In another lackluster week on home video, we’ve got a road trip buddy comedy, a horror film with a unique gimmick, a couple of documentaries on celebrities who died before their time, and a selection from the Criterion Collection. Read on for details:
Reese Witherspoon and Sofia Vergara star in this road trip action comedy about an uptight cop and a federal witness on the run from both gangsters and the police after an unfortunate mixup. Extras on the Blu-ray include a piece on Witherspoon and Vergara’s chemistry, a video of the two attempting to speak each other’s language, a gag reel, and an alternate ending.
Told in real time as an on-screen group video chat, this horror flick finds five friends terrorized in a chat session by a supernatural force who claims to be the spirit of a classmate bullied into suicide a year earlier. Unfortunately, there are no bonus features.
This documentary chronicles the life of the beloved Saturday Night Live star, featuring interviews with family members and famous colleagues like David Spade and Dan Aykroyd, photographs, video clips, home movies, and more. No special features listed.
One of two docs this year looking back at the life of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, Soaked in Bleach specifically takes a closer look at the circumstances surrounding Cobain’s death, via the research gathered by the private investigator Courtney Love hired to track him down just days before his death. Available on DVD.
Lastly, from the Criterion Collection, we have Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons in Karel Reisz’s inventive, Oscar-nominated adaptation of The French Lieutenant’s Woman, alternating between a Victorian-era romantic affair and a present-day film adaptation of the same story. Special features include new interviews with Irons and Streep and an episode of The South Bank Show with Reisz, screenwriter Harold Pinter, and John Fowles, author of the source novel.
