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High Heels and Low Lifes
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment // R // April 9, 2002
List Price: $29.99 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
While some have seemed to dislike Guy Ritchie's stylish British crime thrillers ("Snatch" and "Lock, Stock and 2 Smoking Barrels"), they have spawned a legion of spin-offs that have paled in comparison to Ritchie's twisty, visually inventive thrillers, which are driven by the director's snappy, clever dialogue. The latest in the series of take-offs is "High Heels and Low Lifes", a female version that never really got much of a US release, even if it does have two actresses who have gained a moderate level of success in American films. After watching said film, I can see why.
The film stars Minnie Driver and Mary McCormack as two friends, Shannon and Frances, who get mixed up in a blackmail scheme when they stumble into a robbery in progress and decide to see if they can't get a little money for themselves in the process. Of course, this is idiotic to begin with - the girls simply could have gone to the police, but in that case, we wouldn't have a movie, now would we? (In this case, that would have been a good thing)
The film, written by the screenwriter of "Spice World" and directed by the helmer of "Bean", starts off awkwardly and never really gains its footing. The situtations and dialogue aren't funny (the film has a thug attacking a rabbit with increasingly larger weapons and, of course, the rabbit hops away at the end of the scene, uninjured), the story isn't interesting and if it wasn't for the performances of Driver and McCormack, I wouldn't have even cared a tiny bit about the characters. There's also an abundance of cutesy dialogue, such as one sequence where the two girls are trying to be tough and one tells the other, "we can't both be the bad cop!". I haven't even mentioned the score, which alternates between overdramatic and bad pop.
"High Heels and Low Lifes" never became very entertaining at all. Aside from a few light chuckles, my expression never changed from a definite frown throughout the entire 86 minutes. An awkward blend of light comedy and crime drama, the film was a definite dissapointment.
The DVD
VIDEO: Touchstone offers a very fine presentation of "High Heels and Low Lifes". The 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer offers terrific sharpness and detail as the picture never offered the slightest hint of softness. Some scenes even offered a solid amount of depth to the image.
Little or nothing in the way of flaws were noticed. The print seemed remarkably fresh and crisp, with no grain, specks, marks or other instances of wear. Very slight edge enhancement was seen once or twice, but hardly became an issue. No pixelation was noticed, either. The film's cartoony color palette was also offered up wonderfully, as colors looked vivid and bright throughout, with no smearing or other issues. Overall, this is a terrific transfer.
SOUND: The film's Dolby Digital 5.1 presentation is sneaky, with the opening leading one to believe that the film would provide a fairly agressive audio experience. Voices come from both surrounds (the boyfriend of Driver's character builds voices from calls into some sort of art form) as the credits roll, but after that, the audio calms down considerably and remains rooted in the front speakers. The previously mentioned awful score has an unfortunate amount of presence, filling the room. Surrounds wake up moderately well for the music, but rarely provided anything else. Dialogue consistently remained clear and natural sounding.
MENUS: Clips and slight animation liven up otherwise ordinary menus.
EXTRAS: Extras include a commentary from writer Kim Fuller and director Mel Smith, along with a "making-of" featurette. There's even the return of the studio's most ridiculous supplement, "Action Overload", which is a set of clips from the movie set to music.
Final Thoughts: Fairly good performances in "High Heels and Low Lifes" are combined with bad dialogue, flat humor and an absurd plot. Touchstone, however, has delivered a good DVD, complete with marvelous picture quality, good audio and a couple of decent supplements. Still, it's not something I'd recommend.
While some have seemed to dislike Guy Ritchie's stylish British crime thrillers ("Snatch" and "Lock, Stock and 2 Smoking Barrels"), they have spawned a legion of spin-offs that have paled in comparison to Ritchie's twisty, visually inventive thrillers, which are driven by the director's snappy, clever dialogue. The latest in the series of take-offs is "High Heels and Low Lifes", a female version that never really got much of a US release, even if it does have two actresses who have gained a moderate level of success in American films. After watching said film, I can see why.
The film stars Minnie Driver and Mary McCormack as two friends, Shannon and Frances, who get mixed up in a blackmail scheme when they stumble into a robbery in progress and decide to see if they can't get a little money for themselves in the process. Of course, this is idiotic to begin with - the girls simply could have gone to the police, but in that case, we wouldn't have a movie, now would we? (In this case, that would have been a good thing)
The film, written by the screenwriter of "Spice World" and directed by the helmer of "Bean", starts off awkwardly and never really gains its footing. The situtations and dialogue aren't funny (the film has a thug attacking a rabbit with increasingly larger weapons and, of course, the rabbit hops away at the end of the scene, uninjured), the story isn't interesting and if it wasn't for the performances of Driver and McCormack, I wouldn't have even cared a tiny bit about the characters. There's also an abundance of cutesy dialogue, such as one sequence where the two girls are trying to be tough and one tells the other, "we can't both be the bad cop!". I haven't even mentioned the score, which alternates between overdramatic and bad pop.
"High Heels and Low Lifes" never became very entertaining at all. Aside from a few light chuckles, my expression never changed from a definite frown throughout the entire 86 minutes. An awkward blend of light comedy and crime drama, the film was a definite dissapointment.
The DVD
VIDEO: Touchstone offers a very fine presentation of "High Heels and Low Lifes". The 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer offers terrific sharpness and detail as the picture never offered the slightest hint of softness. Some scenes even offered a solid amount of depth to the image.
Little or nothing in the way of flaws were noticed. The print seemed remarkably fresh and crisp, with no grain, specks, marks or other instances of wear. Very slight edge enhancement was seen once or twice, but hardly became an issue. No pixelation was noticed, either. The film's cartoony color palette was also offered up wonderfully, as colors looked vivid and bright throughout, with no smearing or other issues. Overall, this is a terrific transfer.
SOUND: The film's Dolby Digital 5.1 presentation is sneaky, with the opening leading one to believe that the film would provide a fairly agressive audio experience. Voices come from both surrounds (the boyfriend of Driver's character builds voices from calls into some sort of art form) as the credits roll, but after that, the audio calms down considerably and remains rooted in the front speakers. The previously mentioned awful score has an unfortunate amount of presence, filling the room. Surrounds wake up moderately well for the music, but rarely provided anything else. Dialogue consistently remained clear and natural sounding.
MENUS: Clips and slight animation liven up otherwise ordinary menus.
EXTRAS: Extras include a commentary from writer Kim Fuller and director Mel Smith, along with a "making-of" featurette. There's even the return of the studio's most ridiculous supplement, "Action Overload", which is a set of clips from the movie set to music.
Final Thoughts: Fairly good performances in "High Heels and Low Lifes" are combined with bad dialogue, flat humor and an absurd plot. Touchstone, however, has delivered a good DVD, complete with marvelous picture quality, good audio and a couple of decent supplements. Still, it's not something I'd recommend.
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