The basic story line is one that a lot of couples seem to experience and certainly brings memories of a few I know. Bruce Willis plays Ben Jordan who has begun a trial separation from his wife Katie (Michelle Pfeiffer). The couple have experienced some difficulties which bring them to this separation. They make every effort to keep their problem from their children and any associates other than close friends.

Both have a close group of friends willing to listen and give advice no matter how unwanted it is.

The bulk of the movie is a series of flash backs of the good and bad times in their lives and their dealing with the current situation while trying to withhold their true feelings from each other.

Add in some packed performances from Paul Reiser and Rita Wilson and you make the story a lot more lighthearted and gives the film a broader approach to the subject rather than just focusing on the negative side of the situation.

So How Does This Transfer Hold Up?

VIDEO
The 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen is nothing short of spectacular. I was tempted to give this a reference quality rating but it just falls short.

The colour palette was beautiful, Always giving natural and perfectly saturated colour schemes.

Shadow detail was perfect. Blacks were nice and deep but never lost any detail.

There were no film artefacts, MPEG artefacts, ailiasing or grain problems. Occasionally there were some slight shimmering/edge enhancement problems but you’ll need a magnifying glass to pick these up so no points lost for these.

There are a few close up shots which look a little soft but I believe these are a manipulation in the original film and not a fault with the transfer.

Unfortunately there were a couple of scenes with some overexposed lighting sequences which let me own a little but given a small budget and time constraints I guess this is forgivable.

AUDIO

The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track is also bordering on perfect.

The centre channel is as expected the dominant channel with most of the film dialogue based. Dialogue was always clear and easy to understand, sharp and crisp.

The surrounds and base channel hardly got a look in but not a diminishing factor in the audio track.

The soundtrack from Eric Clapton is fantastic (not that I’m a fan at all J ). His illusive acoustic guitar sequences are great and match the on screen action well.

The mood of the soundtrack seems to change beautifully with the mood of the actors.

Two thumbs up for this audio track.

The packaging incorrectly advertises audio tracks in Italian and French and also subtitles in Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, and German, All of which do not appear on the disc.

EXTRAS

Featurette: The stories behind the Story Of Us.

This is of significantly lower quality than the film but is quite a good addition as an extra. Some obviously rushed tid bits from the cast and crew. This comes across as a nice mini doco with some behind the scenes info but only enough to keep you guessing. The opening sequence to the featurette is very cleverly done.

Audio Commentary Rob Reiner (Director)

Audio Commentaries aren’t my favourite extra but this one was bearable. Little slow at times but if you stay awake you can catch some interesting info.

Theatrical Trailer