On the Line

*Nsync have crossed the line from (questionable) singing to acting. Well Joey Fatone and Lance Bass have anyway. Now some may say that the line between singing and acting for *Nsync doesn’t exist, but still, these two have branched out a little, dragging with them a conglomerate of pop songs to colourfully dress the film. So how can you actually enjoy this film? Easy, remove *Nsync from the equation and you have a delightfully different film that is great for a rainy day and a mindless cuddle with someone.

This film doesn’t aim to be artistically deep and it really hits its target. Rather than angling for an Academy Award, On the Line aims for an MTV award and hey, it has the chance for a comedic category. OK, it’s not a must-have by any means, but if you’re bored, in need of some mindless fun (and a fan of Al Green) then this is definitely for you. And yes, Al Green – if you’re curious now then go out and watch it!

Kevin (Lance Bass) is single, and single for a reason. Simply he chokes every time it comes to the crunch when asking a girl out. Right from his early days in school, he had trouble with this and years on the problem still perches on his shoulder. His bitchy piece-of-ass colleague at his luscious advertising job doesn’t help his self esteem and makes his professional life an absolute hell, as well as his health-juice chugging boss played by Dave Foley. His only mate at work is played by Jerry Stiller – George’s dad from Seinfeld. Set in Chicago, the best form of inner-city transport is the train – the L train. After his Al Green-type performance, he meets a girl unlike any other and coincidently they get off at the same stop... now rather than asking for a name and number, our friend Kevin says that “it was nice commuting with you� and we say farewell to this mystery friend. But the connection between the two is far too strong, and Kevin tries his best to find her. Posters are placed around the city asking for the mystery girl to come forward, and this attracts a colourful array of... hmm, well, weirdos. Which causes another problem – there are too many weirdos, so Kev's mates help him out (in one sense) and schedule themselves in for dates as they play him. This is all good and fine, until one day the real girl comes along and meets a “Kevin� – but its not really Kevin. It just goes to show you that things will happen if you put yourself on the line...

The video is presented in a widescreen aspect of 1.85:1, and is anamorphically enhanced, as you would expect. To find a fault with this transfer you need to concentrate and study the image, as problems are few and far between.

Colours are richly rendered, with a superb saturation, realistic skin tones and vibrant hues. Blacks are deep and solid, showing no sign of low level noise. Hopefully this is an indication of things to come, especially with the dark and complexly lit Chicago coming out soon through Miramax.

Film grain is incredibly fine, and not an issue at all while film artefacts are pretty much nonexistent. The image is consistently sharp, with a great level of detail and a rich depth range. Compression related artefacts are not a hassle at all, but some minor aliasing can become distracting once in a while. The odd occurrence of moire skips through, and is barely noticeable, but still does colour parts of the image with a funky result.

The included English subtitles are clear and easy to read, as well as being accurate to the dialogue. This dual layered disc has a layer change. Somewhere.

The solo Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track brings the film to life, delivering pizzazz, buoyancy and vigour. It offers everything a good 5.1 soundtrack should – rich bass, a deep soundstage, clear audio and an up-beat score. The subwoofer grasps the reins in the appropriate places, mainly to carry the score, and the surrounds chirp in with consistent ambient effects. The front half of the soundstage is fairly settled, with little in directional effects, but still offers a broad setup. It’s not quite reference quality, but still offers a great aural experience.

What would normally receive a dud extras rating, especially given the genre, this disc shoots high with a delightfully large list of extras. And what’s even better is that these extras are perfect for fans of the two *Nsync boys as well as young teenage girls who love music, and aren’t so fussed regarding technical aspects of the film.

The feature-length audio commentary features director Eric Bross and star Emmanuelle Chriqui. This track isn’t anything ground-breakingly stunning, but is interesting, informative and humorous to listen to. The only thing that could have improved its quality would maybe have been the presence of another person, perhaps Lance Bass as he is the lead of the film.

The 8:41 behind the scenes featurette delivers interviews, and is the typical US-style propaganda to convince people to go out and see the film. The storyboard comparison is a 5:07 look at three scenes from the film, with the storyboard in the top left of the screen and the actual film footage in the bottom right corner. Admittedly this is more interesting than pages of stills, but being picky, multiple angles would be nice. The 3:33 outtake reel features a brief aural introduction from the director, and looks very similar to the end credits. Not your usual piss-yourself outtakes, but still a worthy inclusion.

The deleted and alternate scenes run for several minutes, with five scenes. These are Chick-Tac-Toe (1:34), Conference Room Confrontation (0:48), Boiler Room for Babes (1:59), Brady's Scheme is Born (1:28, alternate scene) and Brady Gets His Due (0:43, alternate ending), and can be listened to with an optional commentary.

The music video runs for 3:40, and features a large group that varies in number depending on the camera angle. The clip is for the title track, On The Line, and features vocals and cameos by *Nsync, Christian from BBMak, Mandy Moore, Vitamin C as well as Ritchie Sambora. The making the music video featurette runs for 5:58, and shows production footage as well as interviews with the artists.

Home movies from the set is a 3:51 clip of a guy running around with a Camcorder on his hand as they try to head to the *Nsync concert, but limousine issues don’t help them much. For the genre of the film, this is a great addition, especially for the target audience.

The 2:08 theatrical trailer is a well-constructed example of the format, showing a clear premise of the film, without giving it all away. The *Nsync Bios feature stats and a written background behind the boys, who are Justin Timberlake, Lance Bass, Joey Fatone, JC and Chris. The cast interviews run for various lengths and are just opinions of what they thing of the story, the director and blah blah blah. Interviews are with Lance Bass (2:35), Joey Fatone (2:49), Emmanuelle Chriqui (2:01), Jerry Stiller (1:15) and Dave Foley (1:04).

Get on your bike to the video store to grab a copy of this one, which has an enjoyable carefree story, gorgeous video, suitable audio and a swarm of appropriately suited extra features.