As a light romantic-comedy caper flick, this succeeds on only one level: it's light.
The plot isn't much. It revolves around Henry's discomfort with his "new" Mom's new morality, and his assignment to head a wiretapping and spy team to keep tabs on Mom as she dates Tommy, who's the target. I won't spoil anything, but I have to say that I guessed at the first main plot twist long before it was revealed, as I did with the secondary one. And I'm arrogant enough to think that if I can see something, a lot of other people are probably going to see the same thing. The problem, though, is that there are elements in the plot that logically run in opposition to the twist, and it's also "too easy," as the guys from "White Men Can't Jump" would say. When a film opens in Spain, Israel, and Russia and pretty much goes straight to DVD, it doesn't reflect a great deal of confidence on the part of the studio. Then again, when the film plays like an extended "your mom" joke, who can blame them? And while they're fine individually, there's no believable chemistry between Ryan and Banderas, or between Hanks and Blair, for that matter. Yet, for all the negatives that this lightweight film has, it's still not as awful as I expected it to be. It's passable entertainment. And that's the best I can say about it.
Video:
Surprisingly, viewers get to choose between full screen (1.33:1 aspect ratio) and widescreen (2.40:1), and because it's mastered in High Definition the film looks very good, with natural-looking skin tones, bright colors elsewhere, and a minimum of grain. No complaints here.
Audio:
Same with the audio, which is a French or English Dolby Digital 5.1 that delivers a pleasingly balanced soundtrack with just enough rear-speaker action to "round out" the tones that fill the room. The front speaker spread is decent, too. If there's a shortcoming, it's that some scenes of dialogue are recorded at a lower volume so that the music and FX seem overpowering. Balance is a minor issue. Subtitles are in English (CC), French, Spanish and Chinese. Not Israeli or Russian? Again, logic fails.
Extras:
The extras are scant, but then again for a film like this you're not wanting a lot. There's a brief just under 20-minute making-of feature that offers the usual blend of talking heads and clips. But it quickly deteriorates into something you suspect was made to promote the film, rather than a DVD bonus feature made to explain the film. Eleven minutes of deleted scenes (seven of them) are also included, and if you thought some scenes in the film were bad, you should watch these turkeys.
Bottom Line:
As a light romantic-comedy caper flick, "My Mom's New Boyfriend" succeeds on only one level: it's light. After you're done watching it you won't grouse that you wasted an evening, but you won't feel it was enriched, either.
Video:
Surprisingly, viewers get to choose between full screen (1.33:1 aspect ratio) and widescreen (2.40:1), and because it's mastered in High Definition the film looks very good, with natural-looking skin tones, bright colors elsewhere, and a minimum of grain. No complaints here.
Audio:
Same with the audio, which is a French or English Dolby Digital 5.1 that delivers a pleasingly balanced soundtrack with just enough rear-speaker action to "round out" the tones that fill the room. The front speaker spread is decent, too. If there's a shortcoming, it's that some scenes of dialogue are recorded at a lower volume so that the music and FX seem overpowering. Balance is a minor issue. Subtitles are in English (CC), French, Spanish and Chinese. Not Israeli or Russian? Again, logic fails.
Extras:
The extras are scant, but then again for a film like this you're not wanting a lot. There's a brief just under 20-minute making-of feature that offers the usual blend of talking heads and clips. But it quickly deteriorates into something you suspect was made to promote the film, rather than a DVD bonus feature made to explain the film. Eleven minutes of deleted scenes (seven of them) are also included, and if you thought some scenes in the film were bad, you should watch these turkeys.
Bottom Line:
As a light romantic-comedy caper flick, "My Mom's New Boyfriend" succeeds on only one level: it's light. After you're done watching it you won't grouse that you wasted an evening, but you won't feel it was enriched, either.
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[release]24053[/release]