Search - Sunset Park on DVD

MPAA Rating: R Content Advisory: Adult Situations, Adult Humor Movie Release: 1996 DVD Release: 07/09/2002 Format: DVD - Closed Captioned Edition: Restored/Remastered Audio Tracks: English Subtitles: English, French SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 39 mins Studio: Columbia TriStar Members Wishing: 0 Genres: Drama, Sports Drama

A Jewish high school teacher, Phyllis Saroka (Rhea Perlman), steps in to take on the thankless job of coaching the school's inept basketball team, which is filled with ne'er-do-wells from the slums. She takes the job to get extra money to fulfill her dream of opening a restaurant on the Caribbean island of St. Croix. Phyllis has had bad luck with men, is dissatisfied with her teaching job, and is desperate to do something meaningful as she approaches middle age. Meanwhile, the players on the team are ambitious only about scoring drugs and girls and inventing their own rap songs. Butter (James Harris) is the team's only really talented player, but he wastes most of his energy chasing skirts. Busy-Bee (De'Aundre Bonds) is a small but highly energetic goofball. The mind of Spaceman (Terrence Dashon Howard) has been diminished by learning disabilities and drugs. Phyllis's greatest challenge is the brilliant, moody Shorty (Fredro Starr). Shorty teaches Phyllis the game, but he feels betrayed when he learns that she is planning to leave after one season. Perlman's husband, Danny DeVito, served as the film's producer. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

Rhea Perlman - Phyllis Saroka
Fredro Starr - Shorty
Carol Kane - Mona
Terrence Howard - Spaceman
Camille Saviola - Barbara

Steve Gomer's basketball film Sunset Park comes to DVD with a standard full-frame transfer that fails to preserve the original theatrical aspect ratio of the movie. The closed-captioned English soundtrack is impressively rendered in Dolby Digital 5.1. English and French subtitles are accessible. Supplemental materials include the theatrical trailer. This would be a solid disc if it contained a widescreen transfer, but as it is, =Sunset Park should be enjoyed by anyone who does not mind the pan-and-scan image. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide