Search - I Love You to Death on DVD

MPAA Rating: R Content Advisory: Mild Violence, Brief Nudity, Adult Situations, Not For Children, Adult Language Movie Release: 1990 DVD Release: 07/29/2003 Format: DVD - Pan and Scan - Closed Captioned Edition: Dual Layered Audio Tracks: English Subtitles: English, French, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Thai SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 37 mins Studio: Columbia TriStar Members Wishing: 14 Genres: Comedy, Crime, Black Comedy, Crime Comedy

Lawrence Kasdan's black comedy about a wife's ultimate revenge against her womanizing husband is based on a true story about the wife of a pizzeria owner who decided to kill her cheating husband. When her attempt to murder him failed, the husband refused to press charges against her because he felt she had done the right thing. Kevin Kline is the pizzeria owner Joey Boca in I Love You to Death. Joey is a smooth Italian lothario, modeled after Marcello Mastroianni, who cheerfully dons his plumbers overalls to repair his female tenants' plumbing in the rental apartments the family owns. Joey feels he is justified in bedding down countless numbers of women because of all the hours he puts in day after day at the pizzeria. Plus, as he tells one of his women friends, "I'm a man. I got a lotta hormones in my body." His wife Rosalie (Tracey Ullman) sweetly ignores her husband's philandering -- that is until she visits the public library and sees Joey fondling one of tenants in the book stacks. At first Rosalie considers suicide, but finally, egged on by her mother Nadja (Joan Plowright), she determines that Joey must be the one to face the music. But the people Rosalie hires to do Joey in are of the cut-rate variety and are unsuccessful. They then try to knock Joey off by feeding him barbiturate-laced spaghetti, but also to no avail. Rosalie then enlists pizzeria employee Deco Nod (River Phoenix), who has a crush on Rosalie, to do the job. But even then, they have no luck. As a last resort, they try to hire professionals. What they get instead are two drugged-out junkies -- Harlan (William Hurt) and Marlin (Keanu Reeves) -- who arrive at the home and blast at a slumbering figure in the bedroom. Then, while they report on their progress downstairs, Joey ambles into the living room, very much alive. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Kevin Kline - Joey Boca
Tracey Ullman - Rosalie Boca
Joan Plowright - Nadja
River Phoenix - Devo Nod
William Hurt - Harlan James
Keanu Reeves - Marlon James
Miriam Margolyes - Joey's Mother

Lawrence Kasdan's romantic black-comedy I Love You to Death is certainly not one of him more remembered directorial efforts, which could explain why so little was put into the DVD. Both 1.85:1 anamorphic and full-frame transfers are included, and for the most part, the image looks good. To a certain extent color is represented well, but detail is never a strong point. All too often the picture looks a little too soft, but fortunately isn't too much of a distraction. The audio track, a 2-channel surround, is also decent, but hardly noteworthy. The surrounds are present, but as would be expected with this genre, there isn't anything to take advantage of the sound field. Extras are, not too surprisingly, slim. Only trailers for other Columbia/TriStar films, Manhattan Murder Mystery, Murder by Death and So I Married an Axe Murderer are included. Why one for this film isn't included, or anything else of substance, is anyone guess. To be sure, the film and this disc do have one thing in common; barely enough material to be worthwhile. ~ Trent Fordham, All Movie Guide