THE MOVIE

Even with a talented and well-known cast, I’m sure most of you out there probably haven’t heard a thing about Billy Bob Thornton's Daddy & Them before now. And I don’t blame you.

The problem appeared to be that when the film was all wrapped up and ready to go, Miramax simply didn’t know what the hell to do with it.

Originally completed in 2001, Daddy & Them was simply plopped in the Miramax vault (only let out to appear at the occasional film festival) until they simply gave up and decided to dump it on cable TV in the US.

And while I can understand the difficulties in promoting a hick romantic comedy like this, it’s a real shame Daddy & Them didn’t get more exposure because in actuality, it’s quite a good film.

Here’s the story…

Claude (Billy Bob Thornton) and Ruby (Laura Dern) are simple country folk who love each other dearly but are about as insecure in their relationship as two people can be. Claude is always worried that he’s not buff enough for Ruby and that she’ll leave him for a muscle man, while Ruby has never gotten over the fact that her sister Rose (Kelly Preston) was Claude’s girlfriend many years ago.

When Claude is told that his uncle Hazel (the late Jim Varney) has been arrested for a serious crime, both Claude and Ruby’s families come together to support Hazel. Unfortunately, they also end up driving each other crazy in the process.

While I wouldn’t go quite as far to say that this is a black comedy, it’s certainly darker than your average romantic comedy. The characters have a real Coen brothers feel about them, and so does the humour. There are a few genuine laugh-out-loud moments in Daddy & Them, due to the quality script and cast.

Aside from the fine job done by our two leads, the supporting performances of Andy Griffith, Diane Ladd and Brenda Blethyn also stood out.

I should also make special mention of the two small-town lawyers (played by Jamie Lee Curtis & Ben Affleck) hired to help Hazel. Both of whom were excellent in minor roles.

Overall, Daddy & Them really is a pretty enjoyable little film.

THE TRANSFER

Video:

Daddy & Them is presented at the widescreen aspect ratio of 1.78:1 (very close to its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1) and is 16:9 enhanced.

And we have another fine looking DVD here.

This is a particularly sharp transfer featuring rich colours that are nicely saturated throughout. When Billy Bob decides he wants to go in for a close up, he REALLY goes in for a close-up, and here we get to see every little detail of our actor’s faces.

The print used is in stellar shape too with very few exceptionally minor film artefacts noticed. It really is an impressively clean, sharp and detailed transfer.

If I had to nit pick I’d say that a few instances of aliasing were visible from time to time, but that’s just me being pedant.

This is a single-layer disc. No layer change. I didn’t notice any compression problems.

No real complaints here at all, Daddy & Them looks great.

Audio:

Daddy & Them has been provided with two English soundtracks. One is a Dolby Digital 5.1 track at 448kbps, the other is a Dolby Digital 2.0 track at 320kbps.

Oddly, the 2.0 track is set as the default, so if you want to hear Daddy & Them in 5.1, you’ll have to either select it in the Setup section on the main menu, or change it during the film itself.

Dialogue sounds very good with nice clarity and fidelity. Even with the thick country drawl it’s always pretty easy to understand.

The music used is (for the majority) country and western with the score heavily laden with acoustic guitar. It can sound quite beautiful at times.

Being pretty much a dialogue driven film, surrounds and subwoofer aren’t exactly frequently used, but aren’t silent partners either. You’ll hear some nice effects and music given extra emphasis from the rears and sub over the course of the film.

There’s nothing wrong with the 2.0 track either. In fact, when I first popped the disc in my player, it took me a few minutes to realise that I was listening to the 2.0 mix instead of the 5.1. It may be lacking the low end and separation of its 5.1 counterpart, but it’s still very nice.

Overall, Daddy & Them sounds very good indeed.

THE EXTRAS

A basic, but reasonably done static menu greets you when this pop this disc in your player.

THEATRICAL TRAILER

What we have here is a nice little trailer that plays up the comedic moments in the film.

It looks HORRIBLY washed out though and is probably one of the worst looking trailers (in terms of video quality) that I’ve seen in a long time on DVD. It runs for 1.40 and is presented at 1.78:1 with 16:9 enhancement and Dolby Digital 2.0 audio.

ROADSHOW DVD CREDITS

Seemingly a permanent fixture on all Roadshow releases these days, there is a little Village/Roadshow logo that you can select on the main menu to get a quick animated credit sequence.

SUMMARY

The hillbilly romantic comedy isn’t exactly well-worn territory in filmmaking so this Billy Bob Thornton creation really is a different, quirky, and quite endearing little film.

The video and audio presentations are of a high standard, and while I won’t recommend a blind purchase of Daddy & Them (unless you just LOVE Billy Bob), a rental is certainly in order.