Once Upon a Crime on DVD

A screwball comedy featuring a screwball cast and the directorial debut of SCTV alumnus Eugene Levy. How can you go wrong?

Well, you can’t so far as the movie is concerned, but you can with the DVD. For whatever reason (undoubtedly something financial), MGM chose to release this very funny film only in Pan&Scan, so if you’ve shelled out for a widescreen TV you’ll have to stretch and/or zoom the picture to fill your screen, distorting everything on it rather than risk burning in your expensive high tech purchase.

Rats!

Once Upon a Crime stars John Candy, James Belushi, Cybill Shepherd, Sean Young, Richard Lewis, George Hamilton, Giancarlo Giannini, and even director Levy shows up in a cameo!

The movie reminds us of those old fashioned screwball comedies of the forties, as well as such classics as “What’s Up, Doc?” It’s a real hoot.

The story itself is a crime caper set mostly in glamorous Monte Carlo. The script is populated by loveable but bumbling stereotypical characters, most of whom are doing their best to advance their own particular agendas while avoiding suspicion and arrest by Giannini’s "Inspector Bonnard."

Lewis and Young are down on their luck Americans whose paths cross, and they both cross that of a dog that just may be their financial savior, at least temporarily. Shepherd & Belushi are a married couple, at least in name. He’s the Ugly American and she’s, well, she’s something else.

It’s a tale of murder most foul, greed, and intrigue and in the end, when we finally learn who the real culprits are, we slap our foreheads and go “Of course! How could it be anyone else?”

We won’t get into the story lest we ruin the fun - fun which appears to have spilled over to the cast and crew as well, because it appears that everyone involved in this thing had a splendid time with it.

Alas, there’s that damn Pan&Scan issue with the DVD, which forced us to distort the picture. That said, the video quality seemed as if it would have been excellent under happier circumstances.

Audio, which is Dolby Digital stereo surround, is also very good, though of course we’d have loved it if our home theater had been given a better workout than it gets from “stereo surround” soundtracks.

Extras include the trailer and a short featurette on the cast and crew that also hints at the splendid time that was had by all.

Once Upon a Crime, from MGM Home Video
94 min. Pan&Scan (1.33:1, not 16x9 TV compatible), Dolby Digital stereo surround
Starring John Candy, James Belushi, Cybill Shepherd, Sean Young, Richard Lewis, Ornella Muti, Giancarlo Giannini and George Hamilton
Produced by Dino De Laurentiis,
Written by Charles Shyer & Nancy Meyers and Steve Kluger, directed by Eugene Levy

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