Review of Van Wilder: Party Liaison

Introduction

Van Wilder: Party Liaison is the latest from the National Lampoons team and is, as you may have already guessed, very much in the same vein of humour. A mix of gross out moments and genuinely engaging segments; Van Wilder throws out all the punches, fortunately for the most part they hit the spot nicely.

After Van enters his 7th year of college his dad finally takes notice and decides help in the only way he can…by cutting off Van`s funding. Desperate to stay Van Wilder and his friends hatch a variety of schemes in order to get money including such wonders as topless tutors and of course organizing large scale parties for the various college organisations.

Video

The video transfer is quite crisp and clear, not much in the way of visual grain but that`s not surprising considering it`s a fairly recent film.

In terms of camera work it`s a fairly standard affair but it`s functional and that`s what really counts for a film of this type really.

Audio

Rather confusingly the DVD comes in Dolby Digital 2.0 and Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks; however by default it will use the DD2.0 soundtrack. Seems a bit odd compared to the overriding majority which use the DD5.1 by default.

In either DD2.0 or DD5.1 modes the sound is a fairly average affair but then the film doesn`t really require much more. The DD5.1 version makes little use of the rear channels leading to the sound being unbalanced but still clear and respectable enough.

All the extras are in DD2.0 only apparently, I say apparently because on the pre-release test version I`m reviewing I couldn`t actually get the sound to work through my amp set up! I suspect this issue may be resolved with the actual release version however, at least I would hope so!

Features

The extra features on the DVD are quite disappointing to be honest, sound issues aside.

Included are usual assortment of TV Spots and Trailers as well as a series of interviews with the cast and crew of the film. It feels somewhat lacking, especially compared to the Region 1 version which has a much better selection of features.

Even the menus have little in the way of background music etc, it all just seems rather sparse for something which obviously had good potential for the likes of deleted scenes, commentaries etc.

Conclusion

While the film itself is rather enjoyable the DVD is unfortunately quite poor. A lack of extra features and content ultimately lets down what is quite a fun film.

The film has some rather funny and indeed a few rather gross comedy moments (éclairs anyone?). It`s definitely worth viewing, whether it`s worth buying the DVD rather than renting it out however is debatable.

The pre-release version I had did also suffer from some noticeable problems with regards to the extra features as well but these should be ironed out in the official release version.

I`ve given it a higher score than might be expected from the sound of my review purely because I did like the film itself; it`s purely the DVD release that is letting this down.