Sam (Sam Rockwell) and Eddie (Steve Zahn) have dreams of making it big as entertainers, but after five years of making a go at it, their career has pretty much gone nowhere. They are still playing community centers to small, unexcited audiences. The problem is that they’re just not very good at singing—Sam often doesn’t even know the lyrics to the songs they are performing and makes his own up on the spot. One day, while making their post-show visit to a local bar, the guys run into a man named Veal Chop (Paul Giamatti), who has mistaken them for a pair of legendary safe men, and offers them a job. Soon Sam and Eddie find themselves in debt to gangster boss Big Fat Bernie Gayle (Michael Lerner), who gives them a week to crack three safes. The only problem is that these signer-songwriters don’t know the first thing about cracking a safe. Meanwhile, the real safe crackers, Frank (Mark Ruffalo) and Mitchell (Josh Pais), are going through their own crisis. Frank is heartbroken over a recent breakup with girlfriend Hannah (Christina Kirk) and this is affecting his work. But Hannah seems to have a type—she’s already moved on to Sam, whom she believes is also a safe cracker. However, things get even more complicated as Hannah is the daughter of one of the victims Sam and Eddie are supposed to rob.

Safe Men was originally released in 1998, and comes from wirter/director John Hamburg (Why Him?, I Love You, Man). While the movie does have some humorous moments, and was entertaining enough to pass the time, I found it to be a bit forgettable overall. I may have actually seen it 20+ years ago when it was originally released, and just forgot all about it—I had no recollection of seeing it as I watched the movie on Mill Creek’s new Blu-ray release. Rockwell and Zahn have good comedic chemistry, and play well off one another for laughs. Ruffalo, whom I didn’t even recognize with his ridiculous moustache, also gave some fun moments. However, the plot is a bit convoluted and didn’t really make much sense. Here are two guys who are supposed to be top safe crackers and the mobster wants them to rob three safes, but even when they fail at this one task, he doesn’t seem all that suspicious, surprised or upset. And the relationship between Sam and Hannah was also a bit convoluted and confusing. It seemed like the film was going more for quirky than sensical, especially when it came to Paul Giamatti’s character, who was constantly chewing the scenery. I’m sure this film has its devoted fans, but it’s not one I will likely re-watch any time in the near future.

Safe Men arrives on Blu-ray for the first time from Mill Creek Entertainment. I found the picture quality to be quite good overall. Even early on when Sam and Eddie first meet Pork Chop, the bar has these bright blue and red tones, but the picture remains clean and clear with a solid level of detail. Dialogue is clear throughout, and when Sam and Eddie are performing, the audio track makes nice use of the surround channel for the music. There is also somewhat immersive ambiance provided in the bar scene, and during a party sequence later in the movie.

The barebones Blu-ray disc comes packed in a standard HD keepcase without a slipcover or digital copy. The main menu just offers a basic subtitle on/off option. Unfortunately none of the bonus material from Universal’s 2006 DVD release has been ported over to this new Blu-ray release—that disc included a director/cast commentary, three deleted scenes, and a short student film from the director. So for fans looking for a picture upgrade, they will still want to hold onto their original DVD.

What’s Included:

Film: (1:27:51)

• 1080p / Widescreen 1.85:1
• Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
• Subtitles: English SDH

Extras:

There is no bonus material included on this release.

None of the bonus material has been ported over from Universal’s previous 2006 DVD release.

Final Thoughts:

Safe Men features a great cast, and somewhat entertaining comedy from the late 90s, but is also pretty forgettable. Mill Creek’s new Blu-ray release features solid picture and sound, but unfortunately drops all of the bonus material that had been included on Universal’s previous DVD release. So fans hoping to upgrade their existing DVDs will still want to hold onto those discs for the supplemental material. New viewers may wish to rent or check the film out first on streaming/cable before a blind buy.