THE
NEW GUY ($28) is a fairly inoffensive teen comedy that has the bonus
of a sequence in which Eliza Dushku models swimwear. Personally, I could
have watched a two-hour DVD of Dushku modeling swimwear and then viewed it
again to hear an audio commentary of her reading the phonebook. Getting
back to the movie, THE NEW GUY features DJ Qualls as Dizzy
Harrison, a nerdy, abused high school senior who decides to change his
life by transferring to a new school and reinventing himself by donning a
tough, cool persona.
With
the help of the prison wizened Luther (Eddie Griffin), Dizzy is able to
successfully transform himself into Gil Harris and goes straight to the
top of the schools pecking order by knocking out the current big man on
campus. With his newfound popularity, Gil almost forgets his roots, but
after taking up with Danielle (Eliza Dushku), the head cheerleader, who
was once a social outcast, Gil makes it his mission to unite the popular
and unpopular students at his new school. The cast of THE NEW GUY
also includes Zooey Deschanel, Jerod Mixon, Parry Shen, Lyle Lovett, Sunny
Mabrey, Ross Patterson, Matt Gogin, Horatio Sanz, Tony Hawk, Geoffrey
Lewis, Charlie O'Connell, Jerry O'Connell, Gene Simmons, Tommy Lee and
Illeana Douglas.
Columbia
TriStar Home Entertainment has made THE NEW GUY available on DVD in
a 1.85:1 wide screen presentation that features the anamorphic enhancement
for 16:9 displays. A full screen presentation is also offered on a
separate layer for those whose biggest concern is making sure every bit of
their picture tube is being utilized. The wide screen presentation looks
quite good, but since THE NEW GUY was a modestly budgeted affair,
the cinematography and resulting transfer really don't stand out.
The
image is pretty sharp most of the time and there is a respectable amount
of detail, but there are some soft spots that turn up now and then. Colors
appear fairly vivid, with no signs of chroma noise or smearing, plus the
flesh tones are pretty natural. Blacks are accurately rendered; contrast
is reasonably smooth, and shadow detail is adequate for the material. The
film element used for the transfer is free from noticeable blemishes,
although the grain structure is occasionally noticeable. Digital
compression artifacts keep a low profile throughout.
The
Dolby Digital 5.1 channel sound mix featured on THE NEW GUY is of
the standard comedy variety. Surround activity is somewhat limited to
enhancing gags and giving the film's music a nice spread through the
soundstage. The forward hemisphere is where most of the activity is
localized, with some nice stereo separations for both sound effects and
music. Dialogue is always crisply rendered with excellent intelligibility;
not that the dialogue is particularly scintillating, but at least you can
make out all the jokes. The bass is adequate to the task of enhancing the
film's musical content. A French language track is also encoded onto the
DVD, as are English and French subtitles. Music underscores the basic
interactive menus, which provide access to the standard scene selection
and set up features, as well as a theatrical trailer, bonus trailers and
music video for the song I'm Just A Kid by Simple Plan.
As
I said up above, THE NEW GUY is a fairly inoffensive teen comedy
that's good for a few laughs and does include the added bonus of Eliza
Dushku modeling swimwear. The DVD looks and sounds just fine, so if you
are interested in checking out THE NEW GUY, you can't go wrong with
the disc.
THE
NEW GUY ($28) is a fairly inoffensive teen comedy that has the bonus
of a sequence in which Eliza Dushku models swimwear. Personally, I could
have watched a two-hour DVD of Dushku modeling swimwear and then viewed it
again to hear an audio commentary of her reading the phonebook. Getting
back to the movie, THE NEW GUY features DJ Qualls as Dizzy
Harrison, a nerdy, abused high school senior who decides to change his
life by transferring to a new school and reinventing himself by donning a
tough, cool persona.
With
the help of the prison wizened Luther (Eddie Griffin), Dizzy is able to
successfully transform himself into Gil Harris and goes straight to the
top of the schools pecking order by knocking out the current big man on
campus. With his newfound popularity, Gil almost forgets his roots, but
after taking up with Danielle (Eliza Dushku), the head cheerleader, who
was once a social outcast, Gil makes it his mission to unite the popular
and unpopular students at his new school. The cast of THE NEW GUY
also includes Zooey Deschanel, Jerod Mixon, Parry Shen, Lyle Lovett, Sunny
Mabrey, Ross Patterson, Matt Gogin, Horatio Sanz, Tony Hawk, Geoffrey
Lewis, Charlie O'Connell, Jerry O'Connell, Gene Simmons, Tommy Lee and
Illeana Douglas.
Columbia
TriStar Home Entertainment has made THE NEW GUY available on DVD in
a 1.85:1 wide screen presentation that features the anamorphic enhancement
for 16:9 displays. A full screen presentation is also offered on a
separate layer for those whose biggest concern is making sure every bit of
their picture tube is being utilized. The wide screen presentation looks
quite good, but since THE NEW GUY was a modestly budgeted affair,
the cinematography and resulting transfer really don't stand out.
The
image is pretty sharp most of the time and there is a respectable amount
of detail, but there are some soft spots that turn up now and then. Colors
appear fairly vivid, with no signs of chroma noise or smearing, plus the
flesh tones are pretty natural. Blacks are accurately rendered; contrast
is reasonably smooth, and shadow detail is adequate for the material. The
film element used for the transfer is free from noticeable blemishes,
although the grain structure is occasionally noticeable. Digital
compression artifacts keep a low profile throughout.
The
Dolby Digital 5.1 channel sound mix featured on THE NEW GUY is of
the standard comedy variety. Surround activity is somewhat limited to
enhancing gags and giving the film's music a nice spread through the
soundstage. The forward hemisphere is where most of the activity is
localized, with some nice stereo separations for both sound effects and
music. Dialogue is always crisply rendered with excellent intelligibility;
not that the dialogue is particularly scintillating, but at least you can
make out all the jokes. The bass is adequate to the task of enhancing the
film's musical content. A French language track is also encoded onto the
DVD, as are English and French subtitles. Music underscores the basic
interactive menus, which provide access to the standard scene selection
and set up features, as well as a theatrical trailer, bonus trailers and
music video for the song I'm Just A Kid by Simple Plan.
As
I said up above, THE NEW GUY is a fairly inoffensive teen comedy
that's good for a few laughs and does include the added bonus of Eliza
Dushku modeling swimwear. The DVD looks and sounds just fine, so if you
are interested in checking out THE NEW GUY, you can't go wrong with
the disc.
