Absolutely Anything - DVD Review

[Michael Scott]

Absolutely Anything

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score: ​

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Movie
I was initially drawn to reviewing this film due to the bevy of names attached to the production. Simon Pegg, the yummy Kate Beckinsale, the Monty Python crew, as well as the late Robin Williams in what probably is his last role ever (well, you never know what’s left on the cutting room floor for years to come). Absolutely Anything promises lots of laughs, a throwback to early 2000 style of humor, ala Bruce Almighty and sadly delivers on very little of that promise. The movie is too intent on old slapstick jokes that it doesn’t realize that its almost parodying itself with rehashed jokes that could use a good facelift, and stories that feel like they were written by the dog from Up as he goes “ooo, Squirrel!!!” before jumping off on a new direction. There’s some cutesy moments here and there, and a couple of good laughs with Robin Williams, but overall, it’s fairly bland comedy that just “is”.

Neil Clarke (Simon Pegg) is a middle school teacher at a London school, with very little going for him. He’s got a miserable love life, the superintendent of the school (played by Eddie Izzard) despises him, his only friends are the biology teacher Ray (Sanjeev Bhaskar) and his dog Dennis (soon to be voiced by Robin Williams). His dreams of finish a novel are just that, dreams, and he’s is soon to realize that having everything he ever wanted isn’t exactly the best idea. A group of sinister aliens are hovering JUST above Earth’s orbit and are here to judge Earth and give them access to the higher forms of life cool kids club, or disintegrate them like the last 2000+ species they’ve come across. However, the bumbling pile of intergalactic fools (voiced by the surviving cast of Monty Python) do have some rules. They are forced to give the ultimate power of the universe to a single human and observe that person with it. If the person uses that power for good, they’re spared. BUUUUUUUUUUUUT, if that person uses ultimate power badly, they’re wiped out (with glee I might add)

Well, Neil wakes up and does what any human would do with said power. Starts having a little bit of fun with it. However, this power is a TAD sensitive in the wording needed to use it. Saying “I want everything to go to normal” doesn’t always have the desired consequences. In the process of romancing the neighbor downstairs (Catherine, played by Kate Beckinsale), he has to contend with his friend Ray begging for some of the goodies, Catherine’s crazy ex boyfriend Grant (the annoying Rob Riggle) who has come back from America to try and win her back, AND having his own dog speak and act as a sounding board for his insanity. It’s all the poor man can do to keep sane!

Absolutely Anything isn’t exactly a clever concept. We’ve seen this idea before with films like Bruce Almighty, or Evan Almighty, but they try and spice things up by throwing everything and the kitchen sink at the viewer. The ludicrous aliens, Robin Williams coasting through his lines as Dennis the dog, and Kate all seem like too much crammed into an 85 minute film. There’s potential for some fun, and Robin Williams does elicit a few laughs, but the film really has a hard time landing much goodwill with the audience. It’s not that the film is horribly offensive with its comedy, it’s just that the jokes have been told so many times they’re in drastic need of a facelift, and the too cramped storyline never really has enough time to breath and come into its own.




Rating:

Rated R for language including sexual references, and brief nudity.




Video:

The 2.40:1 MPEG2 encoded DVD sadly didn’t make it to Blu-ray on this side of the pond (but is out on Blu-ray over in the UK) and the resulting digital image is decent, if not a bit flat. The film opens up all bright and cheery, with slightly overblown whites and a decent color palette, but soon fades into a duller and VERY flat “English” look to the film. Certain primaries burst off the screen, like Grant’s orange sports car, or the bright flash of red lipstick, but the grey color grading seems to permeate most of the film with much lower color saturation. Blacks are a bit murky but still show enough detail to be satisfactory, and the fine detail is just a bit “softer” than expected. It’s still a capable transfer, but not one that that will blow your socks off.






Audio:

The 5.1 Dolby Digital track is surprisingly active for a comedy of this nature. Surround usage is solid and more than capable of delivering quite a few discrete placement cues that had me looking over my shoulder more than once. Dennis can be heard in the right rear channel, and a doorbell had me looking back to make sure no one was at MY door. Otherwise it’s a fairly standard comedy mix with a high amount of dialog in the front three channels and moderate LFE usage. The track won’t compete with Transformers but it was never designed to be and does everything asked of it with grace and ease.


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Extras:

• Theatrical Trailer

Final Score: ​

Absolutely Anything isn’t a high class film, but it’s not a horrible film either. It just exists as a low rental level type of comedy that really shoots for the moon, but ends up barely hitting lower atmosphere. It’s sad and delightful to hear Robin William’s voice once more, and Kate Beckinsale is always a sight for sore eyes, but the comedic stylings of Monty Python fizzle out and the rest of the movie tries so very hard to garner laughs, and just can’t seem to land them. The DVD looks solid enough for a 480p release, and the audio is actually quite impressive. However, the week film and nonexistent extras leave this one in low rental or “skip it” range.




Technical Specifications:

Starring: Simon Pegg, Kate Beckinsale, Robin Williams
Directed by Terry Jones
Written by: Terry Jones
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 MPEG2
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Rated: R
Runtime: 85 Minutes
DVD Release Date: June 27th, 2017

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• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Skip It

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for taking one for the team.. Saving us time and money.