This month Mill Creek is releasing a couple more of its actor-themed double-feature Blu-rays sets. One of these includes two comedies starring Martin Short—the 1987 romantic comedy Cross My Heart co-starring Anette O’Toole, and the 1991 film Pure Luck co-starring Danny Glover.
Cross My Heart (1987)
David (Martin Short) and Kathy (Annette O’Toole) just met 17 days ago, but after two dates both have started to fall in love with one another. Tonight is the all-important third date and both of them are stressing out. As Kathy prepares for the date with the help of her older sister Nancy (Joanna Kerns), she worries how David will react if he discovers that she has a 7-year-old daughter, or that she secretly smokes. Meanwhile, David is getting ready with his best friend Bruce (Paul Reiser), wondering if he should cancel the date—he is afraid that Kathy will go running if she learns that he was just fired from his job. To help calm his nerves, Bruce offers his friend the use of his new car and apartment to impress Kathy.
As the couple meets for their big date, things almost immediately take an unfortunate turn, and don’t go as planned. But the couple has a strong mutual attraction and just roll with it, and ultimately things lead back to David’s (well, Bruce’s) apartment. The would-be couple’s small lies lead to bigger ones, and things quickly get out of hand, especially as David tries to pass off this unfamiliar apartment as his own. The night proves to be a crazy one, with both David and Kathy trying to maintain the facades they’ve so carefully crafted. But it’s only a matter of time before the secrets start to be revealed and the couple must bare all and have a frank discussion.
I’m a big Martin Short fan, but somehow I had never even heard of Cross My Heart before Mill Creek’s double-feature release was announced. I was pleasantly surprised by this film. While I didn’t find it to be laugh-out-loud funny, I did find it quite amusing and entertaining. It is very dialogue-driven and has more of a theatrical play feel to it. It is farcical in nature, though a bit more grounded in reality. Short and O’Toole have such great on-screen chemistry and feel like they could be an actual newly-dating couple just falling in love. Short not only delivers on the physical comedy, but his character also has a surprising amount of heart and innocence—he looks so young, but I guess 34 years will do that to anyone! The dialogue and banter between the various pairings of characters is not only fun and witty, but also feels natural and real. Tthe dating dilemmas, advice and discussions feel timeless. If it wasn’t for the 80’s clothing and apartment design, the conversations between would have felt just as relevant and applicable today.
The majority of the film is just David and Kathy talking, trying to get to know each other, and trying to decide if they should take things to the next level and have sex. At the same time, they’re both attempting to keep their own secrets from being discovered. The opening of the film provides a fun comparison between the way men and women prepare for a date, and how share their thoughts and desires with their same-sex best friend. The way this opening sequence is edited together leads to a lot of humor, such as David worrying about how no woman wants to date an unemployed man, and then cutting to Nancy telling her sister how she’s happy she is finally dating a man with a solid job who could support her. And there’s similar types of quick edits revolving around Kathy’s insecurities about children, and Bruce’s comments to David. Even though most of the film follows a discussion between two characters in an apartment, the filmmakers keep things lively and interesting, mixing in some physical and situational humor and awkward intimacy.
This double-feature disc is the first time Cross My Heart has been released on Blu-ray, and I was quite impressed by the results. The picture is very clean, a solid level of detail, as well as just a pleasant amount of film grain. Colors look natural and bright, with an excellent picture in both darker and lighter scenes. This does not look like a 35-year-old movie. The stereo audio track doesn’t provide that immersive feeling of a modern surround sound track, but is more than sufficient. The dialogue is clear throughout, and the track nicely showcases the film’s quirky score and 80s soundtrack, which includes songs from bands such as The Talking Heads and Simply Red. Cross My Heart is a small, mainly dialogue-driven romantic comedy that fans of the cast should find amusing and entertaining. (For O’Toole fans, there’s even a joke where Kathy makes a joke comparing David’s bedroom performance to that of Superman.)
Pure Luck (1991)
A wealthy businessmen (Sam Wanamaker) reluctantly allows his ever-unlucky, accident-prone daughter Valerie (Sheila Kelley) take a vacation on her own in Mexico, only to have her disappear without a trace. For the next month there is no sign of a ransom note, and investigator Raymond Campanella (Danny Glover) doesn’t have luck finding any trace of Highsmith’s daughter. Highsmith has tried private detectives, psychics, astrologists, and even fortune tellers, so when his company’s psychological consultant, Dr Julius Monosoff (Harry Shearer), suggests another unconventional approach, he’s all ears. Monosoff believes that if they hire someone just as unlucky as Valerie, that person may intuitively lead them to right to her by experiencing all the same mishaps and misfortunes she did, ultimately ending up falling into the same mysterious hole in the Earth that she did. Fortunately, there’s already someone just as unlucky as Valerie working in the company’s accounting department, Eugene Proctor (Martin Short). Campanella thinks the plan sounds ludicrous, and is not to keen to go through with it, but Valerie is the only missing person he has never managed to find in his career, so he reluctantly agrees to go along with it. However, as part of the plan, Proctor isn’t to know the real reason he is involved, and Campanella is supposed to allow him to feel like he is in charge of the investigation—a fact that Proctor is annoyingly consistent at reminding Campanella of.
As this odd couple heads to Mexico to look for Valerie, Campanella is quickly astounded by the never-ending stream of bad luck that Proctor seems to attract and leave in his wake. If something can go wrong, it always will, and it will always be Proctor who takes the brunt of it. However, Proctor has gotten so used to his constant misfortunes, so much so that they no longer even phase him. He has come to expect that his baggage will always get lost, and that his plane will never take off at its scheduled time. Proctor also pretty much knows where the closest doctor is no matter where he goes. Will Proctor’s string of misfortunes really lead them to Valerie, or will his antics drive Campanella insane first?!
Pure Luck is a remake of the 1981 French film La Chèvre, starring comedic duo Pierre Richard & Gérard Depardieu. Both films are fun and entertaining (I watched the original in middle school French class), but Pure Luck has been a longtime favorite of mine, and one of my top Martin Short comedic performances. Proctor’s never-ending string of bad luck and misfortune leads to some hilarious, laugh-out-loud moments and some amazing physical comedy from Short. He is constantly falling, banging into things, or experiencing other horrible trauma. But no matter what happens, it never seems to phase Proctor—he always just gets right up, dusts himself off, and acts like nothing even happened. Glover also gives a very funny performance as the straight man witnessing all this wackiness with immense disbelief. Campanella’s level of annoyance with Proctor is constantly growing, just waiting for the moment when he finally boils over and needs to vent his frustrations. Meanwhile, Proctor is clueless as to the real nature of his role in the investigation, and his insistence that he is in charge just manages to infuriate Campanella even more. However, over the course of the film, there is this nice friendship and mutual appreciation that forms between the mismatched odd couple, adding some heart to the humor.
Surprisingly this double-feature release is the first time Pure Luck has been made available on Blu-ray. The picture is, for the most part, very clean and pleasant, but doesn’t quite have the same level of detail as the first movie, especially in faces. The colors are also a bit uneven at times, with Short’s face and skin tone looking natural one moment, and pale and grey the next. However, the overall picture quality is still quite solid, and any minor imperfections never detracted from my enjoyment of the film. Similar to the previous film, this features a stereo audio track that not overly-impressive, but still more than sufficient. The track provides clear dialogue and does a nice job of showcasing Tim Burton’s delightful score.
Both films reside on a single Blu-ray disc, which has a basic menu with a Subtitle on/off option and a Play button for each of the two movies. There is no slipcover or digital copy included with this release.
What’s Included:
Films:
- Cross My Heart (1987) (1:30:30)
- 1080p / Widescreen 1.85:1
- Audio: English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio
- Subtitles: English SDH
- Pure Luck (1991) (1:35:53)
- 1080p / Widescreen 1.85:1
- Audio: English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio
- Subtitles: English SDH
Extras:
-
This release contains no bonus material.
Final Thoughts:
Pure Luck has always been one of my favorite Martin Short films, and revisiting it again I found that it still doesn’t disappoint. Short and Glover make a great comedic team, and the film still had me laughing out loud despite seeing it for the umpteenth time. As for Cross My Heart, I had never heard of this film before this release, but I found it to be a sweet dialogue-driven romantic comedy that felt more like I was watching a well-choreographed play. It features a small but very talented and recognizable cast. Mill Creek’s double feature release features a solid audio/video presentation for both films, which both hit Blu-ray for the first time, but doesn’t include any supplemental material. I would recommend this release just for the hilarity that is Pure Luck alone, so it’s like getting a second Martin Short comedy included for free!
![Cross My Heart | Pure Luck - A Martin Short Double Feature [Blu-ray]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51vldaqtypL._SL120_.jpg)
MARTIN SHORT DOUBLE FEATURE BD [Blu-ray]
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