The Slammin' Salmon Blu-ray offers solid video and audio in this fan-pleasing Blu-ray release
When a boxer turned restaurateur (Michael Clarke Duncan) announces a contest to his waitstaff, the good news
is that the winner will get a $10,000 bonus. The bad news? The loser will be on the receiving end of a heavy-
duty smack-down at the hands of the champ himself.
A new Comedy classic? No. A painful reminder of how the once-proud genre has, since the days
of
Bill Murray and John Candy, lost its way? Fortunately not. A middle-of-the-road laugher that
makes for a decent time-killer? Yes. Broken Lizard -- the same team responsible for the
fan-favorite Super Troopers and
the middling pictures Beerfest and Club
Dread -- has once again written and starred in their latest effort, The Slammin'
Salmon, the picture also directed by one of their own, Kevin Heffernan. A low-budget picture
and without a wide theatrical release, The Slammin' Salmon is the sort of movie that's
going to have to find a following on home video if it's to ultimately prove a success. The picture's
good enough to earn some rentals, if would-be viewers can take the title and seemingly idiotic
premise with a grain of salt. Broken Lizard fans will be all over it, but for those more casual
viewers that think of "Broken Lizard" as a reptilian with a bum leg and not as a five-man comedy
team, Michael Clarke Duncan and
word-of-mouth will
likely prove the only selling points for a movie that doesn't exactly have millions in marketing
schemes to push it into every home around the world.
The five-second rule takes on new meaning in 'The Slammin' Salmon.'
Cleon "Slammin'" Salmon (Michael Clarke Duncan, Daredevil) is a
former boxer-turned-restaurateur whose establishment, appropriately dubbed The Slammin'
Salmon, offers patrons an upscale dining experience despite a scatterbrained wait staff.
When Cleon -- known to his employees as "The Champ" -- finds himself in debt for $20,000, he
challenges his manager, Rich Ferente (Kevin Heffernan), to raise the money in a single night of
sales. Rich promises the restaurant's quirky wait staff a getaway to an elite spa as a reward for
whoever brings in the most money. As the night draws on and the promised prizes become of a
larger value, hilarity ensues as the staff -- including the med school student Tara (Cobie
Smulders), the heavily medicated Nuts (Jay Chandrasekhar), the former television star Connor
(Steve Lemme), the drunkard bus boy Donnie (Paul Soter), the bimbo blonde Mia (April Bowlby),
and the guy with the long last name (Erik Stolhanske) -- must find new and ultra-creative ways
to separate their customers from their money while making sure nobody else can claim to be the
evening's top earner.
It would be easy to write this take on The Slammin' Salmon with plenty of fishy
wordplay, but that would probably make
most readers crabby, lead them into a floundering daze, and turn this review into the halibut of
jokes around the Internet. OK, sorry. The Slammin' Salmon doesn't overindulge in such
mackerel (last one, promise!), instead finding much of its humor in the world of zealous
competition
in the food service industry and the tit-for-tat game of one-upmanship among co-workers that
inevitably comes into play when there's 10 large ones at stake. A movie that's built on stale and
recycled gags nevertheless finds some genuine humor and more than a few honest-to-goodness
laugh-out-loud moments, thanks not to the script but instead Broken Lizard's good sense of
comedic timing and posturing, each member able to breathe some new life into old material and
truly capture the spirit of what it is they're trying to do, which in all honesty isn't anything more
than making people laugh. The movie never takes itself seriously, and combined with the
fact that the picture was acted, written, and directed all by the same group of people, there's no
middleman to get in the way of the creativity behind the material, either in front of or behind the
camera. Nothing here is at all groundbreaking, but it's done with a sincerity -- even behind the
wink-and-nod to the audience that says in every scene not to put too much thought into the
movie -- that makes the The Slammin' Salmon more often than not an agreeable and,
more importantly, funny time-waster.
The Slammin' Salmon's mostly vacuous gags prove the real meat-and-potatoes of the
movie. The story is loose and not worth much of anything outside of serving as a frame in
which to base the humor, and the characters -- while all suitably different one from another --
really aren't
much more than vehicles through which to pump out the gags. That's not a criticism; it's more
an observation, for it's not at all fair to pick apart a movie like this -- and one titled The
Slammin' Salmon at that -- when it's perfectly clear that it isn't aiming for much
more than the lowest common denominator. Fortunately, the Broken Lizard team has put more
thought, care, and integrity into the picture than most others that try and crank out lowball,
low-effort, nonsensical "comedy" (ahhem); that doesn't make it
some mind-blowing picture that's threatening to redefine the genre, but it is a pleasant little
picture that's not excessively dumb and at least warrants a watch. As noted earlier, the film's
cast -- made of the Broken Lizard team and a few tagalongs -- proves one of its best assets, and
Michael Clarke Duncan steals the show as a big, lumbering former boxer and current restaurant
owner who's all braun and no brains. He embraces the role with everything he's got, and while
his performance here is not on the same plane as his effort in The Green Mile that
garnered him an Oscar nomination, his participation makes the movie a bit more palatable than it
otherwise deserves to be.
On the menu at The Slammin' Salmon is a tasty 1080p, 1.78:1-framed transfer that's sure
to satisfy most any appetite. This image is stable and clear with no bothersome blemishes and a
light layer of grain. The picture is abundantly colorful with blues the dominant hue. Bright blue
shades make up both the wait staff uniforms and the restaurant's booths, though most every shade
in the
book makes an appearance, too, notably in the form of Mia's bright red burn marks, multi-colored
fruits and vegetables seen in the restaurant's steely walk-in refrigerator, or Cleon's salmon-colored
sports coat. Though fine detail and absolute clarity appear rather high in clothing or the stone-like
textures of the restaurant's walls and booths, the image can look a bit flat overall, and faces
sometimes lack much more than cursory definition, taking on a slightly smooth texture. Black
levels are stable, but flesh tones often veer towards the red end of the spectrum. The Slammin'
Salmon looks fairly good; it lacks a true film-like texture and won't be mistaken for The Lovely Bones, but
this colorful transfer holds up well from beginning to end.
The Slammin' Salmon serves a PCM 5.1 uncompressed soundtrack that goes nicely with
the well-done 1080p picture quality. This low-budget Comedy doesn't exactly sport the most
immersive or convincing track on the market, but for a dialogue-driven movie, there's little room
to complain. Fidelity is solid, and there's a noticeable difference in heft and absolute clarity
between the PCM track and the included lossy Dolby Digital mix. Music is clearly delivered
throughout with no discernible hiccups, and it enjoys a noticeable back-channel presence in
conjunction with the more robust cues. Discrete sound effects aren't plentiful, but those of a
more prominent pronouncement -- for instance a ringing bell -- play with an honest realism.
The track isn't awash in realistic
atmospherics; rarely is there a definitive sense of immersion, even when the restaurant is at its
busiest. Only minor background effects such as chatty patrons or clanking dinnerware make
their presences known, but there's just not much to them. Fortunately, the track's cornerstone
element, its dialogue reproduction, never wavers. Overall, this PCM track delivers a good
presentation that's on par with what one would
reasonably expect of a movie such as this. It's perfectly suitable for the material but never does
anything of note to make a lasting sonic impression.
The Slammin' Salmon cooks up a few extras for this Blu-ray release. First up are two
commentary tracks, the first featuring Writer/Director Kevin Heffernan and Writer/Actor Steve
Lemme. The track is free-flowing and informative, technical but not boring, the participants
sharing a fine array of insights into the actors, the story, the look, and the construction of the
picture. There's no lack of effort here; Heffernan and Lemme never stop to catch
their breath and show just how enthusiastic they are for their craft in this track. The other three
members of Broken Lizard -- Jay Chandrasekhar, Paul Soter, and Erik Stolhanske -- man track
two. This
commentary is on par with the first; it's easy to get into, informative, not too technical, but of
good overall value. It never wanders too far from pertinent information but it also features some
lighter moments that keep things interesting and fun. Broken Lizard fans will want to spend time
with both of these tracks. Hellish Kitchen: Art Imitates Restaurant Life (1080i,
6:51) features the Broken Lizard troupe sharing their thoughts and memories on the restaurant
business. Also included is the film's trailer (1080p, 2:34) and an easter egg found under the
listing for the trailer (1080i, 0:42).
The Slammin' Salmon isn't a modern classic, but it's a passable, even
slightly-above-average, Comedy that manages to find some humor in a string of old jokes. The
picture's low-budget nature, (almost) singular set, and bland costuming don't hurt the movie,
either, thanks to Broken Lizard's ability to squeeze just enough LPM's (laughs per minute) from the
material and keep things moving at a steady and honest pace. Michael Clarke Duncan steals the
show as the restaurant's lame-brained owner, but the rest of the cast is good, too, particularly the
members of the five-man Broken Lizard troupe. Fans of their previous work and style will get a kick
out of this one. This Blu-ray release from Starz/Anchor Bay serves up a palatable presentation.
While the video and audio qualities won't dazzle, they nevertheless serve the material well,
and the included supplements, too, are suitable for the quality and style of movie they accompany.
The Slammin' Salmon is best enjoyed as a rental.
Anchor Bay Entertainment has announced the release on Blu-ray, on April 13, of 'The Slammin' Salmon', the latest work of Broken Lizard, the comedy troupe behind 'Beerfest' and 'Super Troopers. It stars Michael Clarke Duncan as a restaurant owner and ex boxing champ ...
