: D
Brian
Robbins’ Meet Dave (2008) another of
the endless entries in the what amounts to a series of live-action tax
write-offs for the studios and golden parachutes for Murphy as tiny aliens from
outer space arrive on earth in a spaceship disguised as a human body (Murphy!)
and it gets much worse from there. The
humor is non-existent, much like the storyline and if this plays like Fantastic Voyage for morons, the filmmakers
did not seem to notice.
The
saddest thing is that Murphy is so talented and the idea that this would even
be a viable thing for him to waste his time on (and is that the same tailor who
keeps making those suits?) shows that for the most part, he is a comic actor
who is just there for the paycheck and could care less about his legacy or his
audience. Now that we have an elected
Obama, it is going to be harder for Murphy to play the societal
outcast/victim/exotic angle in these bombs, as if anyone felt sorry for him in
the first place. All these films do is
stop new African American talent from getting into Hollywood.
The 1080p
1.85 X 1 AVC @ 36 MBPS digital high Definition image is on the soft side,
especially when the digital effects kick in.
Clark Mathis, A.S.C., makes this look like a sitcom in its flat lighting
and there is motion blur throughout. The
DTS HD Master Audio (MA) lossless is usually the only track on Fox Blu-rays in
English, but they have also included a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix and both are
substandard. Poor John Debney, stuck
composing for this turkey, is fighting a losing battle and his score is the
only thing (besides particularly bad sound effects) that makes this more than
bad-joke/dialogue based. Extras include
deleted scenes, three (!) Fox Movie Channel tie-in shows to promote the film, a
making of featurette, gag reel, alternate ending and crew profiles.
- Nicholas Sheffo
