This month Mill Creek has released another one of its themed double-feature Blu-rays. This Double the Romance collection features two romantic dramas—the 1991 Universal Pictures dramedy Once Around, and the 2007 Focus Features drama Evening. While Evening was previously released on HD DVD in 2007, this is the first time either film has received a U.S. Blu-ray release.

The films are as follows:

• Once Around (1991)

  Renata Bella (Holly Hunter) is the only still-unmarried member of her family. It’s her sister Jan’s (Laura San Giacomo) wedding day, which makes her feel like even more of a failure, both relationship and career wise. And things only get worse when later that night she confronts her longtime boyfriend (Griffin Dunne), who finally admits that he has no plans to ever marry her. So Renata decides to shake things up, getting a job selling tropical condos to Bostonians. But at her training seminar in St. Maarten, she meets older star salesman Sam Sharpe (Richard Dreyfuss). Renata tells him that men of her own generation don’t understand her, and the two instantly fall head-over-heels in love. While Renata thinks that she’s finally found true love and happiness, this new relationship and Sam’s wealthy and flamboyant lifestyle starts to cause some conflict and turmoil within Renata’s family, who are a bit surprised by this sudden, fast relationship that seems to have come out of nowhere. Sam is a bit free-spirited and impulsive, and he is often obnoxiously inserting himself into the family circle, which causes some rifts in the family dynamic, especially with Renata’s father, Joe (Danny Aiello). And so Renata finds herself torn between her love for Sam and her love for her family. Can she find the right balance to make both happy?

• Evening (2007)
  An elderly Ann Lord (Vanessa Redgrave) is on her death bed, being watched over by her two adult daughters, Nina Mars (Toni Colette) & Constance Haverford (Natasha Richardson). Ann has become a bit delirious in these final days, and so the siblings don’t know what to make of things when their mother wakes up from a dream, mumbling about regrets, mentioning the unfamiliar name “Harris”, and stating that she and Harris had killed a young man named Buddy, whom they both loved. The film constantly flips between the present and the past, where a younger Ann Grant (Claire Danes) arrives in Newport for the wedding of her best friend Lila Wittenborn (Mamie Gummer) at her family’s beachside home. Ann is also friends with Lila’s brother Buddy (Hugh Dancy), a writer who is constantly stuck on coming up with his first sentence. He introduces Ann to Doctor Harris Arden (Patrick Wilson), his “older brother”—the son of a former housekeeper the family treated like one of their own. We follow the events of the wedding weekend as Ann deals with a bride who may have feelings for another, her own feelings towards Harris, and a complicated past between her and Buddy. Buddy is constantly getting drunk and not taking things seriously, as a way to avoid fully exploring and coming to terms with his own life. Meanwhile, in the present, Ann often finds herself on flights of fancy as she talks about these mistakes of her past with her Night Nurse (Eileen Atkins). And sisters Nina and Constance get into arguments about the state of their own lives, with Constance having kids and a careers, and Nina constantly self-sabotaging her relationships—just as she prepares to let another good guy (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) go for no reason other than her fear of commitment. The film also stars Barry Bostwick and Meryl Streep (who is Gummer’s real-life mother) as Mr. & Mrs. Wittenborn, and Glenn Close briefly plays an older version of Lila Wittenborn in the present.

I had never heard of either of these films before receiving this disc for review. However, the two films have some very common themes of true love, sisters, parents, and family.

While I did enjoy both films overall, and both featured some great actors giving some pretty strong performances, I’m unlikely to make a return visit to either of these movies anytime soon. I found both of the movies to be a bit too long and a tad slow at times. Once Around does manage to stick the landing with a nice emotional/humorous scene in its final moments, but for a romantic comedy, it didn’t have a whole lot of laughs. It also got a bit too serious and depressing at times. Renata has a strange, almost too-dependent relationship with her parents. After breaking up with her longtime boyfriend who admitted there was no marriage in the future, she moves back in with her parents, even asking if she can sleep in the bed with them, like she is still a young child. She is depressed and hardly seems like an adult who could handle a real relationship. When she meets this older man who’s unlike the other guys her own age that she’s dated, she instantly falls head-over-heels for him, and these feelings are fortunately reciprocated. However, seeing these two constantly and loudly proclaim their love, it felt a bit like Tom Cruise jumping on Oprah’s couch. Everything between them moves so quickly that there’s not really any time to see this love grow or blossom—it instantly goes from 0 to 100 in 60 seconds. Sam starts inserting himself into Renata’s family almost immediately, even uncomfortably hiring a belly dancer for Joe’s birthday party shortly after they first meet. While I wanted to root for Renata and Sam, they could be a bit annoying at times—it’s not a surprise it has an effect on the family. For a relationship that is supposed to be sweet, charming and fun, Sam can come off a bit creepy at times. In addition, the film takes a bit of a darker turn near the end. It had potential, I just wished they had leaned in a bit more on the humor side of it.

Evening feels like two films in one—the present day story between the two sisters, and the drama/mystery in the past with the younger Ann. I found myself more invested in the story in the past, waiting to see how things played out. The cast in the past is excellent, and while Meryl Streep doesn’t have a lot of scenes, there is one raw, emotional moment where she just kills it. The storyline in the present about these two sisters was nice overall, but felt a bit unnecessary. The Present storyline also gets a bit bogged down by these random asides with a delusional Ann having these fantastical waking dream moments, such as chasing butterflies through the house, having fake conversations with her nurse, and so on only to wake up and discover it wasn’t real. It didn’t feel like these scenes really served any purpose, and end up just breaking the flow of the story in the past.

The visual presentation of both films is very strong, with a somewhat clean and clear picture, with just a satisfying and natural level of film grain. Once Around only includes a 2.0 audio track, so it doesn’t have a very immersive feel, but dialogue remains clear throughout and the film has a pleasant soundtrack of standards. Evening‘s audio is presented in 5.1 format, and does make nice use of the surround channel to add the constant ambiance of the wind and waves at the beachside home, while also providing clear dialogue and pleasant performances for the moments when Ann sings.

Mill Creek’s Blu-ray is barebones, with no bonus material. The menu just offers the film selection and a subtitle on/off option for each. The previous DVD/HD DVD releases for Evening had included 5 minutes of deleted scenes, and about 25 minutes of making-of featurettes, but unfortunately none of that bonus material has made its way onto Mill Creek’s new Blu-ray release. The single disc is placed in a standard HD keepcase without a slipcover.

What’s Included:

Films:

• Once Around (1991) (1:54;43)
  • 1080p / Widescreen 1.85:1
  • Audio: English 2.0DTS-HD Master Audio
  • Subtitles: English SDH
• Evening (2007) (1:56:55)
  • 1080p / Widescreen 2.39:1
  • Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
  • Subtitles: English SDH

Extras:

No bonus material included.

Final Thoughts:

Mill Creek’s Double the Romance – Evening/ Once Around collection is fitting pairing of films that work thematically as a dramatic/romantic double-feature. Both films feature excellent casts and some really strong performances, but are films that I’d be unlikely to revisit any time soon. Both are about love and family but take some darker turns. The audio/video presentation is generally quite solid, though barebones when it comes to bonus material. This double feature set is nicely priced and worth a pickup for fans of the films/casts.

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Double the Romance – Evening/Once Around [Blu-Ray]

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Double the Romance – Evening/Once Around [Blu-Ray]