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Category:    Home > Reviews > Comedy > Romance > Literature > Martial Arts Cycle > Action > Drama > Sex > Revenge > Teens > From Prada To Nada (2010/Lionsgate Blu-ray) + Hall Pass (2011/Enlarged Edition – Extended Cut/Warner Blu-ray w/DVD) + Muay Thai Fighter (2009/MagNet/Magnolia Blu-ray) + Wild Cherry (2008/Image Blu-ray

From Prada To Nada (2010/Lionsgate Blu-ray) + Hall Pass (2011/Enlarged Edition – Extended Cut/Warner Blu-ray w/DVD) + Muay Thai Fighter (2009/MagNet/Magnolia Blu-ray) + Wild Cherry (2008/Image Blu-ray)

 

Picture: B-/C+ & C-/B-/C+     Sound: B-/B- & C+/B-/B     Extras: C+/D/C+/C-     Films: C+/D/C+/C-

 

 

Comedy is not easy, but that is no excuse for so many of them to be so bad.  They could at least try and here are some cases that teeter in the middle of that…

 

 

Angel Gracia’s From Prada To Nada (2010) is a mostly Hispanic cast remake of Sense & Sensibility with Camilla Belle, Alexa Vega, Wilmer Valderrama, Nicholas D’Agosto and Adriana Barraza, it is an amusing variant with some good performances and good humor throughout that is worth a look and is a nice change from all the other stuffy versions of the original and all the other Austen adaptations overall.

 

For those unfamiliar with the original, here is the link to the only version of Sense we have reviewed to date:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6864/Jane+Austen%E2%80%99s+Sense+&

 

This one is the best of the three releases here simply because it is trying to be different and do something different with familiar material and have fun with it.  The cast also produces some charm and chemistry, which helps, but this is only so realized and is a victim of Austen burn-out that no form of adaptation can avoid.  Still, I would like to see these actors more and hope this helps.  Extras include three featurette, Deleted Scenes that also amuse, Theatrical Trailer and Bloopers.

 

Peter & Bobby Farrelly (Stuck On You) are back, which does not excite me, but at least they can be funny on occasion.  Unfortunately, Hall Pass (2011) wastes Owen Wilson, Richard Jenkins and Christina Applegate, while Jason Sudeikis does not come across as funny and has not been funny much to be to begin with.  The guys are not grown up despite being married, so their wives (Applegate and Jenna Fischer) give them a week to go anywhere they want (the title refers to what they call it) so they can supposed get their silliness, immaturity, goofiness and hyperness out of their system.  However, the script is predictable, sometimes obnoxious and I never bought this for a minute, even in a leave-your-brain-at-the-door way.  Some might, I did not and it was not a big success, yet you should see it if you idea of comedy is really, really dumb comedy, but do that at your own risk.  Extras include Blu-ray exclusive BD Live interactive features, Digital Copy for PC and PC portable devices, an additional scene and “is it really funny?” Gag Reel.

 

Muay Thai Fighter was previously reviewed by fellow writer Ricky Chiang on DVD at this link:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10954/Muay+Thai+Fighter+(2009/Magnolia

 

 

This was more of an awkward Rocky/Karate Kid redux than anything else, but at least is consistent and amusing, so you might be interested.  I was only so impressed, but it was still a little better than I expected simply because there is at least some energy here and it is in locales I have not seen much.  Extras include Blu-ray exclusive BD Live interactivity, international trailer, trailer gallery, a making of featurette and behind the scenes interview with cast.

 

Finally we have Dana Lustig’s Wild Cherry (2008), a would-be female teen sex comedy about three virgin gals (Rumer Willis, Kristin Cavallari, Tania Raymonde) who find out they have been matched to football players as if they would be the young men to loose “the Big V” to without being told, so they go out for a sort of revenge.  Oddly, this gets sidetracked by various teens supposedly being asked about sex, though that comes across as phony filler and Rob Schneider shows up as an overprotective father of one of the gals, bit that does not work and is not funny either.  This is a very rare case where I will not blame Schneider.  Tia Carrere even shows up (she is not here enough) and cannot save this predictable bore either.  A trailer is the only extra.

 

 

The 1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image on Nada and Muay have their share of motion blur and flaws, but still look better than the 1080p 2.35 X 1 on Pass, which is somehow weaker and sometimes phonier-looking.  This is worse for Pass on the anamorphically enhanced DVD also included, which is sometimes unwatchable.  The 1080p 1.78 on Cherry is as bad as Pass and shows already the age of the older HD production.  The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 mixes on all three may not be perfect, but are at least professional and warmer than lossy mixes and these are all essentially dialogue/joke based, with Cherry having surprisingly the best mix of the three; its only highlight.  I expected Pass might sound better with a larger budget, but that was not the case.  The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix on the Pass DVD is the weakest of all, as expected.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


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