A blast from the past Blind Date comes to home theaters on Blu-ray for the first time and it’s a hoot. The film stars a young Bruce Willis and Kim Basinger and the comedic chemistry between the two is extraordinary. If you like wild and wacky comedy, this one will keep you laughing from opening scene to unimaginable finale.
The story centers on Walter (Bruce Willis), a member of the staff of a management firm in LA. He’s a rising star in the company, or so he thinks and his boss can see him going places, if he continues to get better. One day after rushing to the office he gets called into a meeting. Their biggest prospect Mr. Yakamoto has requested a business dinner to go over the strategy of managing his company. Yakamoto is a very controlling person and dislikes any rudeness, especially in front of his wife.
Walter needs a date so he asks his brother if he can borrow his wife for the evening. It’s their anniversary so he refuses, but gets him a date with his wife’s best friend Nadia (Kim Basinger) who has just arrived in town. She comes with a warning, “do not get her drunk or she turns into a wild person”. Not taking their advice, he stops off at a friend’s recording session and opens a bottle of Champagne. Nadia refuses at first, but then takes a glass of the bubbly. After two or three she starts getting amorous with Walter. Not wanting it to get out of hand he proceeds to the business dinner after a quick stop at an art gallery.
When Nadia gets a little too much to drink her crazy ways start to escalate. Director Blake Edwards (The Pink Panther) keeps his plot developing at a fast pace getting the two into one hilarious situation after another. He inserts new stimuli into the movie as the film progresses including a former boyfriend of Nadia who stalks her because he doesn’t accept that their relationship is over.
Edwards uses his cast extremely well especially Bruce Willis who gives the comedic performance of his life in this wild and wacky film. He makes his character naïve and business targeted in the start of the film to a completely off-the-wall guy. He actually wants to one-up his date Nadia with some very bizarre antics, but no one gets more outrageous than Nadia. He has excellent chemistry with Kim Basinger as the date from hell. She takes this soft spoken nonchalant women to a very disturbing place creating so much havoc that Walter puts himself in a position to not only lose his job, but his whole future in any kind of business. The two make a great comedic couple and show it in Blind Date.
The transfer from film to Blu-ray HD has really improved over the DVD release. The video quality is very good with very little distortion, enhanced color and no value loss in the close-ups as in many of the older film transfers I have seen. The DTS HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo is top quality with a clean and clear presentation. For example, I had no trouble hearing all the dialogue and conversations at the night club and party that follows the bosses dinner.
Specifications and additional film information:
Cast: Bruce Willis, Kim Basinger, John Larroquette
Director: Blake Edwards
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sexual material, comic violence, and language
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Running Time: 1 hr 36 min
Video Release Date: January 14th, 2014
Original Film Release Date: March 27, 1987
Language:English
Format: Blu-ray
Audio: DTS HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo
Video: Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Number of Discs: 1 Disc
Distributed by: RLJ Entertainment
Writer, critic, film editor John Delia, Sr. has been on all sides of the movie business from publications to film making. He has worked as a film critic with ACED Magazine for more than 20 years and other publications for a total of 40 years. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Florida. John is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and Critics Association of Central Florida Send John a message at jdelia@acedmagazine.com
