Diggers – DVD Review

Film, Reviews

Available at Amazon.com

Director

Katherine Dieckmann

Cast

Paul Rudd .Hunt
Lauren Ambrose .Zoey
Shannon Barry .Lisa
Andrew Cherry .Anthony
Ron Eldard .Jack
Josh Hamilton .Cons
Ken Marino .Lozo

The Movie

When it comes to movie roles, Paul Rudd is perhaps the ultimate utility player for nearly every movie he’s in. While never taking a lead role for the most part, he has crafted memorable characters and moments in plenty of comedies over the last decade. He’s had some quality moments in Anchorman, Clueless and The Forty Year Old Virgin, each having been counted as one of the best comedies of their respective years. What has separated Rudd from many of his contemporaries, though, is that he hasn’t parlayed this sort of limited exposure into a higher profile career. Rudd is almost a poor man’s Luke Wilson in that regard; he seems to take the sort of roles that Wilson himself might take on occasion.

Rudd stars as Hunt in Diggers, a Magnolia Films independent release that had a short shelf life in theaters before its release on DVD. With his friends who fill some sort of basic archetype, the film is an existential look at the meaning behind it all. They’re clam diggers in 1970s Long Island, wandering through their lives to try and find some sort of meaning in it. After the death of Hunt’s father while on his boat, the people in the film try to find a way to deal with their personal and professional lives as their careers start to dwindle due to the proliferation of professional fishing companies in the area.

And for Rudd it’s an interesting role in an interesting film. Hunt is the sort of offbeat character Rudd really can sink his teeth into. It’s not a tour de force performance by any stretch of the imagination, but the film isn’t one that requires it. While perhaps “tour de slack” would be a better description, Rudd has the right combination of charm and wit to stand out. As Hunt contemplates his existence and his career, Rudd gives him a sort of twisted duality of sorts. On the one hand he wants to be an artist and take pictures for a living, but on the other being a digger is all he knows and has ever done.

The film itself, though, is written well enough to be a good independent film but not much more. There’s a lot left unsaid and undone in the film that would’ve expanded upon the film’s characters a bit more. This is a film that’s more dependent on character development and interactions than it is on plot, as not much happens, so the film’s key strength has to be in the characters it builds. It’s too bad as they’re not as strongly developed as they need to be. Outside of Hunt, who gets the lion’s share of time, everyone else is closer to being summarized as an archetype more than anything else. We can like the characters and understand them to a certain level, but in order to craft it a much higher level some more character development early on would’ve helped. The film’s short running time doesn’t hurt, either, as the film could easily pace out to two hours but instead stops at a little over 90.

The Audio

Presented in a Dolby Digital 5.1 format, the film has a terrific audio component. While not pushing the limit of the system, as it’s more dialogue oriented with little scoring and music, everything comes through loudly and clearly enough to make it worthwhile.

The Video

Presented in a widescreen format with a 1.78:1 aspect ratio, the film has a top notch visual component as well. The film does have plenty of interesting colors, based on the time period alone, and it comes through quite well.

The Extras

Higher Definition: Diggers is a television show hosted by Dallas Obsever & Village Voice film critic Robert Wilonsky focusing on the film. Featuring Marino and Dieckmann being interviewed by Wilonsky about the film, this feature is a puff piece. Throwing softball questions at the duo, this piece is an extended Electronic Press Kit feature where Wilonsky pontificates about the film he feels is one of the best of the last two years to one of its stars and its director.

Documentary on Clam Digging: “Baymen” follows the lives and history of the men who do the real life clam-digging that the film shows. It’s a hard life and the men who do it make no bones about it. It’s fascinating to see the people in this line of work talk about it without trying to make it seem larger than it is; they’re ordinary guys trying to make a living and that’s all. It’s a relatively detailed history about the profession from the men who’ve lived it.

Deleted Scenes and Outtakes are the usual suspects of scenes not good enough to be in the film and flubbed lines, et al.

Also included is an Audio Commentary with Director Katherine Dieckmann & Writer/Actor Ken Marino

The DVD Lounge’s Ratings for Diggers
CATEGORY
RATING
(OUT OF 10)
THE MOVIE

7.0
THE VIDEO

9.0
THE AUDIO

9.0
THE EXTRAS

8.5
REPLAY VALUE

7.5
OVERALL
6.0
(NOT AN AVERAGE)