Just Before I Go [Blu-Ray]

Director: Courteney Cox

Cast: Seann William Scott, Olivia Thirlby, Garret Dillahunt

Release Date: Now Available on Blu-ray & DVD

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 8/10
Disc Rating: 7.5/10

 

Synopsis:

Ted Morgan has been treading water for most of his life. After his wife leaves him, Ted realizes he has nothing left to live for.  Summoning the courage for one last act, Ted decides to go home and face the people he feels are responsible for creating the shell of a person he has become.  But life is tricky.  The more determined Ted is to confront his demons, to get closure, and to withdraw from his family, the more Ted is yanked into the chaos of their lives. So, when Ted Morgan decides to kill himself, he finds a reason to live.

Ted Morgan (Scott) has completely given up on life and after putting it off for what he feels has been far too long already; he decides to head back to his home town in order to confront some of the people he holds responsible for his misery prior to committing suicide. While staying with his brother Lucky (Dillahunt) and his wife Kathleen (Walsh) in order to finish up what he needs to do, he ends up meeting a young woman named Greta (Thirlby) who he begins to form an unexpected connection with after he grants her permission to document his final days on film as a video suicide note of sorts. Once everything continues to go the opposite of expected, Ted begins to question his decision, but will he decide against it before it’s too late or go through with his plan?

Courteney Cox makes her feature film directorial debut (having previously directed episodes of TV’s Cougar Town in addition to a short and a TV movie) with ‘Just Before I Go’ and she does a fantastic job at the helm, delivering quite the notable directorial debut. The film is also greatly complimented by the impressive collection of talented individuals who make up the cast, including Seann William Scott (American Pie), Olivia Thirlby (Dredd), Garret Dillahunt (TV’s Raising Hope), Kate Walsh (TV’s Private Practice), Rob Riggle (Dumb & Dumber To), Elisha Cuthbert (TV’s 24), along with Cox’s ex-husband David Arquette (Scream) and a number more, all of whom deliver more than capable performances in each of their respective roles.

‘Just Before I Go’ is a rare combination of a hilarious, often raunchy comedy and a well constructed, heartfelt drama and in a way, a romance as well. While some of the comedy may feel a bit out of place or off at moments, it’s a rare occurrence and for the most part the two genres are seamlessly balanced. For those who may immediately come to the conclusion that it’s a romantic comedy, you couldn’t be more wrong. There are certainly romantic elements present, but they are never the key focus and never for a moment does it venture into the tone that one would most commonly attribute with that kind of movie. Overall, ‘Just Before I Go’ is a beautiful, funny and incredibly fun film and an impressive feature film directorial debut from Courteney Cox that I would highly recommend checking out.

VIDEO:

The Blu-Ray release of ‘Just Before I Go’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation utilizing the film’s original 2.40:1 Cinemascope Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks pretty solid as a whole, delivering a rich and detailed presentation throughout. Everything, whether it be slow or fast moving sequences, light or dark moments, all look wonderful and with no notable faults to speak of found within. Overall, this is a more than capable high definition video presentation that should have most folks quite satisfied.

AUDIO:

The Blu-Ray release features a lossless 5.1 channel Dolby TrueHD soundtrack. This lossless multichannel soundtrack delivers in every way that’s required of it. It may not be an overly active soundtrack, although it does utilize the surrounding channels on a number of occasions, mostly with more natural or nature related auditory elements. The dialogue is consistently sharp, clean and sounds great throughout, never negatively affected or distorted as a result of any other simultaneously occurring auditory effects/music. Overall, this is a very solid 5.1 channel Dolby TrueHD soundtrack that holds up in every way required.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Blu-Ray release of ‘Just Before I Go’ doesn’t contain much in the way of bonus content, although it does include one nice extra, an Audio Commentary track with Director Courteney Cox.

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They additionally will suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

Film Rating: 8/10
Disc Rating: 7.5/10

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