DOMESTIC DISTURBANCE

Paramount Home Entertainment

Widescreen Collection DVD, $29.99

Frank Morrison's ex-wife, Susan, is getting re-married to Rick Barnes, a wealthy newcomer in town. Neither Frank, nor his 12-year old son Danny, is very happy about the upcoming wedding. Soon after the ceremony, Danny accuses Rick of murdering another man. When the police fail to take action for a lack of evidence, Frank trusts in Danny's story and vows to protect his son from the mysterious new stepfather.

Domestic Disturbance stars John Travolta, Vince Vaughn, Teri Polo, Matt O'Leary, and Steve Buscemi. The movie was directed by Harold Becker, produced by Donald DeLine and Jonathan D. Krane, and features music by Mark Mancina. Released theatrically in 2001, it is rated PG-13 with a feature running time of 89 minutes.

The movie is presented in an anamorphic widescreen version (2.35:1). The overall quality of the transfer is very good. Images are clean and colors are rich with saturated hues. There is nice contrast and dark black levels. Picture defect mastering is excellent with no major flaws or digital compression artifacts.

Video Rating: 8 out of 10

The following spoken language options are available for the movie: English Dolby Digital 5.1, English and French Dolby 2.0 channel surround. The following written tracks are available: English subtitles and closed captioning. The English Dolby Digital 5.1 track is the basis for this review. The overall soundtrack mix predominantly favors the forward channels. Dialogue is clear and natural sounding. The surround channels are at times dynamic, used for both ambient sound effects and music, and include split rear effects. When utilized, the LFE channel is robust and adds considerable thump to the music score and action scenes.

Audio Rating: 8 out of 10

The tactile sound effects are above average and are present in approximately half of the DVD's 15 chapters. Subtle to moderate impacts are the types of tactile effect that can be experienced on this disc. The best impacts take place in chapter 6 (stormy weather), chapter 13 (boat factory explosion), and chapter 14 (battle in the garage).

Tactile Sound Effects Rating: 7 out of 10

Bonus features include an audio commentary with director Harold Becker; 6 deleted scenes with optional commentary; 2 storyboards; theatrical trailer; scene access and interactive menus.

Bonus Features Rating: 6 out of 10

Reference equipment used for this review: [DVD player- Pioneer Elite DV-37; HDTV Monitor- Pioneer SD532HD5; A/V Receiver- Pioneer Elite VSX33TX; Speakers- BIC America V636 5.1 Channel Configuration; Tactile Transducers- Clark Synthesis TST329F]