Lions Gate presents

Fast Sofa (2001)

"Here, put this one on. It's one of my biggest sellers. It was very, very popular. It's about these girls, they're on the beach in Malibu, then all of a sudden they realize: There's no boys! There's no boys anywhere! So they sorta take care of themselves and everything."- Ginger Quail (Jennifer Tilly)

Stars: Jake Busey, Adam Goldberg, Natasha Lyonne, Crispin Glover
Other Stars: Bijou Phillips, Eric Roberts, Jennifer Tilly
Director: Salomé Breziner

MPAA Rating: R for strong sexual content, language, drug use, and some violence
Run Time: 01h:48m:23s
Release Date: 2002-03-26
Genre: comedy

Style Grade	Substance Grade	Image Transfer Grade	Audio Transfer Grade	Extras Grade
B-	C	C+	C+	D-

 

DVD Review

Fast Sofa is a pretty twisted road movie. Rick (Jake Busey, sporting the same freaky blonde hair as he did as the cult leader in Contact) is a perpetual teenager, living from beer to beer and mooching off of his girlfriend (Natasha Lyonne). At a bar one night, he runs into Ginger Quail (Jennifer Tilly, always entertaining), who just happens to be his favorite porn star. The two spend the night together, and after his girlfriend dumps him, Rick decides to drive down to Palm Springs and find Ginger, who's there shooting her new video.

There's no plot, per se. Just a series of off-the-wall adventures for Rick. He meets up with Jules (Crispin Glover), a deranged man with a thing for birds and Princess Grace, and the two ride together, going bowling, picking up underage girls, and blowing up cars. Some of these little vignettes are slightly amusing; most are over-stylized into incoherence by director Salomé Breziner, who uses music video techniques like rapid intercutting, split-screen, and windowboxing like they are going out of style.

Once Rick meets up with Ginger in Palm Springs, the film turns suddenly, unexpectedly dark, with scenes of Ginger's husband/pimp abusing her for fornicating with Rick on the side, and later forcing the two to have sex at gunpoint. There's nothing funny about the abrupt tonal shift, and at about the hour mark, any momentum the film had is lost, and it stays lost for the final, tedious three-quarters of an hour.

I did enjoy much of Tilly's performance, especially her fake porn scenes, which Ginger thinks of as great acting. Busey and Glover are likewise entertaining enough (Glover is especially whacked, as always), but there's no real point to the movie. It's a wild ride without a destination.

Rating for Style: B-
Rating for Substance: C

 

Image Transfer

	One
Aspect Ratio	1.85:1 - Widescreen
Original Aspect Ratio	yes
Anamorphic	no

Image Transfer Review: For a nonanamorphic transfer, Fast Sofa looks only fair. Colors are bright and stable, with deep blacks but only OK shadow detail. Some slight artifacting is visible here and there, and the image is pretty grainy and soft, but these faults aren't too distracting. So why no anamorphic enhancement?

Image Transfer Grade: C+
 

Audio Transfer

	Language	Remote Access
DS 2.0	English	no

Audio Transfer Review: The English 2.0 mix is serviceable, but nothing more. Dialogue is always audible, but at times it sounds flat and disconnected. The frequent songs on the soundtrack expand the audio a bit, but they could make better use of the main soundstage and surrounds. Sound effects (an explosion in particular) are lacking LFE.

Audio Transfer Grade: C+ 

Disc Extras

Static menu
Scene Access with 24 cues and remote access
Subtitles/Captions in English with remote access
1 Original Trailer(s)
2 Other Trailer(s) featuring Rancid Aluminum, Tape
Packaging: Alpha
1 Disc
1-Sided disc(s)
Layers: single

Extras Review: The sole extras are English subtitles, the trailer, and clips for Rancid Aluminum and Richard Linklater's Tape.

Extras Grade: D-
 

Final Comments

Fast Sofa is a pretty meandering road trip, worth taking a look at if only for some whacko performances from Jennifer Tilly and Crispin Glover. The DVD looks decent, though, so if you're into repulsive characters and absurd humor, by all means, give it a spin.

Joel Cunningham 2002-08-15