- Price: £19.99
- Widescreen: 1.85:1
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
The title refers to the feeling gained after shooting up smack and, as Jerry (Ben Stiller) puts it, "You
have to look your best for Hollywood" (!) A burned-out author of fiction, we meet him while going
through rehab. He's placed in a dead-end fast-food job, which is quickly ditched the minute the sexy
Kitty (Maria Bello, Dr. Del Amico in E.R. Season 4) sidles up to his drive-thru window.
He relates his life story after they have sex, from the point when his life began to fall apart. Through
his best friend Nicky (Armageddon's Owen Wilson), he is introduced to the alluring agent's assistant,
Sandra (Elizabeth Hurley). They hook up together so she can get her green card, but the only writing
she puts his way is for a dire, but successful, children's TV show, Mr. Chompers. A phone call returns
him to Pittsburgh when his Jewish mother dies, after which he returns to L.A. to sink further into his
drug-fuelled hell.
With a convincing junkie in Stiller and a clever, humourous turn from Janeane Garofalo, they both
serve to point out the lack of acting ability in Ms. Hurley who really does nothing for any film in
which she's cast.
Presented in an anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen ratio, the picture quality would be first rate, save for
a small amount of underlying grain which seems to dog most Columbia TriStar releases. Other than
that, colours are bold and strong with life-like flesh tones that point out the fading colour from Stiller's
face as the film progresses and the average bitrate is a high 7.56Mb/s, often peaking over 9Mb/s. The
Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack isn't used to great effect although it does get a chance to shine
momentarily when the nightmare of heroin usage really screws him up.
Unusually for a Columbia title there are no subtitles whatsoever which is a shame, but there are scores
of extras in the form of a trailer, four deleted scenes, two apparently-identical TV spots, eleven minutes
of interviews, a small amount of unedited B-roll footage (a.k.a. rushes), cast filmographies and a
feature-length director's commentary track.
FILM CONTENT
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
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OVERALL
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Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2001.
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