DVD Review: The Offer

DVD Reviews, Reviews, Top Story

In The Offer Colin Hanks plays a fictional character named Barry Lapidus who at one point says that audiences don’t want or need anything overly deep or complicated, they just want to be entertained. His reasoning in the show is wrong, but as a whole he’s not entirely incorrect. The Offer is a limited series that’s based on the making of The Godfather from the perspective of the film’s Oscar winning producer, Albert S. Ruddy. This is important to note because if you’re going into the show not knowing anything about the history of the film, or the production itself then you could take everything shown here to be gospel and walk away thinking, “Man, what an incredible story!” And it is – but whether or not it’s all true or not isn’t as black and white.

One thing I will warn before we begin is that the first episode kind of rushes through introductions in a way that throws the pacing of the episode off a bit. The main focus of the show is Ruddy producing The Godfather, but to lay the groundwork of who he is beforehand they rush through him having a job at a defense corporation, leaving it to produce Hogan’s Heroes, and then leaving that show to go and produce films. Meanwhile, while this is all happening we learn that Mario Puzo’s latest book is a dud and he’s in serious debt. He doesn’t want to write a mafia book out of fear of repercussion and he feels that it’s beneath him to write such trash; but when he tells his wife how much they owe she orders him to get to work writing the trash.

I completely understand why they introduced the characters in the way they did, but it also feels a little silly watching Puzo come up with the entire story of The Godfather over the course of what feels like a single night. One night his wife tells him to write, the next morning he’s got it all planned out to perfection. Much like how Ruddy goes from working in an office to walking away from a successful TV show, this isn’t entirely the case, as there are time jumps without saying there are jumps, but it’s an awkward start to what does become an addictive show by the end of episode one.

Yes, once we get past the mediocre introductions and Ruddy is a producer at Paramount who is tasked with making The Godfather on a $4 million budget the show starts delivering what people tuned in to see. Now, as mentioned before, this is all from the perspective of Ruddy and according to the 10-episodes that we have in this series we learn how he almost single-handily saved the production of the film time and time again. Is this all true? I’m sure some of it is, and if even a few of these instances actually happened then that’s just insane and intense. I haven’t delved fully into fact-checking every aspect, but as I began this review I mentioned that Lapidus said audiences want to be entertained, and I’ll be damned if when an episode ended I didn’t want to immediately start the next.

I do know that the show portrays Ruddy to be heavily involved in all that happens on set and trying to make sure the film’s director, Francis Ford Coppola, is able to make the movie the way he’d envisioned. That said, it’s been reported by others on the crew that Ruddy wasn’t around set as much as the show might make one think, and that he and Coppola didn’t have a great relationship – which is a far cry from how the show portrays the filmmaking team. Does this ruin the show? To me it didn’t because while there may not have been truth in everything that takes place there is still an absolutely fascinating and engrossing story being told, and that story is being carried on the shoulders of some superb actors who are hard to take your eyes off of.

Miles Teller plays Ruddy, and he’s got a great delivery to everything Ruddy does to the point where no matter what’s happening on screen we believe it happened. He plays Ruddy like the perfect underdog who is always swinging up as everyone and everything around him tries to keep him down and stop him from fulfilling his destiny. Mathew Goode is phenomenal and a scene stealer as Paramount studio executive Robert Evans. Evans is the man who gives Ruddy a chance, and while the two butt heads in the show, they also have a friendship that’s also been put into question by sources outside of the show. Again, that’s neither here nor there, as the show isn’t a documentary, and Goode absolutely destroys the scenery with his work here.

Dan Folger is a joy to watch as Coppola, especially in his scenes alongside Patrick Gallo who plays Puzo. Watching the pair put together the screenplay for the film makes for some really fun moments. We’ve also got Burn Gorman as Austrian-born American industrialist Charles Bluhdorn, who owns Paramount and doesn’t care so much about the film getting made as much as he does making money. Hanks is one of the few to play a completely fictional character, as Lapidus (Bluhdorn’s right hand man in the show) is more of an embodiment of everyone who was against The Godfather being made and tried to stop it from happening. He’s the show’s big bad and he’s played to evil and annoying perfection by Hanks.

Giovanni Ribisi plays mob boss Joe Columbo in the parallel mobster story taking place alongside our main one. He does solid work here, making it so that it’s easy to see how someone could get mixed up and feel welcomed into the family by Columbo, while also showcasing just how evil and violent both he and the mafia life is. On the opposite side of things we’ve got Juno Temple as Bettye McCartt, who is hired on as Ruddy’s secretary, but is so much more. For as much as the show makes Ruddy look like the savior of the film’s production, McCartt comes out looking like a partner in crime over someone who usually just answers the phones for the producer they work for.

I’ll also briefly give a shout out to Anthony Ippolito and Justin Chambers, who play Al Pacino and Marlon Brando respectively. Ippolito is just nuts, truly capturing the look and sound of Pacino, making it hard to look away any time he pops up. Chambers also nails it as Brando, who could’ve easily fallen to a poor impersonation, but instead is brought to life in wonderful fashion. There are so many more who deserve mentions here, but I’d be writing all night and their work can speak for itself when you see the show.

The Offer may be a mix of fact and fiction, but it’s also wholly entertaining. There’s a lot to love here, and there are some great throwbacks to the days of old Hollywood, how things got done and sometimes still get done today. The worst thing a show can do these days is make you want to hit the sack after an episode finishes, and The Offer does the opposite, forcing you to stay up an extra 45-minutes when you really should go to bed. Great shows are not born great, they grow great, and The Offer only gets better as it grows, so do yourself a favour and pick yourself up a copy and a cannoli and enjoy!

Overall Rating: 4/5

Video and Audio

The DVD transfer of The Offer looks solid all around. There’s a lot of day and night shots, indoors and out, but nothing ever truly suffers from a muddying effect, or lack of crispness to the point of distraction or taking away from what’s happening on the screen. The colours are clean and simple, and very of the time period for when the story takes place, and everything just looks good all around.

On the sound side of things we’ve got Dolby Audio and it sounds fantastic, with dialogue shining through first and foremost, and the soundtrack of the time blasting through when required. The score also helps the show on its journey and never battles with the characters talking or any sound effects. It’s a harmonious mix that does the show a lot of justice.

Special Features:

No One Can Refuse: Making The Offer This feature runs at just over an hour in length and is the meat and potatoes of the special features. It’s broken into four chapters that you can play together as a whole, or individually if you want to break it up into separate viewings. It delves deep into the production, how the story came to be, the cast and crew talking about the influence of The Godfather and how crazy the story being told was. It’s just a lot of stuff here that fans of the show definitely won’t want to miss.

Crafting The Offer: Wardrobe & Costume Design – This featurette is four-minutes in length and touches on the show’s wardrobe and costume design. We get to hear from the crew that brought these outfits to life, and what some of the challenges and joys were when doing so. It’s quick, but a nice little piece to check out.

Crafting The Offer: Music Composition – This featurette is also just over four-minutes in length and touches on the music of the film. Again, it’s over almost as soon as it begins, but it’s still an interesting touch on something that’s so important to the show.

Crafting The Offer: Production Design – This featurette is, you guessed it, focused on production design. It’s four-and-a-half minutes in length and touches on the building of sets, giving the show the time period look and things along those lines. Again, it’s a fast watch, but worth checking out.

Crafting The Offer: Prop Design – As we continue on in this series of featurettes that I’m surprised didn’t have a “play all” option to go with them. This one focuses on prop design and is a similar four minute length like the others.

Crafting The Offer: Hair & Makeup Design – Lastly we’ve got the hair and makeup design getting their due, and boy do they deserve it! They did a lot to make actors seem like their real life counterparts, and we get to briefly learn about it in four minutes here.

Meet Al Ruddy – This featurette is self-explanatory as well, as we’re introduced to the real life Al Ruddy, who talks about wanting to tell this story and bringing it to life for audiences today.

Directing The Offer Another four-and-a-half minute featurette here that sees the show’s directors talk about being behind the camera for a show about such an iconic film and story.

Parallels: Art Imitates Art – This is an eight-and-a-half minute feature that showcases a lot of Easter eggs that the creators placed throughout the series. Nods to The Godfather, actors, Hollywood history, etc…and they’re talked about here, so if you’ve watched the series you can check it out and see what you may have missed.

The Offer: Sending a Message – Just under 7 minutes, this featurette focuses on the themes of family, the mob aspect of both the film and real life when it came to the production, as well as various other ideas that the story was trying to get across. It’s a nice watch for fans to check out.

Deleted Scenes – There are deleted scenes found on the discs for those who are interested on seeing what hit the cutting room floor during the course of production.

Paramount Pictures Presents The Offer. Created by: Michael Tolkin. Based on Albert S. Ruddy’s experience of making The Godfather. Starring: Miles Teller, Matthew Goode, Juno Temple, Colin Hanks, Burn Gorman, Dan Fogler, Giovanni Ribisi, Patrick Gallo, Nora Arnezeder, Justin Chambers, Anthony Ippolito. Running time: 541 minutes. Rating: 14A. Blu-ray Released: Nov. 29, 2022.

Brendan Campbell was here when Inside Pulse Movies began, and he’ll be here when it finishes - in 2012, when a cataclysmic event wipes out the servers, as well as everyone else on the planet other than John Cusack and those close to him. Brendan’s the #1 supporter of Keanu Reeves, a huge fan of popcorn flicks and a firm believer that sheer entertainment can take a film a long way. He currently resides in Canada, where, for reasons stated above, he’s attempting to get closer to John Cusack.