The Deep End (2001)
Film:
DVD:

Features:

• Running audio commentary by co-writers/co-directors Siegel and McGehee
  
• The Anatomy of a Scene from The Sundance Channel
  
• Featurette
  
• Theatrical Trailer
  
• TV Spot "Review"
  
• Still Gallery
  
• Fox Flix
  

Margaret Hall (Swinton) has several problems in life. Her husband is away in the Navy and her son Beau (Tucker) is living a double life and has gotten himself in a position where he is culpable in the murder of his homosexual lover. Mrs. Hall finds herself in the position of trying to cover up what she believes is a murder her son committed. She finds herself in over her head when Alek Spera (Visnjic) shows up to blackmail the family for a video tape of Beau and his lover having sex.

The main problem with this film is the weak script. The dialogue is very stiff and there is no sympathy for the characters whatsoever. The secondary problem in this film is the casting. Tilda Swinton is much better an actress than this film allows her to be. The problem with her that I could not get past had nothing to do with her, but rather the fact that she was miscast. It was completely unbelievable that she was the mother of Tucker. It might be that she is old enough in real life, but on film, she looked like his older sister.

Visnjic is supposed to be a hardened hitman type that has a potential for a softer side. However, from the moment he comes on the screen it is apparent that he is going to let things slide. And, unfortunately, all Tucker was given in the script was to be continually upset with his mother, not talk to her at all, and exude angst until he magically decides that his mother is okay and helps her out of a jam (that they don't talk about at all). In the first scene between Tucker and Swinton, all he does is ask her if the conversation is over: which is amusing, because there is no discussion whatsoever. And in terms of it being expository, I got it well before the scene was over.

Perhaps the saddest thing about this film (sad in that it can't make up for the film itself) is that it is beautifully shot around Lake Tahoe and Reno, Nevada, but the scenery alone is not what makes the cinematography beautiful. The color palette used, along with the lighting and the camera placement all add up to make this arguably the prettiest bad movie ever.

The DVD is pretty bland as well, with one exception: the inclusion of Sundance Channel's Anatomy of a Scene segment. This half-hour long delve into one particular scene in the movie is incredibly well produced. The scene in question is the "pivotal" scene which, unfortunately, didn't work for me in the context of the film itself. However, the depth into which this segment goes regarding the scene really made me want to see more of this level of commitment in other behind-the-scenes segments on DVDs in the future. I like the idea of taking one scene and really getting into it and seeing what all the collaborators had to say about it that makes it what it was.

This segment is in direct contrast with the "Featurette" segment which is a poorly produced, poorly edited collection of interviews with the actors interspersed with clips from the film. It's what most DVDs have on board as the main behind the scenes feature. Which brings up another sticking point about this film to me: Siegel and McGehee wrote, directed and produced this film. I think they shouldn't have tried to do it all with this film and instead should have gotten some outside opinions. Their commentary track is incredibly boring. Even though they are talking all the way through it, they just had a difficult time holding my interest. They both talk with the same tone and pitch all the way through it and don't really do anything but tell you what great actors they had on the film and why they chose the Lake Tahoe area to film in.

There are two trailers on the DVD, the theatrical trailer and the "review" trailer (which gives you snippets of what the other reviewers had to say about the film...all of them disagreed with me about this one, just so you know). There is a collection of other Fox Searchlight DVD trailers and a gallery of still photos from the film (some of which I didn't see in the film and looked very staged).

Even though they made an attempt to stack the DVD with some decent features, they just don't add up to something that would make the disc worth spending your time on--especially given the quality of the film in question. I would say it's not even worth the rental.