Director
Norman Jewison

Cast
Marisa Tomei,
Robert Downey Jr,
Bonnie Hunt,
Fisher Stevens,

Music
Rachel Portman

14 years later Faith is about to marry a very drear and demanding podiatrist. 10 days before the wedding a friend of the groom rings to pass on apologies for not being able to make it to the wedding; his name………….. Damon Bradley !. Faith rushes to the airport to meet her destiny only to find that he has left for Venice. Her faithful sister in law Kate (Bonnie Hunt) decides to leave her husband and fly to Italy with her in pursuit of the infamous Damon.

Trials and tribulations prevent them meeting Mr. Bradley until they eventually track him down to a restaurant where Faith bumps into a man who becomes very deeply smitten with her and she with him. Perfect match really. He romances her right through the night and into the early morning until she discovers that he is not who she thought. Turns out he is Peter Wright(Robert Downy Jr. ) and he is very much in love with but her she will not reveal her feelings to him. To please her he decides to find Mr Damon Bradley and give her the man of her dreams.

From there the story takes a few strange paths but all is well in the end.

So How Does this Transfer Hold Up?

Columbia Tristar have excelled again with the transfer of this film. Images were generally sharp and clear with a nice soft focus look to them at times, characteristic of a romantic film. I did find some small problems, with crosstalk on the building shutters and some really bad crosstalk on a stripe shirt worn by Kate Corvatch, which made me flinch. Other than that there was a little loss of detail in shadowed areas and a touch of graininess every now and then but nothing really major. The colour is exquisite and at times could almost be too saturated but really set the mood for the film. The Italian landscapes were picturesque and invoking with a fantastic coastal sunset shot that was absolutely stunning.

The 5.0 audio track was quite good. (never the same as 5.1). There was one scene in a storm with some gutsy surrounds but nothing much else in the way of surround effect. Being a romantic comedy you don’t expect too much, and the dialogue was always sharp and had no obvious sync problems that I could find. Rachel Portman has composed a touching musical score, fitting for the film but not overly exciting. I was disappointed to hear the "Only You" song at the beginning of the film and not at some crucial point in the relationship, but I guess I’m no composer.

The extras are there but not really anything to get excited about. The behind the scenes featurette is a bit "ho hum". Other than that you get the usual, Theatrical Trailer and Cast and crew filmograpies. The menu is nothing spectacular although it is nice to see a Columbia film with easily seen selectors on a menu. I have found that generally it’s hard to tell what you are selecting.

Overall I immensely enjoyed this film and having not seen it before was even better. You can only watch a romantic comedy so many times, before you know what to expect and it’s not as romantic. I tend to lean towards this film being one you could watch several times and not get bored with it. It has an element of intrigue, which can be savoured many times. This is a fantastic movie for any hopeless romantics. The transfer quality is great, and the audio is close behind. WATCH AND ENJOY (better watched with company J )

Review Equipment
TV: GE 68cm (16:9 selectable)
DVD: Samsung DVD907 (via S-Video)
Receiver/Proc: Sansui A505 & Yamaha DSP-E390
Speakers:-
Fronts: Wharfdale Diamond R6 (on a pair of custom made stands you'd KILL for)
Centre: Venturi
Rears: Sony bookshelf

- reviewed 18th November 1999