One Fine Day

Michelle Pfeiffer and George Clooney have teamed up for a romantic comedy (finally) and have done so with some success. Saying that, this isn’t the next Pretty Woman because nothing will ever compare to that. But still Clooney, Pfeiffer and director Michael Hoffman give it a good shot.

Clooney plays Jack Taylor, a journalist, who is a bachelor with a daughter and an ex-wife. Pfeiffer plays Melanie Parker, an architect who is a bachelorette with a son and an ex-husband. Jack is a fun-loving big kid, while Melanie is a mature, independent woman. But after missing the whole school excursion, these two parents have to look after their kids as well as do their large story on the corruption of the government and a major presentation to some potential clients. But with kids around, you know what is bound to happen. After each parent dragging their own kid to their job, they need to give each other a favour. Melanie takes Jack’s kid for a few hours and Jack takes Melanie’s kid for a few hours in return so that their jobs can be completed without any more disasters. Melanie, the control freak, gets caught up with loosing a kid in New York and loosing control, while the fun, and visually less responsible Jack manages to look after the two kids with great success.

With some funny scenes and lines, and some funny acting from both leads, the two kids really do steal the show with their best acting ability…no wait, kids act like little shits all the time.

In general the video transfer is of an incredibly high standard, with very small problems being noticeable only to the keen eye. The video is presented in the original theatrical aspect of 1.85:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.

For the length of the film, the picture is sharp but does leave some soft shades in some of the scenes. The overall tone of the picture is very dull, with a small drab colour palette being used. The wet, winter’s day in New York is superbly transferred in that respect, but it causes the transfer to lack vividness and life. Saying this, the few vibrant colours are captured nicely, and skin tones are realistic and healthy.

Shadow detail is incredibly good, and is tested during some of the film’s many darker scenes. The blacks are solid, but are bordering on the bluish side, yet this is not a visible problem to the general viewer.

The layer change occurs at 68:13, and is still incredibly disruptive even though it occurs in a scene change.

There is no visible film grain and only a few film artefacts visible. There are, however, some MPEG artefacts, but very minor and unobtrusive to the picture.

There is one audio track on this disc and that is Dolby Digital English 5.1. The dialogue is crisp, clear and audible throughout the film, and fills the front of the sound stage.

Surround channels were used to carry ambient sounds and music echoes which creates a busy soundtrack for a quiet film. Most of the dialogue comes from the center speaker, but during the split screen sequences, the front Left and Right are used extensively. The subwoofer was unnoticed during the feature, but you have to take into consideration that the film is a romantic comedy not a violent explosive super-fest.

This disc sadly misses out on extras. A must with any comedy would have to be outtakes, but why does only a rare few discs do this? Anyway, there is a static menu screen which is 16x9 enhanced and presented in the aspect of 1.78:1. Accompanying this is a full screen trailer with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio and which nicely compliments the film and clearly expresses the story.

A fun, un-offensive romantic comedy that isn't up there as the best but still offers a good break from the real world. The video is very neat, and the audio clear, but this disc severely lacks features. With the quality of some discs now, a trailer shouldn't be called an extra feature. Not necessarily a must have for everyone, but definately worth a hire.