Post Grad Blu-ray despite solid video and audio falls short as a Blu-ray release
Ryden Malby (Alexis Bledel) graduates from college in the middle of the late-2000s recession and is forced to move back in with her parents, because her dream job has been given to her college nemesis Jessica Bard. Ryden and her best friend Adam (Zach Gilford) must find a job for Ryden before she loses hope for her future dream as an editor of a big publishing company. But will sudden feelings for her long time friend interfere with her dreams?
Ah, I pity the poor, penniless souls who graduated from college during the height of last year's
recession. For recent grads, it's hard enough finding employment during economically stable times—
you're young, inexperienced, and woefully under-qualified for your dream job. Even worse, you've
been groomed from childhood to believe you're a special snowflake, a one-of-a-kind talent, and
suddenly you're competing against drones with identical skill sets for a low-paying job on the bottom
rung of the corporate ladder. For impossibly idealistic English majors—and I'm speaking from
experience here—the options seem even more limited. Take a low-stress receptionist job and work
on a novel between phone calls? (Guilty.) Put major life decisions on hold while teaching English in
Japan? (Uh-huh.) Eek out a modest living writing magazine articles and movie reviews? (Why
hello!) So, in the most general way, I relate to Post Grad, a comedy about life after college
and the awkward search for meaning, purpose and, oh yeah, a job. Thematic relevancy aside,
though, the film is an almost unendurable viewing experience, a tedious, incoherent excuse for a
comedy that tries much too hard to be quirky and cute.
Come on Ryden, MySpace? Really? Did Facebook not sign off on the film?
Gilmore Girl alumni Alexis Bledel stars as Ryden Malby, a recent college graduate who is
absolutely certain she's going to land her dream job at Happerman & Browning Publishing. So
sure, in fact, that she applies to rent an expensive apartment in downtown Los Angeles, right
across the street from their shiny modern office building. Naturally, her interview doesn't go as
planned. A whole gaggle of black-suited applicants are vying for the position, Ryden bungles her
interview talking about childhood ambitions, and her husky-voiced long-time nemesis Jessica
(Catherine Reitman) steals the gig right out from under Ryden's cute-as-a-button nose. Jobless,
she moves back in with her "kooky" family, who are persistent in trying to out-weird the van-
driving clan from Little Miss Sunshine. Michael Keaton scrapes the bottom of the barrel of
his career as Ryden's dad Walter, a goofy patriarch who tries to supplement his income by selling
illegally procured belt buckles on the internet. Sexually frank grandma Maureen (Carroll Burnett)
goes shopping for her own coffin. Little bro Hunter (Bobby Coleman) likes to lick kids' heads and is
desperate to compete in the neighborhood boxcar derby (said coffin gets transformed into a four-
wheeled death trap). And flustered mom Carmella (Jane Lynch) just tries to hold it all together.
There's no lack of needless subplots here, most involving Walter, who runs over a neighbor's cat,
gets arrested for his buckle business, and generally hams it up as the dad who has a finger in
every pie.
Meanwhile, Ryden pounds the pavement looking for a job—any job—in the film's requisite job-
hunting montage. For a while she even wears a ridiculous marching band uniform and shills
suitcases at her dad's luggage shop. Through it all, she's supported by her BFF Adam (Friday
Night Lights' Zach Gilford), a Klondike Bar-loving musician who is desperate for her
affections, and who may or may not go to law school in New York. Ryden is blind to Adam's love,
though, and her brief fling with a saucy Latin infomercial director (300's Rodrigo
Santoro), sends Adam packing for the Big Apple. In a twist that will surprise no one—really, no
spoiler alert needed here—Ryden is eventually offered the position at Happerman & Browning,
and she's forced to choose between the job she's always wanted and the guy she never realized
she loved. In typical Hollywood fashion, a woman can't be fulfilled until she's head over 3-inch,
office-appropriate heels. And this is where the film, which has already fallen apart, completely
dissolves into a gooey mess of sentiment that will have feminists wincing and massaging their
temples in frustration. But I don't even want to get into Ryden's stupid sacrifice of a career for a
guy who will probably be too busy with law school to make their relationship work. Just know that
Post Grad isn't the women-empowering film it purports to be.
Let's turn instead to how unbelievably inept the movie is on just about every level. The
directionless narrative is steered sloppily from one tangentially related event to the next, the
script sags under tender moments dense with manufactured emotion, and the film should come
with a carton of cotton balls, because the dialogue is likely to induce earbleeds. At one point,
thinking the film was almost over, I pressed pause to gauge how much longer I had endure
Post Grad's grating storyline. I was only 47 minutes into the film's 88-minute run-time.
Even the editing fails. I caught two major continuity errors, one of them a doozy. We see Adam
onstage at a club, about to perform a song with his band. In one shot he's plugging in his Les
Paul electric guitar, and in the very next shot he's delicately fingerpicking an acoustic. Magic! I've
gotten used to seeing Michael Keaton in bad movies—oh how far Batman has fallen—but what
are Demetri Martin and Fred Armisen doing in this, even in their small cameo roles? And why all
the forced quirkiness? The film tries so hard to be the next sleeper, Sundance-style hit that it
forgets to be emotionally engaging or genuinely funny. That uncomfortable space between college
and the real world is such fertile ground for both comedy and drama—see The Graduate,
for example—but Post Grad simply doesn't dig deep enough.
Post Grad graduates cum laude on Blu-ray with a 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer that, like a
successful interviewee, has more strengths than weaknesses. Clarity is about average throughout;
there are a few soft shots that seem to be the result of focus that's slightly off, but most of the time
fine detail is easily apparent in the wizened wrinkles on Michael Keaton's face, the mesh of a trucker
cap, the gauzy texture of one of Alexis Bledel's many blouses, and Rodridgo Santoro's two-day
stubble. Colors are also strong and natural, from the bright red of Ryden's marching band uniform to
grandma's turquoise scarf and jewelry, and skin tones are warm, if a bit over-tanned at times. That
said, the cinematography is quite bland, suffering from that flat, overly bright lighting that seems to
be a staple of all studio comedies. Though black levels are deep and contrast is tight, the image
never really has dimensionality or presence. On a technical level, I didn't catch any banding,
blocking, or artifacts, and the film's grain structure is fully intact and rarely noticeable.
Post Grad's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track is one of those adequate but wholly
unmemorable mixes that get the point across, so to speak, albeit without much gusto or flourish.
Aside from a few pop songs and Christopher Beck's rather dippy score, the rear channels get very
little engagement. You'll hear a minimum of office ambience, some ocean roar at the beach, and a
few scattered environmental sounds, but it's all kept at a fairly low volume and does little to really
set the scene audio-wise. The music sounds modestly full, though, and the few sounds effects that
the film calls for—like the metal-on-metal crunch of a car crash—are well-implemented and
convincing, if lacking in heft. The priority here is clearly on the dialogue, which is bright, clean, and
easily discernable. There's nothing in this mix to wow the sensitive ears of audiophiles, but there are
no real audio mishaps either.
Deleted and Alternate Scenes (SD, 13:41)
Includes nine scenes that you couldn't pay me to watch again, plus a music video for "Over and
Over."
"One Day" Music Video by Jack Savoretti (SD, 3:35)
You know those movie tie-in music videos where they awkwardly cut in clips from the film? This
is probably the worst one I've ever seen.
Real Life Advice with Alexis Bledel and Zach Gilford (SD, 4:20)
Bledel and Gilford sit on some comfy looking white chairs and talk about their own post-
graduation experiences.
Know Your Strengths: Career Advice (SD, 6:01)
Marcus Buckingham, author of Find Your Strongest Life, gives us his inspirational Tony Robbins
schtick about how to become a happy, successful career woman. And no, it doesn't involve
leaving your job to take a chance with your maybe boyfriend in New York.
How Not to Get a Job (SD, 3:29)
A top ten list of clips from the film showing everything that Ryden did wrong.
A Guide to Moving Back Home (SD, 2:58)
Likewise, this is a kind of checklist of of things that you should do if you ever have to move back
in with your folks, illustrated with clips from the film.
Dress for Success (SD, 2:03)
Director Vicky Jenson, costume designer Alexandra Welker, and Alexis Bledel say a few words
about the clothing in the film.
Find Your Match! The Best Job for You
This is one of those personality quizzes where you answer a few questions and the results tell you
what sort of job you should have. I got "Fashion Designer - Little Miss Trendsetter" and the
descriptions read, "You prefer the finer things in life and are happiest among the beautiful people!
You know that it takes hard work to realize your dreams and unique style shines through in
everything you do." OMG, it knows me so well!
What Not to Wear
Man, will these bonus features ever cease? This is another quiz, one that tests your corporate
fashion sense. I got "Fashionista! You're on an upwardly mobile path to success—fashionably!
You've got the smarts and style to go straight to the top." Why, thank you.
Post Grad Confidential (SD, 13:56)
Screenwriter Kelly Fremon and producer Ivan Reitman discuss the origin of the script, the six or
seven re-writes (no surprise there), and the difficulty of achieving a balance between drama and
comedy. I'd say.
Trailers (1080p, 10:45 total)
Includes trailers for Aliens in the Attic, Fame, Amelia, All About
Steve, and Whip It!
I like to imagine that the actors in this screenshot are looking down at a Blu-ray copy of Post
Grad that they're about to bury in the ground, so as to save at least one person from having to
sit through 88-minutes of torture so effective that it should be used instead of waterboarding to pry
information out of terrorist detainees. Except, I'm sure there's some clause in the Geneva
Conventions solely about the misuse of Post Grad. Stay away if at all possible.
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment has announced the technical specs and special features for the upcoming Blu-ray release of 'Post Grad', which is due to hit store shelves on January 12th, day-and-date with the DVD release. Video will be presented in 1.85:1 1080p ...
Home entertainment site The Digital Bits has revealed the slate of titles that 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment intends to release on Blu-ray in early 2010. New releases 'Post Grad' and 'Whip It' will street on January 12 and 26 respectively, while catalog titles ...
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