Soapdish Blu-ray review

Apr 07, 2022- Permalink

Soapdish is one of those light, fun films with a great cast that is perfect when it’s a rainy Sunday afternoon or you’ve got a cold. You want something that’s not too taxing and will give you a few laughs to make you feel better. It’s cinematic chicken soup. Paramount Home Entertainment has just released it on Blu-ray and I was given an opportunity to review it.

Directed by Michael Hoffman, the film stars Sally Field as Celeste Talbert, the star of the soap opera The Sun Also Sets. She’s popular with the fans and a perennial award winner, but on set she has very few friends and many enemies. Her biggest enemy is Montana Moorehead (Cathy Moriarty), a fellow actress who is tired of being the lesser star and needs Celeste gone to accomplish her goals. She’s aided by producer David Barnes (Robert Downey Jr.). He’ll do anything to get into Montana’s pants, including hiring Celeste’s ex, former co-star Jeffrey Anderson (Kevin Kline), who now finds himself working the dinner theatre circuit. Celeste’s one true friend, head writer Rose Schwartz (Whoopi Goldberg), does what she can to protect Celeste, but everyone’s plans go awry when an ambitious young actress (Elisabeth Shue) joins the cast.

The 1080p AVC encoded digital transfer is presented in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The video presentation is pretty standard fare. Good details on all the usual suspects (faces, textiles and environment) and a bright colour palette with adequate black levels.

On the audio side, the disc comes with an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack. Subtitles are available for English, English SDH, and French. It’s a front-heavy mix, but dialogue is clear and the music sounds good. It’s not going to dazzle anyone, but does the job for this light comedy.

The disc does not come with a digital code and the extras consist of a very short behind-the-scenes featurette and the theatrical trailer.

Look, I’m biased here. The missus and I have watched Soapdish several times over the years. Though this Blu-ray may not have mind-blowing audio and video and lacks exciting extras, I’ll still recommend it if you want the cinematic equivalent of comfort food.