Review of Being Considered

Introduction

James Dreyfus is probably best known for his UK TV roles in the funny Thin Blue Line and the not at all amusing Gimme, Gimme, Gimme. For those who haven`t yet seen these he`s probably best know as Hugh Grant`s camp book shop assistant/sidekick in Richard Curtis`s Notting Hill. In being considered Dreyfus gives us an impressive performance in what seems at first to be a much underrated movie. It begins with some sharp witty dialogue and a story concept that could have endless permutations and gags galore at the expense of the movie industry. Dreyfus`s comedy timing is superb with his inflection and a not-half-bad American accent to boot that aid the comedic moments.

The trouble is these moments are rare. Notting Hill succeeds where this one fails. The jokes are too sporadic and sometimes very forced. It lacks the smoothness and extra sharp wit of a Curtis script, but that said it is still an enjoyable watch. This film seems to have been lost or buried for some reason. It`s been a while coming to DVD, made back in 2000, but is a lot better than some of the current British hits doing the cinema rounds at present.

Video

Presented in 1.78:1 (non Anamorphic letterbox) the picture is sharp and free from any blemishes. It doesn`t have the real cinematic feel, more of a BBC filmed drama ambience.

There is a small amount of macro blocking on areas of flat colour. The tonal range, from solid strong blacks through to some sharp vivid whites are very respectable and there`s no sign of haloing of smearing from these whites.

The menu system is simple and static with a slight underscore from the soundtrack.

Audio

It states on the back of the box that it`s in Dolby Digital 5.1, It`s not. The best it can muster is DD Stereo 2.0 and it`s weedy and thin with very little bass that can really add to this kind of uninvolving track. The dialogue is very quiet and I needed to tweak my system to hear it well. This isn`t a major problem as effects audio is also on the low side and never really has chance to drown out the speech.

Features

You get a short and sweet making of documentary which is very dull and has very little in the lines of good anecdotal material.

Also we have a commentary by director Jonathan Newman. this makes up for the poor doc. giving us more of an insight into the production. There are a lot of quiet moments though and some times all we get are a few mutterings about set design and their own in-jokes which will mean nothing to you as a viewer.

There`s a few deleted scenes, cut for timing and add nothing back to the movie and an alternative ending that isn`t that different to the chosen one.

There`s also the ubiquitous theatrical trailer.

Conclusion

A simple little comedy that isn`t quite in the same league as Notting Hill or About a Boy but trounces the likes of bend it like Beckham and other recent so called hits. The DVD is a cost cutting authoring job with no spark of imagination and the movie itself lacks the Hollywood feel. This may have been its downfall as I don`t remember a theatrical release of this little lost gem.