A Guy Thing on DVD

Have you ever have had one those nights in which you've had a bit too much to drink and forgetten a thing or two later?

How about waking up next to someone you don't even think you know? Remember the old joke about chewing off your arm?

Imagine, however, that it happens to you at a bachelor party - yours. And thus we have an amusing comedy with a great cast.

Paul (Jason Lee) is going to marry Karen (Selma Blair) in a week. But the morning after his bachelor party, he wakes up next to Becky (Julia Stiles). He can only assume that he's cheated on his fiancée, so he has to spend the next week pretending nothing happened. The big problem is that, unbeknownst to Paul, Becky is Karen's cousin, so he can only avoid seeing her again for so long. Hilarity ensues.

A Guy Thing is not the best comedy ever, or even the best comedy of the year, but it does deliver a few solid laughs. It hits a home run because of the talent of its cast, particularly the always funny Jason Lee. Lee has unbelievable comic timing, and even if the situation itself isn't particularly funny, his delivery makes it so. Add to that the believability of Stiles and Blair and you have an entertaining movie (Stiles has bugged me in every other movie I've seen her in, but I found her quite charming this time around). The best moments come while Paul is trying to cover something up, or when other guys (strangers or otherwise) instinctively know which lie he's telling and play along.

It's the kind of film that is equally enjoyable for both sexes, so it makes a great date movie. Whether or not it's worth watching more than once is surely a debatable question, but it's definitely worthy of a single viewing. Sit back, relax, and enjoy!

This is one of the most difficult DVDs I've ever had to review. It's a full-fledged special edition, even more so than many of MGM's huge blockbusters, but it has its drawbacks.

The disc features both 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and Pan&Scan screen transfers,Dolby Digital 5.1 surround audio, and a ton of nice extras. The problem is, both the picture and sound are pretty bad. The picture quality features just about every problem I've ever talked about: grain, dust, softness, edge enhancement and halo effect. The combination of all these things makes for a movie that would generally be hard to watch, but since it's a light-hearted comedy, isn't thoroughly upsetting. It almost looks like the original print was thrown on the disc without any sort of touching up.

The audio is not quite as disappointing, but I did find the dialogue very quiet in numerous places. Understandably there is no surround use, but at least the front channels should be used properly. In this kind of comedy, the dialogue is the most important part, so if you can't hear that, you have nothing.

Extras start off with an audio commentary by director Chris Koch, Jason Lee and Julia Stiles. What should have been a very entertaining, fun commentary is pretty mediocre. Koch does most of the talking, with Stiles and Lee staying mostly in the background. They talk a lot about this and that, and we learn a thing or two, but it should have been more fun.

There are some deleted scenes, some of which are actually quite funny, with introductions by Koch, and some alternate endings. The first and best featurette is called "Inside A Guy Thing," and features interviews with the cast, director, writers and producers. They talk about things that went on during filming (and the writers actually talk about the progression of the script), and it sounds like they all had a blast on set. The next featurette is called "Bachelor Party Confidential," and has many of the main players talking about their thoughts and experiences relating to bachelor parties. The final featurette is "Groovy Gravy," and is supposed to be about making a certain scene from the film, but is pretty much just more interviews. There is also a trivia track (like Pop-Up Video), an "Are We Made For Each Other" interactive quiz, a photo gallery, and the trailer.

It's a kick-ass assortment of extras, but the picture and sound hinder the overall quality by a lot.

A Guy Thing, from MGM Home Video
101 minutes, anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1, 16x9 TV compatible)/ Pan&Scan, Dolby Digital 5.1 surround
Starring Jason Lee, Julia Stiles, Selma Blair, James Brolin, Shawn Hatosy, Lochlyn Munro, Julie Hagerty
Produced by David Ladd, David Nicksay
Written by Greg Glienna & Pete Schwaba and Matt Tarses & Bill Wrubel, Directed by Chris Koch

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