Two Girls and a Guy is a 1997 independent comedy starring Robert Downey Jr. and Heather Graham, it focuses on love, lust, trust and everything in between in modern relationships.
It tries to examine and reflect on some sort of universal truths about new age relationships. However with an ambitious script and the expectations that come with a pitch like that, if done poorly the film just has a higher height to fall from… Let’s see what happens.
Film
Two Girls and a Guy begins with Heather Graham’s & Natasha Gregson Wagner’s characters waiting outside apartment building for their boyfriend and through a bit of unfortunate coincidence they find out that they’re both dating the same man.
The girls decide to break into the boyfriend’s (Robert Downey Jr.) apartment and confront him about the infidelity. What ensues is a dialogue driven episode in which Robert Downey Jr. tries to talk himself out of the situation at hand.
The film was ambitious and from some of the special features you find out that film was shot in less than two weeks and cost approximately a million dollars. It had a witty script which was both original and humorous.
That being said, you can really tell the film was shot so quickly… From the actors having to read their lines, giving insanely poor plywood-esque performances and the overall poor cinematography, the film was pretty dull. Not even Robert Downey Jr.’s godsend performance couldn’t save this film.
There are scenes in the movie where Heather Graham and Natasha Gregson Wagner’s characters are constantly looking down as they deliver their lines, and if you look carefully you see them scanning lines, which are most likely from cue cards. This isn’t a make or break issue with the film, hell SNL has always used cue cards. The problem with ‘Two Girls and a Guy’ is that on top of the actors reading lines, their performance are non-existent… there’s no intonation, no emotion…
Robert Downey Jr. on the other hand gives yet another great performance and this is around the time where his career was going downhill. He’s the light at the end of the tunnel in this atrociously acted film, which felt more like someone brought a camcorder into a stage play (which is just as much a sleight against the cinematography as it is a sleight against the lack of interesting locales). I also love how in the commentary (which I will discuss further in the special features) the director chastises those who connect the film to a play, saying that the cinematography plays a huge role in the film… I’d disagree.
If you’re Downey Jr. fan, rent it.
Video
Two Girls and a Guy is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 in 1080p mpeg-AVC, however even though in comparison to the artefact stricken, grain-filled DVD version of the film, the blu-ray transfer isn’t much of a step up.
The film still contains artifacting and the grain is still there, but the overall colour isn’t as washed out as before. The blacks are fairly deep and the image is fairly crisp, but if you’re expecting a surprising quality jump from this transfer… than prepare to be let down.
Audio
In my opinion, the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 is wasted on the 90% stereo mix of the film. Occasionally some of the music will come through the surround speakers, but in a dialogue driven film there’s barely anything coming anywhere but the center speaker.
Now in such a dialogue heavy film, someone might assume that the mix would be refined to bring out the warmth and clarity of the actor’s performances… However in another let down, the dialogue sounds warbled and lot of it is noticeable ADR, which at times doesn’t sync up.
Another problem with the audio, which is more of a screw up by the crew of the film, when actors walk further away from the foreground the audio gets quieter… Meaning they’re walking away from the microphone. Another problem is at the end when Heather Graham is hugging Downey Jr.’s, you can hear the lavaliere microphones rustling like crazy. Another annoying sound technician at work.
For those interested in the other audio options, there are; English Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital Mono and French Dolby Digital Mono. As well as English, Spanish, French, and Chinese subtitles (for those who are annoyed by the mix).
Special Features
Commentary with James Toback, Robert Downey Jr. and Natasha Gregson – which ends up being James Toback mainly taking the lead and discussing pre-production and production tidbits, with Robert Downey Jr. piping up once n a while with a few hilarious comments. It’s definitely worthwhile to listen if you decide to rent the flick. However I found the director to be quite full of himself, by insulting critics of the film and stating certain aspects of the film as the best in cinema.
Theatrical Trailer – it’s always great to catch a glimpse of how the movie would look in comparison to DVD. Even after critiquing the quality of the video, it’s still better than the standard definition trailer.
Conversation with James Toback – Having listened to the director/writer pat himself on the back heavily throughout the commentary, by saying certain scenes in the movie are the greatest in film history and so on, I was a little hesitant on watching this feature. However it was more of a retrospective on the film and the production, opposed to his feelings on the film’s place in cinema history… *phew*
Final Thoughts
This is another example of how even the fans of the film will be disappointed. With only one added special feature from the earlier release of the film, it’s not even worth a purchase let alone a double dip for those who own the DVD. The technical aspects of the film, such as video and audio, were pretty lacklustre which adds another nail in the coffin too.
For newcomers who might be interested in watching the film, I’d recommend renting it. Due to the fact the film itself is mediocre, I’d say replayability is non-existent.
