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And you thought "The Jerry Springer Show" was the only place to find midland America's finest in white trash entertainment. Billy Bob Thornton's "Daddy and Them" is like the ultimate trip to the trailer park without ever having the leave the cleanliness or comfort of your living room, but the only question is, why would you want to? This wanna-be comedy stars Thornton opposite his now-real-life ex, Laura Dern; they play Claude and Ruby, the latter of whom has trust issues due to the fact that before they were married, Claude dated and slept with her sister, Rose (Kelly Preston). Their relationship is one of constant bickering and making up, interrupted (but not entirely so) by the incarceration of Claude's uncle Hazel (Jim Varney) for attempted murder. This brings them down to his family's home, along with Ruby's mother (Diane Ladd) and Rose, and a whole host of colorful characters. ***

Numerous critics and viewers have billed the film as a dark comedy, but only if you count the likes of Andy Griffith talking about such things as "shooting blanks" could you consider this dark, much less humorous. There's simply nothing to this premise, and not a single character worth caring about; honestly, the guests on "Springer" are more appealing. At least they give us some kind of entertainment value, even if it does pander to our inner desire to watch unfaithful losers throw chairs at one another and call each other vulgar names. Such tactics might have made "Daddy and Them" far more entertaining, and it's not as if the movie doesn't try (it's not rated R for strong language for nothing). But even with the likes of Ben Affleck and Jamie Lee Curtis chewing on the words as a lawyer firm couple with bedroom problems, there's simply no hint of wit or magic to the dialogue, and the movie is as stale as day-old Miller Lite.

Presented in the aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with anamorphic enhancement, "Daddy and Them" looks very nice on DVD. Color saturation captures fleshtones and nature's hues accurately and with vivid detail, while contrast and shadow detail are always in fine form, save for a few moments where pixelization pops up slightly. Clarity is also very good, with sharp edges that don't suffer from too many halos, and the source print is clean with little film grain throughout. Not a bad-looking image, really. ***

The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio mix, however, is less engaging, but nonetheless it gets the job done. There's not a whole lot here for it to tinker with: some score, which is nicely wrapped into the surrounds, the dialogue, which is centered and sounds natural, and some slight atmospherics, which are imaged appropriately, but nothing to get excited over. --