Tuesday, September 23, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

VIDEO PREVIEW: It is a Laughing Matter

Comedies to please all tastes hit video shelves

Unemployed fathers Charlie (Eddie Murphy), left, and Phil (Jeff Garlin), center, make sure the kids are all right -- more or less -- when they open their own "Daddy Day Care" service.

Go ahead, laugh.

But first you'll have to decide what kind of comedy prompts that response.

For kids of all ages who enjoy a slapstick romp, "Daddy Day Care" (Columbia/TriStar) finds two unemployed fathers (Eddie Murphy and "Curb Your Enthusiasm's" Jeff Garlin) stuck at home caring for their toddler sons -- until they start an unorthodox day care service that puts them on a collision course with a snooty preschool director (Anjelica Huston). The reliably goofy Steve Zahn joins the fun -- and steals the movie -- playing a genial case of arrested development.

Kids of all ages who prefer more offbeat humor, however, should head for "Holes" (Disney, $22.99 on VHS, $29.99 on DVD), in which a youngster burdened by an ancient family curse ("Even Stevens' " Shia LaBeouf) discovers its power -- and its solution -- at a youth detention center where he and his campmates are forced to dig holes "to build character," but suspect they're digging for something else. Sigourney Weaver (as the seldom-seen camp warden), Jon Voight (as her pompadoured assistant, the surly Mr. Sir) and Patricia Arquette (as an Old West schoolmarm turned pistol-packin' outlaw) have a field day in this fanciful fable based on Louis Sachar's award-winning novel.

And kids of a certain age whose funnybones are tuned to the special frequency of director Christopher Guest ("Waiting for Guffman") and pals will cheer "A Mighty Wind" (Warner, $22.98 on VHS, $27.95 DVD), an inspired improvisational mockumentary about a make-believe, 40-years-after folk music reunion featuring such faux '50s and '60s icons as the Folksmen (played by Spinal Tap alumni Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer) and Mitch & Mickey (Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara).

Shifting to serious matters, actor John Malkovich makes his directorial debut with "The Dancer Upstairs" (Fox), a timely drama, set in South America, about an idealistic lawyer-turned-cop ("Before Night Falls" Oscar nominee Javier Bardem) whose dogged pursuit of a shadowy terrorist leads him to an unexpected romance with his daughter's ballet teacher (Italy's Laura Morante).

Moving on to movies that never played local theaters, "Searching for Paradise" (Sundance) focuses on a teenage girl (Susan May Pratt) who becomes obsessed with an older actor (Chris Noth) following her father's death. American half-brothers ("Friends' " Paul Rudd, "The Tuxedo's" Romany Malco) journey to France to claim a surprise inheritance -- and confront the culture clash that goes with it -- in "The Chateau" (MGM).

Elsewhere in the realm of the unseen and unknown, the coming-of-age drama "Around the Fire" (Ardustry) stars Devon Sawa ("Final Destination"), Tara Reid ("American Pie") and Eric Mabius ("Cruel Intentions"). "Fire Over Afghanistan" (New Concorde) finds an American helicopter pilot shot down in war-torn territory.

Topping today's vintage DVD debuts: the hearty 1970 "Christmas Carol" musical, "Scrooge"(Paramount, $14.99), highlighted by Albert Finney's deliciously hammy portrayal of the title humbug. The gripping 1965 Cold War thriller "The Bedford Incident" (Columbia/TriStar, $24.95), by contrast, finds a U.S. Navy destroyer on a routine NATO patrol on a collision course with a Soviet submarine. Richard Widmark, Sidney Poitier, James MacArthur and Donald Sutherland (in his movie debut) lead the cast.

Following a completely different road, writer-director Allison Anders' 1992 "Gas Food Lodging" (also from Columbia/TriStar, $24.95) focuses on a struggling single mother (Brooke Adams) and her teenage daughters (Fairuza Balk, Ione Skye) coming of age in a desolate New Mexico town.

Scaring up some pre-Halloween interest, 1995's "Casper" (Universal, $19.98) brings the beloved cartoon ghost back to life in computer-generated form, with Christina Ricci, Bill Pullman, Cathy Moriarty and Eric Idle heading the human cast. This special-edition release includes "Casper's House of Halloween Fun."

For real scares, Wes Craven's 1977 "The Hills Have Eyes" also arrives on DVD (Anchor Bay, $29.98) in a two-disc set that includes Craven commentary and a survey of the director's career, from "A Nightmare on Elm Street" to "Scream."

And the "Sleepless in Seattle: 10th Anniversary Edition" (Columbia/TriStar, $19.95) features both full- and wide-screen versions of the 1993 romantic comedy.

Tuning in to TV-to-video transfers, a memorable miniseries arrives on DVD today: the 1980 Emmy-winner "Shogun" (Paramount, $89.99), based on James Clavell's best seller, with Richard Chamberlain as a British navigator who becomes a player -- and a pawn -- in the political games of feudal Japan after he's shipwrecked there.

Also on the small-screen front, "I Love Lucy: The Complete First Season" (Paramount) collects nine DVDs (available separately for $14.99 each) stuffed with slapstick antics. Flashing forward five decades, "Smallville: The Complete First Season" (Warner, $64.92 on DVD) chronicles the teen years of future Superman Clark Kent (Tom Welling) in his Kansas hometown.

For theater fans, "The Stephen Sondheim Collection" (Image, $119.99 on DVD) offers a six-disc treasure trove of Broadway magic: the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Sunday in the Park With George," the Tony-winning "Into the Woods" and "Passion," plus "Sweeney Todd in Concert," "Follies in Concert" and "A Celebration at Carnegie Hall."