On the Line (2001)
Review by HTQ4
Film:
DVD:

Written by Eric Aronson and Paul Stanton
Directed by Eric Bross
Starring Lance Bass, Joey Fatone, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Dave Foley, and Jerry Stiller

Features:

• Running audio commentary with director Bross and actress Chriqui
  
• Behind-the-Scenes Featurette
  
• Storyboard Comparison
  
• Outtakes
  
• Deleted and Alternate Scenes with commentary
  
• "On the Line" Music Video
  
• Making the Music Video
  
• Cast Interviews
  

Released by: Buena Vista.
Rating: PG
Region: 1
Anamorphic: Yes.

My Advice: Skip it.

Kevin (Bass) just happens to fall in love with a girl (Chriqui) he meets on the El in Chicago, but they when they part ways, he becomes obsessed with trying to find the love that he lost. So, he takes advantage of the fact that he's an advertising executive and, with the help of his friend Rod (Fatone) posts signs all over Chicago trying to find this the most perfect of girls.

Very high Velveeta factor on this one. I can honestly say that I found nothing in this film redeeming whatsoever. After all, it stars two of the boys who are in that band with Britney Spears' ex-boyfriend, and you all should know by now how strongly I feel about Ms. Spears. First of all, at the beginning of the movie, in an amazing bit of irony, Bass displays an amazing ability to completely fail to perform a convincing lip-sync. I mean, it is horrible...to the point that sometimes it looks like he is mouthing completely different words than are being sung. I know that this probably has more to do with the editing than with his ability to lip-sync, but it is just one of those things that allows me to really rip into this movie. I mean, who could like a movie that stars two guys who are in that band with that other guy who dumped Britney? And, unfortunately, Foley's character is exactly the same as his character on Talk Radio, except poorly written and not funny.

Then we move on to the DVD. The commentary track is completely boring. Bross takes the movie way too seriously and as such, the young Chriqui tries to come across sounding like she knows what she's talking about...and it doesn't work. All that needs to be said about the behind-the-scenes featurette is that it starts with Fatone defending the movie with the phrase, "It's not a high school movie." It then dwindles down into a cast and crew love-fest. The storyboard comparison is as much of a waste of time as it is on most other DVDs. All they have to do is show the storyboards that actually look like what the final cut of the movie looked like...and believe it or not, you can actually watch the entire movie like this!! The outtakes is a produced gag reel that is full of the cast just acting silly on camera. There are not enough actual outtakes from the movie in it to make it worth watching. The alternate and deleted scenes are pretty much the same. It is obvious why they cut these scenes because they have exactly nothing to do with the rest of the movie. If these scenes were in the original script, it's amazing that this script got out of the development stage.

Next there are the music video and the making of the music video. As you should already know, I'm not a fan of having a music video as a DVD special feature. This one does absolutely nothing to change my mind about that...even considering that I get to see how they put this video together. There is a special feature on the DVD menu that is not listed on the DVD case: they put some home video that was shot from the set of the movie. But it really makes no sense whatsoever. It's just a bunch of people running around trying to get to an NSync concert. The only one that I recognized was Chriqui. As a DVDophile, I should be thankful that they at least attempted to put some bonus material on the disc, but it just can't save it.

This DVD was not as interactive as Britney's was. I didn't even get a chance to make an article of NSync clothing or anything. I did, however, watch this movie with my Britney T-shirt on in protest of the fact that that other idiot from the band dumped her. What a loser. Don't even watch this movie.