Blu-ray Review: For A Good Time, Call…

STUDIO: Universal | DIRECTOR: Jamie Travis | CAST: Lauren Anne Miller, Ari Graynor, Justin Long, Nia Vardalos, Mimi Rogers, Don McManus, James Wolk
BLU-RAY & DVD RELEASE DATE: 1/22/2013 | PRICE: Blu-ray/DVD Combo $34.98, DVD $29.98,
BONUSES: commentary, deleted scenes, featurette
SPECS: R/NR | 85 min. | Comedy | 2.35:1 widescreen | DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1/Dolby Digital 5.1 | English and Spanish subtitles

RATINGS (out of 5 dishes): Movie | Audio | Video | Overall

 

A likable Odd Couple-style comedy, For a Good Time, Call… revolves around two very different young women (What’s Your Number?‘s Ari Graynor and 50/50‘s Lauren Anne Miller) who finds themselves living together and unable to pay the rent for their New York apartment. What to do? How about setting up a phone sex line to bring in some cash? Well, they do and, yes, cash does come in–lots of cash, along with an opportunity for some growing up and a little romance.

Lauren Miller and Ari Graynor go to work on their pretty pink telephone in For a Good Time, Call...

It’s funny that a movie filled with sex phone chat (involving all manner of sexual activity) can be considered “nice,” but For a Good Time, Call… really is quite sweet. Much of this is due to Graynor and Miller, both of whom are quite appealing in their admittedly caricatured roles of the loud, sexual “bad girl” (the Bette Midler-ish Graynor) and the soft-spoken, naïve “good girl” (Miller). Their numerous scenes together are comfortable and fun, as are their numerous phone sex sequences (laugh-out-loud bit which include cameos by Kevin Smith and Seth Rogen, Miller’s real-life hubby), and even though story is predictable, the overall mixture goes down easily. Director Jamie Travis keeps the movie moving and doesn’t waste any time with fancy set-ups or lingering establishing shots. By trimming away any excess flab, this 85-minute piece never feels like its running too long, and that’s a change of pace from many recent comedies of comparable or longer length.

Like the movie it supplements, the bonus package is small, unassuming and pleasant. The commentary track, which features director Travis, producer/co-writer Katie Anne Naylon, executive producer/co-star Graynor and producer/co-writer/co-star Miller Miller, is a lively, giggly affair that finds the ladies exclaiming “Omigod” at least once every five minutes. Overall, the track doesn’t examine the filmmaking as much as it reveals the perky personalities of the people involved with it. There’s also a brief promotional featurette filled with clips and yadda-yadda talking heads, as well as five deleted scenes that clock in at five minutes. The brief scenes are all cute—I particularly  liked the one where the ladies engage in a playful dildo duel—but while none of them would have added much to the film, their excision would have detracted from it either.

The Blu-ray contains both the R-rated and unrated versions of the film, the unrated cut clocking in two minutes longer then the rated edition. Most of the saucier material comes in the form of extended sex talk that sounds downright raunchy—again, though, coming from the mouths of the film’s leading ladies, it’s still pretty cute.

Buy or Rent For A Good Time, Call…
DVD | Blu-ray/DVD Combo	DVD | Blu-ray/DVD Combo	DVD | Blu-ray/DVD Combo