Here Today - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Here Today



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
As a huge fan of Billy Crystal I’ll watch anything that he’s in, even though he’s really not a mainstream A lister anymore, and Tiffany Haddish is something that usually puts warning bells off in my head. I know she’s a popular comedian, but I haven’t been able to jive with any of her performances on screen, especially her comedies. However, I was willing to give that little niggling a nudge to the side simply due to the fact that Billy Crystal was not only co-starring with her, but also took on the job of writing and directing as well, which is something he’s incredibly talented at doing.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect after watching the trailer. This was meant to be a slightly droll comedic take on a very serious subject, which is based off of a short story from Billy Crystal collaborator Alan Zweibel, the tale revolves around a famous comedic Charlie Burnz (Billy Crystal) writer named that is ending the apex of his career, and in many ways, his life. He’s got the early stages of dementia, but he’s able to to keep it under control with mental and physical exercises, as well as medication. However, this is not going to last forever and his family is left in the dark about what is happening to him.

Charlie’s life takes a drastic turn when he’s “won” at a silent auction by outspoken singer Emma Payge (Tiffany Haddish), who ends up in the hospital over an accidental shellfish allergy. Needless to say, oil has just met water. Charlie is a soft spoken comedic writer with a lifetime of hard work, and Emma is loud, brash, and a sparkling array of impulsive decisions. The two somehow hit it off and before long the two friends are going everywhere together. Emma is no dummy and sees through Charlie’s facade of deception regarding his mental acuity failing him, and the two inspire each other to push themselves to their respective limits. That being said, we all know that this can end only one way with a dementia sufferer, and as Charlie’s life begins to slip away, their friendship may be one of the few things that anchors the aging man to his incredible life.

Sometimes we don’t want a massive blockbuster or sundance film festival tear jerker when dealing with serious subject matters like this. Sometimes a warm and light hearted approach to the painful inevitability is wanted when so much suffering is going on in the world. Sometimes we just want to be comforted and end with a smile on our face. This is exactly the approach Billy Crystal takes in writing/directing Here Today. It’s not going to go incredibly in depth with the seriousness of losing one’s faculties, instead focusing on a friendship that creates a strong anchor to life. A film that whimsically puts a smile on your face and ignores the harsher realities of what may go on. Crystal expounds upon this in the commentary, explaining that he wanted to make this a family film that makes you smile about life, not rip hope from you and leave you depressed and sad. A celebration of life if you will.

The film’s 3rd act tends to suffer a bit by being overly sappy and cliched, but the rest of the film is actually rather enjoyable. Crystal is a veteran actor, skilled at playing slightly whimsical and goofy characters, adding his own personal flair into Charlie’s descent into dementia. Haddish is actually quite good as well, something which I never thought I’d say. She’s still her brash and over the top self, but she tamed herself for this role quite a bit. Instead of being SOOOOO over the top, her impulsive and brash characteristics actually fit the impulsiveness of Emma, and she and Crystal share a warm camaraderie. They’re not always perfect, but they do well enough, something which gives the film it’s heart and soul, otherwise the movie would have just come across as cloying and cliched.




Rating:
Rated PG-13 for strong language, and sexual references.




Video:

I’m not sure how the MOD Blu-ray looks, but I wasn’t wildly impressed with Sony’s DVD release of Here Today. I’m not sure whether it was just a bad encode, or whether they’re no longer putting much effort into making 480p DVDs look good anymore. While it was given a dual layer disc, to breathe on, the whole disc is only barely over 6 GB’s of the 9 available, and looks very “muddled” to say the least. Macroblocking and compression artifacts just dominate the image, and everywhere you looks is crushed blacks, haloing around text and faces, as well as TONS of macroblocking compression everywhere. There’s a lot of places that look quite good with natural colors and warm hues of amber and blues, but the constant artifacting is a plague on the disc. Overall the disc looks DECENT, but even that is a stretch and I almost hesitate and knock another half star off, but decided against it. Needless to say it’s a very mediocre disc for sure, and is given a passable grade, and only passable.









Audio:

The 5.1 Dolby Digital track is probably the highlight of the disc, with a strong dialog driven mix that does everything well. Dialog is crisp and clean as expected, and the score is warm and inviting. Tiffany Haddish singing during his granddaughter’s Bar Mitzvah fills out the surrounds well enough, as does the construction and traffic of New York City when Charlie traverses to work. Subs are used mildly but effectively and overall this is a mix that just works as a nice dialog heavy drama track.









Extras:

• Commentary
• Interviews
• Previews

Final Score: ​

Here Today is a warm slice of pumpkin pie. It’s soft, comforting, and it hits most of the right notes when you’re in the mood for it. The movie doesn’t try to be anything more than comfort food, and in that it actually succeeds quite well. The DVD itself (there is a Blu-ray, but it is one of Sony’s MOD films, thus we weren’t able to review it) is a bit compressed for my tastes, but the extras are pretty solid and the film itself fun. I probably wouldn’t go out of my way to buy it, but it makes for a sweet watch and worthy of a rental at the minimum if you like these sort of heart warming stories told with Billy Crystal’s trademark whimsy.

Technical Specifications:

Starring: Billy Crystal, Tiffany Haddish, Dierdre Friel, Alex Brightman, Susan Pourfar, Sarah STiles
Directed by: Billy Crystal
Written by: Alan Zweibel (Short Story, "The Prize"), Billy Crystal (Screenplay)
Aspect Ratio: 2.49:1 MPEG2
Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1, English DVS
Subtitles: English SDH, English, French, Spanish
Studio: Sony
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 117 Minutes
DVD Release Date: August 3rd 2021

Recommendation: Rental