Wedding Crashers Blu-ray

Uncorked Edition

New Line Cinema | 2005 | 128 mins | Unrated | Dec 30, 2008

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Video Video codec: VC-1 Video resolution: 1080p Aspect ratio: 2.40:1 Audio English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English: Dolby Digital 5.1 English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English: Dolby Digital 5.1 (less) Subtitles English, Spanish English, Spanish (less) Disc 50GB Blu-ray Disc

Price List price: $28.99  Amazon: $9.99 (Save 66%) Third party: $9.96 (Save 66%) Usually ships in 24 hours Blu-ray rating Users 4.0 Reviewer 3.0 Overall 3.5 Based on 2 user ratings Playback Region free

Wedding Crashers

The Blu-ray edition of Wedding Crashers features a pair of 1080p/VC-1 transfers, one for the theatrical cut of the film and the other for the unrated version. Each one delivers a similar visual experience, rising with the same highs and floundering with the same problematic lows. The palette is colorful and vibrant but occasionally fluctuates from scene to scene, blacks are generally deep but poorly resolved in some instances, and contrast is healthy but falters at inopportune times. Likewise, background detail is sharp and revealing one moment, but two-dimensional and soft the next. It’s an unfortunate development and a constant distraction, especially when you consider the number of crowd shots that appear throughout the flick. While some of the transfer's uneven clarity could be the result of the original print, I suspect the studio’s use of Digital Noise Reduction (DNR) has made the issue much worse. Grain is less intrusive than it is on the DVD, but fine textures are too hazy, clothing fabric too indistinct, and faces too waxy for my tastes.

Thankfully, artifacting, noise, edge enhancement, and crush have been kept to a minimum. Each issue still pops up from time to time, but they’re infrequent blips in an otherwise tolerable presentation. Ultimately, fans will be pleased with the fact that Wedding Crashers looks a lot better in high definition than it does on DVD. However, anyone looking to compare the disc to other more impressive comedy transfers on the market will be frustrated with what they find.

Wedding Crashers Blu-ray, Audio Quality

Alas, the disc’s audio package doesn’t salvage its release. Wedding Crashers includes a front-heavy Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround track that only serves to highlight the film’s already limited sound design. Dialogue is crisp, clean, and well preserved, but sporadically gets lost beneath crowd chatter, sound effects, and music cues during more chaotic sequences. Adding insult to injury, the LFE channel is woefully underused and fails to inject much weight into the mix. More troubling is the lack of rear speaker presence; environmental ambience is too quiet, interior acoustics are unconvincing, and the soundfield doesn’t draw the listener into most scenes. Granted, there aren’t many legitimate opportunities for the mix to flex its sonic muscles, but I expected a much livelier experience than I encountered.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m extremely pleased to see Warner grant a TrueHD audio track to a release that doesn’t necessarily need it – after all, just a few months ago a talkative comedy like Wedding Crashers would have merely earned a standard Dolby Digital track – but audiophiles expecting a stimulating soundfield or a series of stirring dynamics will certainly be irritated with the film’s lossless debut.

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