THE MOVIE

Back in the late 1980s, Tom Selleck was a bit like George Clooney is today. The star of a popular television series (Magnum P.I.), Selleck didn’t hit it big in movie circles until the release of Three Men and a Baby in 1987. He was then cemented as a heart-throb to movie and television audiences alike.

Riding on the wave of popularity generated by Three Men, it didn’t take long before the inevitable formulaic romantic-comedy with Selleck as the lead came along to grace cinema screens.

And here it is now on DVD. Her Alibi.

Phillip Blackwood (Tom Selleck) is a well-known mystery novelist who is lacking inspiration. The spark in his work has disappeared and he’s beginning to feel the pressure.

But on one of his frequent visits to a courtroom to try and find something to ignite his creative juices, a lightning bolt hits in the form of Nina (Paulina Porizkova), an absolutely stunning Romanian girl who happens to be under arrest for a murder.

Blackwood is so smitten that he begins to think with his heart (and something else) instead of his head. And so he decides to give her an alibi, which is that the two are having an affair and that she was with him at the time in question.

Of course in order for the alibi to stick and for Blackwood to keep writing, Nina moves in with him, and then the fun really begins…

Look, if this film was actually a book it’d probably be called “Romantic Comedy For Dummies”. It’s mind numbingly simple and in some cases just plain stupid, but it does have a certain charm thanks mainly to the actors involved.

Selleck himself is quite good as the lovesick Blackwood being dragged around by his…er…heart. And while Paulina Porizkova doesn't put in the greatest performance you're likely to see, she only has to stand there to be memorable. She really is jaw-droppingly gorgeous here.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention William Daniels too. He plays Sam, a close friend of Phillip, who also works for the publishers of Phillip’s books. He gets some of the best lines here, and most of the chuckles I got out this film were from his dialogue. Unfortunately though, the poor man is a bit typecast. Whenever I heard his voice I kept thinking “hey, that’s K.I.T.T.!!".

Look, Her Alibi is a reasonable film, it’s just a shame that it never gets the menace necessary to make you think (at any stage) that the leading lady is a killer. It simply leaves you counting the minutes until the dots are joined and the obvious revealed.

THE TRANSFER

Video:

Her Alibi is presented at 1.78:1 (very close to its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1:85:1) and is 16x9 enhanced.

You wouldn’t expect too much from a budget release of an ‘80s movie such as this, but this transfer is quite fine indeed.

Colours vary from being reasonable to excellent. In general though, they come across very well with some scenes looking so vibrant you’d swear this movie was 10 years younger than what it actually is.

This transfer is also unexpectedly sharp revealing a very clear image from start to finish. Black levels are pleasingly strong, film grain never excessive, and aliasing noticeable on only a couple of minor occasions.

Film artefacts are probably the worst thing about the transfer as they occur pretty frequently throughout, but having said that they are also always only small specks, so if that’s the worst I can say she’s certainly looking pretty good.

This is a single layer disc so no layer change exists.

It really is a surprisingly good video presentation.

Audio:

Her Alibi has been provided with an English Dolby Digital 2.0 track at 192kbps.

To be perfectly honest, this track doesn’t have much to do, but it does what it has to well enough.

Dialogue is clean, clear and easy to understand although its fidelity is probably the thing that dates this film the most.

The Dolby Digital track is surround-encoded so if you are set-up to take advantage of that, you’ll mostly get the serviceable score of Georges Delerue hitting the surrounds from time to time. The music actually comes across quite well for a 192kpbs track. Your subwoofer will go on holiday though.

There’s really not much else I can say except that it’s a perfectly reasonably audio presentation.

THE EXTRAS

That generic Warner menu reveals no extras to speak of, unless you consider the ability to actually interact with the menu a special feature.

SUMMARY

Her Alibi is an average little romantic comedy that’s probably of most interest to fans of either Tom Selleck or Paulina Porizkova.

The video transfer is surprisingly very good (probably better than this film deserves actually) and the audio is nice but unspectacular.

Except for the lack of extras, fans of this film should be very happy with this DVD, as the movie has received a quality presentation and is available at a bargain price.