While the rom com addicts are busying themselves with another date with the Sex and the City girls I’ve been lucky enough to spend a couple of hours in the company of one of the SATC girls and the ubiquitous Englishman abroad Hugh Grant as I sit down with Marc Lawrence’s Did You Hear About the Morgans?

We reviewed the film at the start of the year, and it’s a fairly balanced and positive review and I’m going to give my brief take on the film before look at the Blu-ray features.

It’s not exactly riding onto Blu-ray and DVD on a wave of positive reviews, indeed I saw Hugh Grant’s publicity interviews for the film and he seemed depressed and, more than usual, embarrassed. And yes, there’s a chasm of years inbetween this latest film and his Four Weddings heyday, Grant’s long standing relationship with romantic comedies has usually sustained itself on this side of the Atlantic, only running into trouble when his jumps the pond and seems to have his awkwardness magnified, no doubt by producers and directors who want him to do  ‘Hugh Grant thing’.

It’s a shame really, as Grant is capable of more, and DYHATM takes no advantage of his comic ability, instead putting him in ridiculous situations of the loosest screwball comedy kind, and teaming him with Sarah Jessica Parker does neither of them any favours as their chemistry is entirely pH neutral here. That said, I was surprised to find that I didn’t outright hate the film – some of it was well shot, in particular Lawrence’s camera made the most of some visual comedy, and there’s a beating heart which is occasionally glimpsed beneath the layers of crass slapstick.

The casting benefits from Sam Elliot and Mary Steenburgen, though Jesse Liebman and Elisabeth Moss are wasted here, stranded in the needless Manhattan sections. So, City Slickers and The Odd Couple then, with a script that tramples across any semblance of subtlety and and adheres closely to every other rom com cliche that has worn the path before it. But there was the slight hint of charm that kept me in the film.

So, a surprising result from the film, and the Blu-ray looks fantastic, and there’s a host of Morgania to enjoy if you want to see how certain set pieces were put together, or a featurette on the difference between the Town and the Country. The commentary will shed a little light on the decisions made here and there are people who will fall for the combination of Grant and Lawrence, whose previous collaborations include Two Weeks Notice and Music and Lyrics.

Here’s the list of Blu-ray features. Did You Hear About the Morgans? is out on Blu-ray and DVD now.

  • A Bear of a Scene
  • Deleted Scenes
  • Commentary with Director Marc Lawrence and Stars Hugh Grant & Sarah Jessica Parker
  • Location, Location, Location!
  • Cowboys and Cosmopolitans: The Stars of Did You Hear About the Morgans
  • Park Avenue Meets the Prairie: The Fashions of Did You Hear About the Morgans
  • Outtakes
  • movieIQ and BD-Live connects you to access real-time information on the cast, music, trivia and more while watching the movie!