Punchline

Everyone has actors whom they don’t like. This film exacerbates one of these types beyond belief. The '80s version of Tom Hanks just really, really doesn’t do it for yours truly and made this film a pain, at times, to watch. Sally Field lights up the screen (as always), but if anything lets this down it's that cheesy smile and bony face (not to mention the lovely hair... not) of Tom Hanks. Sometimes it is just too hard to laugh at some of his jokes, while Field is a person who has that warm face that quickly makes you fall and feel for her. Anyhoo, enough bitching or else it will get quite nasty, so let’s get on with it... OK, he's not that bad, but just portrays such an annoying character in this film, a bit like a piece of peppercorn stuck in your teeth - you can sense it's there, but when you tongue it you get one hell of a shock.

What you may predict would be a comedy actually turns out to be a drama about comedy - an interesting way of looking at things. Admittedly there are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, especially during the final mix of comedic acts, which truly are funny without going into the “Farrelly Brothers�-style 'funny'. But underneath this shallow shell called "comedy" lies a heartfelt drama... let down only by Tom Hanks (in this reviewer's bitchy opinion).

Sally Field stars as Lilah Krytsick who is a housewife and mother-of-three, but wants to be on the stage performing stand-up comedy. Her first performance is far from funny (unless you classify flopping as funny), and her husband doesn’t think much of the idea of stand-up comedy. The biggest bonus here is that her husband is played by a terrific John Goodman – big bonus points all around. Tom Hanks stars alongside as Steven Gold who is a stand-up comic on-stage, but his off-stage life is falling apart, such as being a recent medical school dropout. But Lilah sees Steven’s talent and rushes to get his assistance, although she soon realises that she also has the power to help him just as much as he can help her.

Punchline is presented in the 16:9-enhanced aspect of 1.85:1. On the whole, the transfer scrubs up nicely, but is let down by some minor simple issues. Generally the image is clear and beautiful, but doesn’t look terribly sharp. At times it makes you feel as though you are watching a VHS... sorry, some people don’t know what these primitive media are used for, seeing as they are so outdated and all... The largest problem would lend itself to film artefacts, some of which are beyond a joke (kind of like the film). If you pick up the couch in your living room, you will find less dust under there than on this transfer. Hmm, OK a slight exaggeration, but still it ain’t pretty. And you know the feeling you get when you wipe your hands through dust, that filthy grainy touch? Well that sort of impression is left on your retinas. Literally speaking, of course.

Colours are fairly bland, but this is due to the fairly dark colour palatte used. Colours that are included are rich and as bright as they can possibly be. Blacks are solid and deep, and look fantastic. Shadow detail is barely adequate, with a murky clarity and a disgusting definition. It just doesn’t look natural or clean, but rather artificial and muddy. Compression related artefacts such as aliasing are kept to a minimum, but are still mildly apparent.

Being a dual layered disc, a layer change occurs at 69:30, and is brief and unobtrusive, even though it is awkwardly placed smack bang in the middle of a scene. As with many Columbia titles, subtitles are provided in a stack of languages to make their international distribution easier. English are the best ones for this English-based film, and are clear and easy to read, as well as fairly accurate.

Five audio tracks have been included, with language options in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. All tracks are encoded with Dolby Digital 2.0 and are surround-encoded.

Being a dialogue-driven film, dialogue is crisp, clear and audible throughout the film, with no synch issues. The only quibble is that it sometimes sounds a tad thin. Bass levels are reasonable but not too crash hot, and are more than likely to blame for the thin sounding audio. The surround channels are barely used, and may as well not have been included for their input to the film is negligible.

Trailers for four other Columbia Tristar films have been included, offering no insight into the actual feature of this disc. The trailers are for Sleepless in Seattle, Philadelphia, Multiplicity and Nothing in Common. Yahoo, excitement.

This drama about comedy hits the spot with a heartfelt story and some hilarious moments, but sadly does come along with Tom Hanks. The video quality is reasonable but nothing stunning, and the audio quality follows suit. But don’t get me started on the flippin’ extras...