Search - A Fine Mess on DVD

MPAA Rating: PG Content Advisory: Adult Situations, Questionable for Children, Adult Language Movie Release: 1986 DVD Release: 12/06/2005 Format: DVD - Color,Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV - Closed Captioned Edition: Restored/Remastered Audio Tracks: English Subtitles: English, French SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 30 mins Studio: Columbia TriStar Members Wishing: 0 Genres: Comedy, Crime, Slapstick, Odd Couple Film

Blake Edwards comes a cropper in this lunk-headed slapstick homage to Laurel and Hardy, Mack Sennett, and Jerry Lewis. Ted Danson and Howie Mandell play Spence Holden and Dennis Powell, a couple of idiots who find themselves involved with a pack of gangsters. Spence is a two-bit actor who is at a racetrack location with his pal Dennis, when he overhears two small-time thugs, Wayne "Turnip" Parragella (Richard Mulligan) and Maurice "Binky" Drundza (Stuart Margolin), talk about doping a horse set to run a race. It turns out that Turnip and Binky are under orders to carry out the dastardly scheme by their underworld boss Tony Pazzo (Paul Sorvino). When Spence and Dennis are found out, they find themselves pursued all over the Los Angeles area by an angry Tony Pazzo mob in an ever-escalating series of races and chases, crashes and smashes, and shouting and screaming. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Ted Danson - Spence Holden
Howie Mandel - Dennis Powell
Richard Mulligan - Wayne Turnip Farragalla
Stuart Margolin - Maurice "Binky" Dzundza
Maria Conchita Alonso - Claudia Pazzo

Sony has created a decent no-frills edition of A Fine Mess for comedy fans with this disc. The big draw for the film's fans is the transfer, which restores the film to its original 2.35:1 scope format. The anamorphic, widescreen image boasts solid detail and color while also showing off the film's use of the Cinemascope format. The audio portion of the disc sticks to the original Dolby 2.0 mix and it's a solid one that delivers dialogue and music with clarity. Unfortunately, the disc offers no extras except for trailers for a few other Sony releases (the trailer for A Fine Mess is missing in action). It's a shame that a little more effort wasn't put into this release but fans of Blake Edwards will no doubt be happy to see the film in its original aspect ratio and the low retail price makes it worthwhile for those fans. ~ Donald Guarisco, All Movie Guide