Little Black Book DVD: Review By justincase

Brittany Murphy plays Stacy, an aspiring associate producer who has just been hired on a syndicated daytime talk show. While her boyfriend, Derek (played by Ron Livingston) is out of town on a business trip, Stacy finds his Palm Pilot and opens Pandora's box -- peering into his electronic little black book.

Egged-on like a pre-pubescent wannabe by Holly Hunter's Barbara (a senior producer), Stacy looks up all Derek's old girlfriends, including a beautiful fashion model, a braniac gynecologist and a chef who may just be Derek's one true love. Stacy uses here chat-fest connections to interview the girls (under the guise that it is for an upcoming episode dealing with their area of "specialty".

When the plot twists and Stacy is exposed (as you knew she would be), the discomfort is palpable as Barbara conducts an orchestral maneuver for the Jerry Springer set.

In the end, love wins out (of course) and Stacy learns even more about herself and what she wants than she learned about her man.

The plot is not original, the story is not unpredictable. The characters are not terribly memorable and the performances are not outstanding (save, maybe Hunter and Kathy Bates, playing the talk show host, Kippie Kan).

Nothing here very interesting. Pretty basic and boring. You'll be hard-pressed to get through these features.

Live & On-Air: The Making-of Little Black Book

Pretty basic making-of fluff. This isn't a great piece ,but does bring you into the minds of the filmmakers for just a little bit... a very little bit of insight.

Be My Guest: Inside Daytime Talk Shows

Talking about the behind-the-scenes life of the nasty daytime talk shows. Chaos reigns at the freak show. This is really about a very small piece of the making-of (for the movie as a whole), but focusing on the elements of Stacy's job (associate producer on a local syndicated talk show.

Previews

Previews...? Trailers for movies we haven't seen yet. Either way. You don't need my input on these.

Playing off the DVDR600VR in progressive scan on the Philips HD LCD, the disc is pretty solid. There is just a bit of pixelation (but, thankfully, there's not a lot of fast action to put it in your face) caused by the lower compression necessary to put both widescreen and fullscreen on the same DVD. Nothing too distracting, though.

Sounds fine. Decent music (although I do hate Carly Simon.. Doesn't she belong in a Winnie the Pooh movie?). You don't need to fire up your 5.1 (although the disc is encoded for it) in order to enjoy the film. Hell, run it through your wireless headset while your family sleeps, and you just won't care.

Basic little black case with a picture of a Sarah-Michelle Gellar-esque Brittany Murphy on the cover canoodling Ron Livingston with the backdrop of New York. Pretty plain and nothing really collection-worthy here.

In all, this is decent popcorn fare and won't disappoint (terribly) on a late weekend night when you don't want the weight of a Troy and you're not in the mood for Alien vs. Predator.