Speechless Blu Ray Review (MGM)

Speechless is a 1994 romantic comedy directed by Ron Underwood (Tremors, City Slickers, Mighty Joe Young, The Adventures of Pluto Nash, Grey’s Anatomy, Fear the Walking Dead, and Once Upon a Time). It’s written by Robert King (The Good Wife, Evil, The Good Fight, Cutthroat Island, Clean Slate, Red Corner, and The Nest, Phantom of the Mall: Eric’s Revenge, and Bloodfist). It was produced by Renny Harlin (Cliffhanger, Blast from the Past, Driven, Mindhunters, and The Long Kiss Goodnight). Strangers Julia Mann (played by: Geena Davis from Thelma and Louise, The Fly, A League of their Own, The Long Kiss Goodnight, Fletch, Blink Twice, The Exorcist, and Beetlejuice) and Kevin Vallick (played by: Michael Keaton from the Batman franchise, Beetlejuice franchise, The Flash, Multiplicity, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Pacific Heights, Night Shift, and Jackie Brown) meet each other at a gift shop at a New Mexico hotel. They have an instant attraction and they end up having a strong connection. They are both writers but they don’t realize that they work for the rival candidates that are fighting for the same job which includes Democrat Lloyd Wannamaker (played by: Mitchell Ryan from Grosse Pointe Blank, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, Lethal Weapon, and Liar Liar) and Republican Ray Garvin (played by: Ray Baker from Total Recall, Freaked, Rain Man, and Sweet November). This makes their new relationship very complicated. Will they survive this major issue? or Is it already over before it really started???? Speechless is an interesting political romantic comedy. Two strangers meet each other and they have a natural vibe right away. Unfortunately, both of them lie about their actual jobs. It turns out they work for two candidates that are battling it out which causes major problems when they both found out about it. Ron Underwood is an underrated director and he is great at making comedies. The 90’s were loaded with so many of the same type of rom coms, the genre really started to be become a cliche. Speechless puts it’s own different spin on it. You honestly didn’t see that many hilarious romantic situations mixed with politics. Michael Keaton as Kevin Vallick is at the top of his game here. This is the perfect role for the veteran. He’s a former sitcom writer that got into politics. His speeches are more fresh, funny, and relevant compared to his tired competition. Geena Davis as Julia Mann is fantastic as the seasoned speech writer that knows the right subjects and words to push her candidate over. These two obviously had great chemistry in Beetlejuice together and it’s even stronger for this one. Christopher Reeve (Superman franchise) is very impressive as Bob Freed. He’s the ambitious journalist reporter that really only cares about his career. He has a relationship with Julia that creates a even bigger split with potential match with Kevin. At one point, Michael Keaton and Christopher Reeve are fighting which is basically Batman versus Superman. The rest of the supporting cast includes Mitchell Ryan, Ray Baker, Ernie Hudson (Ghostbusters franchise), Bonnie Bedelia (Die Hard franchise), Charles Martin Smith (American Graffiti), Gailard Sartain (Ernest franchise), Willie Garson (The Rock), Paul Lazar (The Silence of the Lambs), Harry Shearer (The Simpsons), Steven Wright (Reservoir Dogs), Jodi Carlisle (The Wild Thornberrys), Peter Mackenzie (Black-ish), Richard Schiff (The West Wing), and Jon Favreau (Iron Man franchise). Speechless is lots of fun, the two main characters keep crossing the thin line for love and hate in this. Their interactions never are dull. I honestly never heard of this one back when it was originally released but I really enjoyed it. It’s one of the higher quality romantic comedies during it’s time. It’s very entertaining and it has excellent replay value to it, RECOMMENDED!!!! Let’s discuss this high definition presentation from MGM! This 1080p (1.85:1) transfer is the exact same restoration as the 2016 Olive Films home video release. It’s still a major improvement compared to all the older versions. It has an English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track on the disc. The audio is much better than expected here. All of the dialogue is crystal clear, the laughs are elevated, and the music has a nice boost to it. It has English SDH subtitles. There’s no special features on this release. Don’t let the artwork fool you, this is a pro pressed home video release and it’s not a BD-R. It’s available everywhere right now including MovieZyng.com!!!!