Material Girls

DVD Rating: **

Reviewed by: Amber Wilkinson

Read Angus Wolfe Murray's film review of Material Girls
Material Girls
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While you can't expect any great insight into a film that is, after all, just about as light and fluffy as it is possible for a movie to be without it floating off into the ether, the extras here are, for the most part, poor.

Irritatingly, there is even a Maltesers advert at the start of the DVD - which you cannot skip - particularly ironic since the plotline of Material Girls is intended to show up, however lightly, the folly of capitalistic materialism. There are also three trailers, for Arthur And The Invisibles, Miss Potter and upcoming cinema release Penelope, all of which you are unable to skip, which may make repeat viewings of the DVD somewhat irritating.

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The Making Of 16-minute series of vox pops seems to have been assembled by a director who has just been given "My First Eighties Editing Suite" as a present. There has clearly been no expense spent, as conversations with the cast are cut together using annoying horizontal wipes. There is little of substance here, just he usual "It appealed to us on a number of levels" (from one to, er, two, I should think). Also, the Duff girls need to have their lip gloss privileges revoked for a week for crimes against the English language, unless "celebutantes" has made it into a dictionary I don't know about.

Getting to Know Hilary and Haylie is somewhat better. The sisters are fractionally more relaxed during this segment and it is a little more revealing. Howver, even a teenager hooked on make up, is likely to find only minimal interest in it.

By far the best of the extras is the commentary track by director Martha Coolidge. She's entertaining and fairly informative and also speaks at the level of the most likely audience to be watching the DVD - not condescending but elaborating on points that older audience members might already know but younger ones wouldn't. The soundtrack for the film is muted almost throughout the commentary, so if you want to follow the two together you'll need to use the subtitles, which are clear and concise throughout. That said, the commentary track isn't subtitled, which is a shame.

The less said about the pop video Play With Fire, the better.

Reviewed on: 13 Jul 2007
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Material Girls packshot
Celebrity sisters in LA fight to save their daddy's business.
Amazon link

Product Code: MP618D

Region: 2

Ratio: 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1

Extras: Cast Of Characters: The Making Of Material Girls, Getting To Know Hilary and Haylie As The Marchetta Sisters, Play With Fire pop video, trailers


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