Whilst many of my fellow reviewers have certainly
given this film drag through the mud, I do have to give it some credit. This is another of
those teenage fantasy flicks which does it’s best to make a teenage life out to be
more enjoyable than any of us remember.
Justine (Laura Fraser) is a stereotypical 17 year old who has 18 pairs of nickers and
is a virgin. She invents in her head, men with barcodes you can scan to see exactly what
you wants him to look like and how the sparks will fly when you meet him.
In desperation however she sets about finding Mr. Barcode. This involves Justin and her
friend Fran setting up a date with Alex, with help of their nerdy friend Chas who uses the
inter thingy! The legendary Alex rings all the bells of the Wog Boy.
They decide to set up the date at a virtual reality fair where Justine ventures inside
a virtual reality game, which promises to change the way she looks.
She jumps in the deep end however when she creates her Mr. Barcode.
An electrical disaster, and we have the man of her dreams walking the streets.
Only thing is that Jake still has Justine’s mind and has some trouble adjusting to
being a male.
The rest of the story is based on Justine’s crush on Jake who is really Justine
and of course Justine’s eagerness to lose her virginity.
So how does the transfer hold up?
...  |
VIDEO
The anamorphic widescreen transfer is fantastic, and with the onslaught of
great transfers from CTHV I would expect nothing less. The film is sharp and clear
throughout with only the slightest soft feeling to some scenes. Shadow detail is good but
not perfect even with the deepest of blacks there was still some lack of detail. The
colour pallette was magnificent and occassionally bordered on being oversaturated.
There are no film, or Mpeg artefacts to be seen. There are
some occasional instances of ailiasing but nothing distracting and only what you would
expect from a great transfer.
 ... |
AUDIO
The bulk of the Dolby Digital 5.1 transfer as pretty plane
jane with some nice surround effects but there is one audio sequence which nearly blew me
out of the louge room. The sequence begins around 12.59 for about a minute and is a scene
of Justine and Chas in virtual reality game. Trust me this is fantastic the surround
effects and base channel are highly active here.
This is about the most impressive aidio selection in
the film the rest is basically dialogue driven and doesn’t present much Wow! In the
5.1 region.
The dialogue though is consistently sharp and clear and has
those nice tangy british accents to wrap your ears around.
The musical score from Rupert Gregson-Williams is good but
nothing to get excited about. The score tends to have a nice punchy feel to it but
doesn’t really bring you into the film as such.
...  |
EXTRAS
A disappointing array of features from CTHV who have been dealing out some good
efforts lately.
Theatrical Trailer
Behind the Scenes Featurette: Very ordinary I must say. At
a flimsy 6 minutes or so why even bother? There are a few interviews with cast and crew
and some snippets from the movie not very good quality and not really giving a lot of
background information.
Video Diary Featurette: basically a few short outtakes and
nothing more.
In all this is an enjoyable film. The plot is of course
laughable and that seems to be what makes it. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this
one for a good laugh.Danish Finnish
| PICTURE
QUALITY |
8/10 only very minor problems |
SOUND
- Quality
- 5.1 WOW Factor |
8/10 very nice
7/10 effective at times |
| EXTRAS |
4/10 I wouldn’t even bother |
| OVERALL |
8/10 great flick! |
Review Equipment
TV: GE 68cm (16:9 selectable)
DVD: Samsung DVD909 (via S-Video)
Receiver: Yamaha DTS RX-V595a (Sweeeeet)
Speakers:-
Fronts: Wharfdale Diamond R6 (on a pair of custom made stands you'd KILL for)
Centre: Venturi
Rears: Sony bookshelf
- Reviewed 21st November 2000
* Virtual Sexuality jpeg files
for internet promotion use only. Copyright© exists on all aspects of these files by
Columbia Tristar Home Video
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