Romantic comedies are really hit or miss opportunities and not something that often times make my all-time favorites’ list. Far too much the films end up leaning more to the romantic aspect of things and are way too mushy and pathetic. That’s not to say I don’t like a good romance or love story, but if you’re going to throw the word “comedy” into the genre category then make sure you keep me laughing throughout. Don’t just focus on the lovey-dovey and have me reach for a vomit bag when I should be reaching for a handkerchief to wipe my tears from laughing so hard. Well your film is sure to keep my attention and make me laugh by throwing in a big appendage on one of the funniest actors of all time.
His nose ya sickos.
C.D. Bales is a man that is well known and well liked in his little town where skiing is all the rage and everyone knows everyone. Better known as Charlie to some, C.D. is the fire chief where he leads a bunch of er…”special” firefighters that never really have much to do so aren’t the best qualified in the world. He is willing to help anyone and it doesn’t even matter that he has an exceptionally long nose. Yes, an exceptionally long nose. People just treat him for who he is as a person and love him for that without ever making mention of his so-called defect. They also know better then to do so because it is an overly sensitive subject.
Charlie happens to have everything in the world but love although that little issue is seemingly solved when Roxanne moves to town for the summer to do a little astrological research. She is not only beautiful but overly smart and that is just double-love for Charlie because he has never met many people that can match up with him on an intellectual level. He just knows that he couldn’t ever please her totally because of his ahem, looks. Against his better judgment and to make Roxanne fully happy; Charlie decides to help the new good-looking firefighter in town, Chris, win her over. Chris has everything a woman would look for in a guy including good look, a great job, and a muscular body. He just has the speaking skills of a newborn chimpanzee and can barely get out an audible “hello” let alone enough intelligent conversation to speak with Roxanne. Charlie knows that feeding Chris the lines for good talks will help him in his quest to win over Roxanne, but how long can Charlie’s feelings stay buried?
Roxanne is a great telling of the classic Cyrano de Bergerac tale where the muscular meathead is fed lines by an eloquent linguist that knows how to woo any woman with his words. The awesome scene where Charlie hides in the bushes and tells Chris what to say to Roxanne who is standing up on her balcony is almost an exact recreation from Cyrano’s story. The romance part of the film is quite beautiful and rather endearing as it shows just to what lengths some men will go in order to make the woman they love happy. Even if it means not having her for their very own. As for the comedy portion of the film; it is without a doubt some of the funniest stuff I’ve ever seen in a romantic comedy. If you can’t laugh at the scene in the bar where Charlie comes up with twenty funnier names to call himself then you just don’t have a funny bone my friends.
The film is shown in 2.40:1 Anamorphic Widescreen format and it looks great. Everything is bright and crisp making for a rather pleasant viewing experience. You’re not going to have any over the top visuals here, but it really is presented in a great fashion.
Our Cyrano de Bergerac tale is heard in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and it honestly wasn’t the best I’ve ever heard from a Blu-ray disc. The center speaker pretty much gets all the action throughout and the surrounding speakers barely even let the music fill the room. One bothersome note though is having to adjust the volume up and down when it comes to some of the quieter scenes because not all dialogue can be heard.
Trailers – The Pink Panther and Made Of Honor
Roxanne was released in 1987 and I saw it on video probably sometime a year or two later which would make me about nine or ten years old at first viewing. Even back at that tender age it was a film that I enjoyed thoroughly and found to be absolutely hilarious even though most of the jokes were probably lost on me. Today it is still a fantastic film with a lot of love and tons of comedy now that I actually get all of the humor thrown my way. My low score for this Blu-ray comes from the extreme disappointment that we don’t get a single special feature. It’s possible to do without behind the scenes’ footage or perhaps a “making of” featurette, but it would have been awesome to have an audio commentary with Hannah, Martin, and a few others. Yet we get nothing. I would recommend buying this one anyway because it really is such a great film and it only carries a $19.99 price tag unlike most other Blu-rays that start at $29.99. That’s not too bad a price for more humor then you can shake a big nose…STICK at!
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Sony presents Roxanne. Directed by: Fred Schepsi. Starring: Steve Martin, Daryl Hannah. Written by: Steve Martin. Running time: 107 minutes. Rating: PG. Released on DVD: May 5, 2009. Available at Amazon.com
