May 2000

The Suburbans
Reviewed by Doug Schneider
DVD Format

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Starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, Craig Bierko, Amy Brenneman, Will Ferrell, Tony Guma

Directed by Donal Lardner Ward

Theatrical Release: 1999
DVD Release: 2000
Dolby Digital 5.1
Widescreen

Cross Tom Hank’s That Thing You Do! with Adam Sandler’s The Wedding Singer, slash the budget to a fraction of either of those movies, throw in the production value of a television sitcom and you will have an idea of what to expect from The Suburbans. Despite a few humorous moments, not even the delectable Jennifer Love Hewitt in a starring role can save this low-budget, wannabe comedy.

The Suburbans are supposed to be a fictional early ‘80s pop group whose claim to fame is a single hit called "By My Side." The film opens briefly in 1981 as the group is being interviewed by Dick Clark on American Bandstand. It’s a time before MTV and music videos when shiny suits and swooping hair was in vogue. Flash to the present and twenty years have passed, the band has gotten older, but most of them still haven’t really gone on with their lives. They were one-hit-wonders and wanted to be more. Although one of them has gotten on with his life, the others wallow in "what could have been."

Jennifer Love Hewitt plays Cate, a young and beautiful music promoter who re-discovers The Suburbans playing their one and only hit in the backyard at one of the band member’s weddings. Cate immediately wants to re-launch The Suburbans in the retro-crazed ‘90s. While the now middle-aged band members dream of attaining fame once again, Cate has different motives, which we learn later.

There are a few funny moments, particularly the small cameo performances by Ben and Jerry Stiller as the owners of Cate’s record company. However, for the most part this film falls flat. Furthermore, about two thirds of the way through the numerous subplots take inexplicable turns (or are forgotten about) and leave us to wonder what happened to the original intent of the film. Like The Wedding Singer, the filmmakers try to resuscitate the clothing and the hairstyles of the ‘80s so that any of us who grew up at that time can react, "did we really look like that?" It’s all cheap laughs, though, and it doesn’t work nearly as well with these actors as it did in The Wedding Singer (that’s still not a great movie, but actually is worth renting). As for the creation of a fictitious band like this, Tom Hanks did it much better with That Thing You Do! This just feels like a cheap knockoff. If you want a really funny rock-and-roll spoof, go rent This is Spinal Tap. Rob Reiner directed that film with such realism that some people actually thought that the band was real!

The picture quality of this DVD is good in a colorful, made-for-TV movie type of way. There’s nothing really outstanding, so nothing much to criticize. Sound is generally good too. Like the picture there is nothing extraordinary, but nothing too poor. One thing that did surprise me, though, was the occasionally effective use of surround effects for on and off screen sounds. I didn’t expect it in a movie like this. DVD extras are very sparse and include just talent bios done in a text format. Of course, like almost every other DVD there is a theatrical trailer (I don’t remember when this actually played in the theaters, mind you).

The only way to really recommend The Suburbans is to say it’s worth renting if everything else is out. It’s not offensive, the 81-minute running time clips away quickly, and you may even laugh a couple times. Other than that, I suspect the only other reason that people will want to rent this is because Jennifer Love Hewitt is emblazoned on the box cover in a tight shirt. If that’s your real motive for getting it and you really want to see her then rent I Still Know What You Did Last Summer instead. 

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