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Review
Archives
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Today's
Date is:
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Say
It Isn't So
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Reviewed
by: |
David
Litton |
| Genre: |
Comedy |
| Video: |
1.85:1 widescreen |
| Audio: |
Dolby Digital
5.1, 2.0 |
| Language: |
standard
|
| Subtitle: |
English,
French |
| Length: |
English,
Spanish |
| Rating: |
R |
| Release
Date: |
1 hr, 35
min |
| Studio: |
Twentieth
Century Fox |
| Commentary:
|
Director
James B. Rogers and actor Chris Klein |
| Documentaries:
|
None |
| Featurettes:
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One featurette |
| Filmography/Biography:
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None |
|
Interviews: |
None |
| Trailers/TV
Spots: |
Yes |
| Alternate/Deleted
Scenes: |
Deleted scenes |
| Music
Video: |
None |
| Other:
|
None |
| Cast
and Crew: |
Chris Klein,
Heather Graham, Sally Field, Orlando Jones, Richard Jenkins
|
| Screenplay
by: |
Written by:
Peter Gaulke, Gerry Swallow |
| Produced
by: |
Bobby Farrelly, Peter
Farrelly, Bradley Thomas |
| Directed
By: |
J.B. Rogers |
| Music: |
Mason Daring |
| The
Review: |
Boy meets
girl. Boy courts girl. Boy bongs girl. Boy finds out girl is
his sister. Girl moves away to marry someone else, leaving boy
at home with new mom and pop. Boy finds out girl is not his
sister. Boy rushes out to find girl, but is thwarted by people
who think boy is a pervert for slamming his sister. Boy, is
this a boring story. Chances are, if you got tired halfway through
reading that introductory paragraph, then "Say It Isn't So"
will have the same effect on you (that is, if you don't walk
out first). From the producers of "There's Something About Mary,"
the film makes many attempts to be like that film, though with
less pleasing results. The comedy starts out somewhat funny,
but this is no gut buster, and by the first half hour, the material
is just plain boring. The film begins in Indianna, where simple
Gilly Noble (Chris Klein) narrates the opening credits about
his dream of finding the perfect woman to share his life with.
His dream soon comes true when he meets Jo Wingfield (Heather
Graham), a hairdresser who gives him a patented "There's Something
About Mary" hairstyle and cuts his ear off when he tells her
he's found her cat. Of course, Jo's mother, Valdine (Sally Field),
isn't thrilled about the relationship, so when Gilly is told
by a hired detective that Valdine is his birth mother, Valdine
hides the truth to prevent the two from being together, hoping
that Jo will go back to her rich ex-boyfriend. And since Gilly
and Jo have already slept together, he is now marked for life
as the "sister slammer." So what happens next? If you really
wanna know, read on. It turns out Gilly is not related to Jo
or her family, and makes his way to Beaver, Oregon, to stop
her wedding to Jack. Valdine's true son comes home, and she
uses him as a ploy to keep Jo from taking Gilly seriously when
he arrives. Will they or won't they end up together? After five
minutes, who really cares? I didn't. The film is constantly
unfunny and aimless, one that is certainly below the standards
of gross-out comedy, which is so desperately strives to be.
There are some gross-out scenes, yes; one involves Gilly's hand
stuck inside the rectum of a cow, after which he pulls it out,
only to discover that his engagement ring was left behind, so
you can guess what happens next. Other scenes involve Chris
Klein disguising himself with leftover body hair from wax strips
in a beauty parlor dumpster, Sally Field rubbing a sandwich
in her armpits for "extra saltiness," and Jo's stroke-stricken
father using crude language and vulgarities right and left.
For some movies, such as "American Pie," moments like these
are funny; in the case of "Say It Isn't So," they are stale.
I didn't believe in any of the comic gags the movie threw at
me; they just weren't that humorous. Other scenes that don't
involve crudeness are just as plain. When Gilly uses a plane
to fly a banner saying "I'm not your brother, marry me," the
"not" becomes detached, and you can guess the reaction of the
crowd. Then he is placed in a mental hospital, where a fat man
asks if pancakes will be served the following morning and Gilly
is placed in a straightjacket and locked in a padded room. "Say
It Isn't So" was produced by the Farrelly brothers, of "There's
Something About Mary" and "Me, Myself and Irene." But the movie
is nothing like their previous work; in fact, it's below those
previous films. I find it difficult to laugh at such a film,
one that can't place the humor and gross-outs in the right places.
-- |
| Image
and Sound |
Standard
DVD release gets a standard treatment. "Say It Isn't So" has
no special effects or big booms and explosions, so you can't
really expect a lot from the DVD mastering in terms of better-than-average
quality. The image quality is devoid of noise or artifacts,
and shadow and darkness are solid. Colors are vibrant as well.
The sound is mostly dialogue driven, which is centered nicely
in the center channel, while the music tends to remain in the
front speakers instead of wrapping into the surrounds. All-in-all,
nothing to shout about. -- |
| The
Extras |
Sometimes
special features can redeem a film that is less than entertaining.
Once again, "Say It Isn't So" fails. There is a making-of featurette
that gives us a few cast and crew interviews, and maybe two
minutes of behind-the-scenes footage, while filling the rest
with cuts from the film. The deleted scenes are just as unfunny
as those that made it to the final cut; the only interesting
thing about them is the concept of using black-and-white for
sequences left in the film while colorizing the left-out scenes.
A nice touch, but not enough to save the DVD. A theatrical trailer
and TV spots are also included. -- |
| Commentary |
Adding insult
to injury, the audio commentary track for "Say It Isn't So"
feaures little more than director J.B. Rogers and actor Chris
Klein basically rehashing what is going on in the movie as it
happens, as if we don't already know as we're watching it. There
are some moments when they will branch off to discuss other
aspects of the film; at one point, Rogers talks about his entry
onto the project, while Klein talks about the various wigs he
wore during filming. But the rest of the track is just not that
interesting to watch. -- |
| Final
Words: |
"Say It
Isn't So" is a forced attempt at comedy that works on basically
nothing. It creates situations that are constantly boring, devoid
of humor or wit, or any of the magic that the Farrelly brothers
have employed in their previous outings. Watch it if you must,
but don't say I didn't warn you. |
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