There's Something About Mary

There's Something About Mary, one of the biggest hits of 1998, is the latest comedy to come from the minds of the Farrelly Brothers, Bob and Peter, makers of other such classics as Kingpin and Dumb and Dumber.

Ted (Ben Stiller), not the greatest looking kid in school, has a crush on Mary (Cameron Diaz), arguably the greatest looking girl in school. Ted's life is about to change when Mary asks him to the prom. The problem is that the date can't go ahead if the guy has his 'franks and beans' seriously caught in his zipper, so the date is called off and the two of them go their separate ways.

It's now some 13 years later and Ted still has a crush on Mary, so he hires private detective Pat Healy (Matt Dillon) to find her. Healy finds her alright and tries his best to keep his find to himself, telling Ted that Mary is not the same 'shape' as she used to be. Ted still wants to see Mary for himself and soon realises that there is more to Healy and Mary than he has been told, as well as what he has been told by his friend Dom (Chris Elliot) and Mary's disabled friend Tucker (Lee Evans).

So what is it about Mary that drives men to do the darnedest things to themselves for her attention and affection? Who knows, but it sure makes for some entertaining viewing. Throw in a tan crazy neighbour Magda (Lin Shane) and you've a whole bunch of characters that gives this movie real character.

This second DVD offering from Fox is sure to be a hit, but how does it stack up to the rest of the Region 4 market?

We can count ourselves lucky that we are presented with a 1.85:1 aspect ratio that is also 16:9 enhanced. It's hard to tell if this is a true 16:9 transfer or a re-scaled Region 1 transfer as you don't get as much detail as you would expect. It's a bit tricky, but I'm leaning toward a true 16:9 transfer.

As for our disc, it looks pretty damn good. Blacks are truly black, colour is mostly vibrant and detail is pretty sharp. There's no apparent edge enhancement which lends to a more naturally detailed image.

Audio is great. You don't experience a full surround stage other than when the soundtrack kicks in throughout the movie. Dialogue is always clear and at correct levels so no problems with the centre channel. The surround elements are present and used to good effect, but a little more ambience to give it a more lively feel would have been great.

As for audio synch issues, you may see some very, very slight synching BUT it's not related to the disc, it's the movie itself. Listening to the audio commentary, the Farrelly Brothers make a clear reference to this issue and how complex it is to get it right and their summary of the issue was, and I quote, "We really didn't care".

Let's go through them all, we almost get the same as the US version which I'll explain now.

• Animated Menus
  The menus are 16:9 enhanced, which is a plus, but you have to wait for the animated dog to settle down before you get your cursor to make selections. Don't leave the menu alone for too long because the dog and that annoying boing sound become very irritating very quickly.
• Original Theatrical Trailer
  A full screen trailer of the movie.
• Music Video
  The music video of Build Me Up Buttercup as performed by the cast and crew is a nice addition, but a little repetitive as it is included as part of the credits.
• Karaoke
  This is EXACTLY the same as the music video, but with the karaoke subtitles on the screen. Now, these are two different pieces of the same footage. This extra and the previous one could have been the same footage with the karaoke version just having a non-lyrical audio track and a subtitle track.
• Audio Commentary
  The Farrelly Brothers provide a very interesting commentary on the movie. They have alot of titbits about their creation and you'll be amazed at how many friends of theirs are actually in the movie. Some highlights are that the way Ben Stiller looked at the start of the movie is the way he actually looked in junior high, as per his year book, and the zipper incident actually happened at the Farrelly household.
• DVD-ROM content
  OK, this is not mentioned on the pack or in the press release BUT there's not really any content on the DVD save for a more neatly designed interface to some online content. Two web pages are mentioned: www.aboutmary.com and www.clean-pipes.com for those of you without a DVD-ROM drive. Clean pipes has links to Quicktime videos of cast and crew interviews.
• Featurette - Behind the Zipper
  A four minute featurette narrated by Mary's neighbour Magda. It's a look at the zipper scene that includes mock interviews with paramedics, doctors, urologists and the like.
• Picture disc
  Not really an extra, but nice to have a good looking disc as compared to the single colour Region 1 disc.

What we miss out on:

• Outtakes
  A great little compilation of behind the scenes footage that is a loss for us Region 4 folk.
• Cast & Crew Biographies
  Not a big loss since these are very short indeed.

It's a big laugh. You will be in hysterics when watching the movie but the problem with most comedies is that the repeat factor is very low. This movie has surprisingly good repeat value and is a must for all comedy collections.