Falling in Love Blu Ray Review (Fun City)

Falling in Love is a 1984 romantic drama directed by Ulu Grosbard (True Confessions, The Subject Was Roses, Straight Time, Georgia, The Deep End of the Ocean, and Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?). It was written by Michael Cristofer (The Witches of Eastwick, The Bonfire of the Vanities, Breaking Up, Chuck, Original Sin, and GIA). It was produced by Marvin Worth (Malcolm X, Lenny, Less than Zero, Diabolique, and See No Evil, Hear No Evil). The budget was $12,000,000 and it only grossed $11,129,057 worldwide at the box office. While doing some Christmas shopping, strangers Frank Raftis (played by: Robert De Niro from The Deer Hunter, Heat, Goodfellas, Casino, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and Mean Streets) and Molly Gilmore (played by: Meryl Streep from The Deer Hunter, Death Becomes Her, The Devil Wears Prada, Kramer vs. Kramer, Out of Africa, Adaptation, and The Machurian Candidate) run into each other. This fleeting short moment will change their lives forever, when they reconnect months later in the train home and have a good time together. They are both married plus Frank has kids. They end up meeting more and more often just for companionship. Their new friendship is turning into something else and forbidden!!!! Falling in Love should have been one of the biggest movies in 1984 considering it starred the greatest actor and actress of all time together but it ended up flopping at the box office. I’m guessing it’s because it basically promoted adultery and cheating, that’s not really a mainstream concept for the masses. Falling in Love was well written, the dialogue was brought to life with all of the talented performers involved. Lead actor Robert De Niro was playing all kinds of villains and antiheros at the time so the Frank Raftis was a lighter character for the icon despite it’s controversial subject. He was a working class guy that got caught into his own curiosity despite already having a great home life. This is definitely one of De Niro’s more underrated roles. Lead actress Meryl Streep as Molly Gilmore was a woman dealing with her father’s illness so she needs a distraction from all of that. She has amazing support from her husband but she still wants to get away from her actual real life. Their chemistry is top notch, it almost makes you want to root for them during this messed up situation. Harvey Keitel (Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Cop Land, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, From Dusk Till Dawn, and Bad Lieutenant) is great here as Ed Lasky is Frank’s best friend and co-worker. He’s having his own marriage problems so this doesn’t really encourage Frank to stay loyal after seeing what he’s going though with his own relationship. Dianne Wiest (The Lost Boys, Edward Scissorhands, Bullets over Broadway, Footloose, Parenthood, Mayor of Kingstown, and The Birdcage) is fantastic as Molly’s best friend in Falling in Love. She’s living her best life and I think that kinda motivates Molly to take some risks after dealing with so much personal stuff. The rest of the supporting cast includes Jane Kaczmarek (Malcolm in the Middle), Victor Argo (King of New York), Jesse Bradford (Swimfan), Frances Conroy (Six Feet Under), Kenneth Welsh (Twin Peaks), David Clennon (The Thing), and George Martin (Dead Poets Society). Falling in Love is an interesting romantic drama that’s not afraid of it’s concept. It teases the two main characters for a good amount before something actually happens. There’s plenty of development and build up before they take that next step. Both have their lives fall apart after spending so much time together. It has some tension and twists towards the finale. Falling in Love manages to keep your attention during all the scenarios. It’s still basically forgotten and very underappreciated at this point. Hopefully, this brand new Fun City home video release resurrects it after all these years, RECOMMENDED!!!! Let’s discuss this high definition presentation and special features from Fun City! This 1080p (1.85:1) is from a brand new 4K restoration from the original camera negative. It looks amazing in HD after all this time, I compared to it to my old DVD version from Paramount and it blows it completely out of the water. It’s a massive upgrade with it’s sharper images. It has an English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track on the disc. Falling in Love isn’t some type of crazy action feature, it’s a dialogue driven drama but everything sounds great for it’s audio here. All of the dialogue is crisp, the romance is elevated, and the music has a nice boost to it. It has English SDH subtitles. It has a brand new exclusive “Audio Commentary” with film maker and historian Jim Hemphill. He shares all kinds of facts, information, and stories about the main people involved in Falling in Love. He chats about the locations, characters, concept, and he breaks down some of the scenes while revisiting it. You tell that he’s a legit fan and admiror of the underrated Falling in Love. If you want to learn more about this production and the talent from it then you’ll enjoy this track. It has an almost 7 minute “Image Gallery”. It has reversible artwork and a high quality 20 page booklet. This is a must own for any Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep fans. This is available everywhere right now, CHECK IT OUT!!!!