Review of Undercover Blues

Introduction

"Undercover Blues" is a little gem of a movie. Jeff and Jane Blue are a married couple with a difference - they`re spies, and they`re down in New Orleans with their baby Jane-Louise on a spot of maternity leave when the Company asks a favour. Treading on the toes of the local law enforcement and cracking heads of some local lowlifes they attract a lot of attention.

With the original working title of "Cloak and Diaper", the movie is a starring vehicle for Kathleen Turner and Dennis Quaid as the Blues. There is sterling support from Stanley Tucci as "Muerte", a would-be mugger who starts a vendetta against Jeff Blue when Jeff single-handedly (literally, he`s holding baby Jane in the other) and comprehensively kicks his ass. It doesn`t help that Jeff insists on calling him "Morty" either. The villainess of the piece is Czech Secret Police Nutball Paulina Novacek (Fiona Shaw), operating out of a salt mine in the bayous and planning to ship some incredibly high explosives out of the US for her terrorist buddies. Obba Babatunde and Larry Miller play the cops detailed to follow the Blues and who are foiled at their attempts to curb the Blues` enthusiasm by their freinds in high places. In supporting roles are a whole host of fun characters but the scene stealer par excellence in the movie has to be little Michelle Schuelke as baby Jane Louise. There`s one scene where Lt. Sawyer (Babatunde) is questioning Jane Blue (dammit!) and the look little Michelle gives him is priceless.

The adventures of Jeff and Jane are a real romp, but if the film has any kind of failing, it`s falling between two stools. On the one hand you have a movie about two really cool folk with a cute baby who fight international terrorists - this face of the movie could toddle home with a PG rating for all the family. But - there are a couple of moments of bad language and violence (involving the comedy-relief "Morty" character) which have hitched the movie to its new 12 rating (although last time out it was saddled with a 15). With a few simple trims the picture could have nailed a family audience. On the other hand, the edgy little touches these moments give the film steer it away from the usual saccharine `tweetness that Hollywood applies to anything with darling little rugrats in it.

The way I look at this movie, it`s almost the third installment in the "Romancing The Stone" pictures (with Dennis Quaid substituting for Michael Douglas). It`s funny, exciting and above all silly. Just the way I like `em.

Video

An excellent transfer with little wear and tear. Colours and contrast are excellent. The film is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen.

The R1 version of the picture was a double-sided disc with the widescreen print on one side and the fullscreen print on the other. Aspect ratio obsessives may find that copy interesting as I reckon it`s the best illustration of "open-matte" on the market, and really it`s a shame MGM haven`t offered the same for this region. Viewing the two versions of the film, you realise that the 1.85:1 version as seen in theatres (and the director`s vision) is a narrow band extracted from the middle of a full 4:3 frame. Things like boom mikes, camera marks and extraneous objects are visible in the 4:3 framing that just aren`t there in the 1.85:1 print.

Audio

The film comes with its original Dolby 2.0 Surround soundtrack. It`s not a particularly lively mix, nor is it particularly loud, needing a little boosting to bring up the clarity of voices. Mention should be made of David Newman`s jazzy music score which is a delight.

Features

There`s only a theatrical trailer, but the main feature has full multilingual subtitles.

Conclusion

Dennis Quaid is a really likeable hero. I wish he`d done "Romancing The Stone" instead of Michael Douglas. The rapport between the Blues is a good deal of the fun in the movie, not least some of the tall tales Jeff Blue tells to people who ask him what line of work he`s in. Kathleen Turner is as memorable a heroine as she was in "Romancing The Stone", but her looks have never quite recovered from the busted nose she got filming "VI Warshawski" in 1991. If you like your comedy broad, then this picture`s for you. I fell for it on its original video release (I think it went straight to video in the UK), and this DVD is an enormous improvement.

"Intelligence Runs In The Family" - tagline.