Jack Goes Boating

In his directorial debut Philip Seymour Hoffman brings to life the original play that he starred in titled Jack Goes Boating. John Ortiz and Daphne Rubin-Vega also star in the film and were part of the original play cast. A romantic comedy/drama that takes place in New York and follows Jack and Connie, two awkward single people who are introduced by mutual friends who are going through relationship issues.

QUALITY:
Clarity and definition are solid. It seems the BD transfer has everything going for it until you come down to the color palette. Close up shots and some interior scenes show good color schemes while wide out shots, exterior scenes, and some interior scenes tend to become dull. One scene in particular, which has a beautiful wide out shot of a park with a lake, tree’s, skyline, fails to truly put on display the many different personalities of the environment color wise. It’s a real shame considering New York has so much to offer when it comes to scenery. Audio is perfect with a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix. While most of the dialogue and environmental sounds don’t make a big play the films musical soundtrack does a really great job of enveloping you into the emotional state of the picture offering up a complete surround sound experience where applicable.

BONUS FEATURES:
~Jack’s New York: This bonus feature is basically a love letter to New York from the cast, producers, and writer. As a viewer the supplemental material here is weak and doesn’t really qualify as a bonus feature, more a plug for the state.
~From The Stage To The Screen: Again, while it is interesting to see some stills from the play to put in contrast with the film and those scenes the only bonus information I received here was that the film is an extension of what Hoffman thought of the play adding a physicality to some characters while expanding on others. After viewing the film it only makes me wonder if it would have been closer to the source material maybe it would have had a bit more then what we got.
~Deleted Scenes: Two deleted scenes of which only one really adds to the story.