Review of LA Story

Introduction

L.A. Story is Steve Martin`s homage to his hometown and the weird people who inhabit it`s streets.

Steve Martin plays a `Wacky` weatherman who, one day, is stopped on the freeway by a roadsign that wants a hug! Yes, it could only happen in L.A.

Boasting an excellent cast (Steve himself, Victoria Tennant, Richard E. Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker and others) this film outs every strange quirk and obsession you expect to find in L.A. from the infinite varieties of coffee to the restaurants that decide what you can afford to eat!

Many people have called this the L.A. version of Woody Allen`s "Annie Hall" and the similarities are fairly obvious....

Video

Featuring an anamorphic widescreen transfer, the video quality was pretty good, slightly washed out occasionally (but like LA itself) but otherwise fine. There was the odd speckle of dirt but nothing major or intrusive and colours were reproduced nicely- a vast improvement over the VHS version.

The DVD menu is nicely done but (as is often the case) the audio clip that runs through it is very short and starts to get annoying after a few repeats!

Audio

Audio is presented in Dolby Surround and there are no obvious problems. Dialogue is perfectly clear and the occasional surround effects work well without being intrusive.

The soundtrack is excellent too, featuring Enya and Django Reinhardt amongst others.

Features

As to the features list, there`s quite a few including a couple of trailers (acceptable), a `making of` and a `behind the scenes` feature that could really have been combined together into one.

There`s a nice photo gallery of stills from the movie and from production and a series of rather disjointed interviews (the Sarah Jessica Parker one lasts a full 20 seconds!) that mostly praise Steve Martin.

Conclusion

The highlight for me has to be Patrick Stewart`s portrayal of a draconian Maitre d`, but there are so many fun aspects of this film that you can always find something new to laugh at.

An entertaining, quirky look at L.A. by someone who obviously loves the place but can see through to the madness beneath!