DVD has always been a format where overlooked films get a second chance, and now Changing Lanes has its second chance on a decent special edition DVD that includes commentary from the director, deleted scenes, and more.
The Movie
Changing Lanes takes two strangers and slams them together (literally) to show what can happen when the worst in people is brought out.
Samuel L. Jackson is Doyle Gibson, a recovering alcoholic on the way to an important custody hearing with his ex-wife. Ben Affleck is a lawyer that you can't help but hate, who is on the way to an equally important hearing. When the two get into a little fender bender on the freeway, Affleck's Gavin leaves Doyle stranded on the road along with a file that would keep Gavin out of prison - if he had it at the trail.
When Gavin realizes that he's left the file with Doyle, he'll do anything to get it back. The only problem is that Doyle missed his custody hearing due to being stranded on the freeway, and he isn't budging.
What then begins is a back and forth fight between the two men with each one trying to ruin the others' life until things begin to get really out of hand.
Around the second act of the movie, Gavin begins to realize that what he is doing is affecting not only Doyle, but his family as well. It's then when we begin to not hate this one lawyer so much, and instead feel a little sorry for him.
The entire film is a slow-moving thriller that builds upon itself to show how one bit of road rage goes from near chaos to redemption. Both Affleck and Jackson are very solid here, but the film also turns in good perfomances and appearances by William Hurt, Sydney Pollack, and Toni Collette.
8 out of 10
The Video
In one word: Nice!
Paramount has once again delivered a great transfer for a film with an interesting look. The entire film takes place in overcast New York, which gives it a very gray appearance. As a result, colors are rather drab, but the transfer handles these subdued shades fine.
Edge enhancement wasn't noticeable, and compression artifacts weren't present. Detail is absolutely perfect. This is easily one of Paramount's best transfers this year.
9 out of 10
The Audio
For a movie driven on dialog, the Dolby 5.1 mix here is pretty good and makes good use of the surrounds. One example comes early in the movie where our two main characters get into their initial car accident. While they try to sort things out, the sounds of passing traffic can be heard around the viewer in addition to small background details such as the call of a seagull.
Dialog, almost always in the center channel, is always crystal clear with no distortion and throughout the movie the surrounds and low end will flare up with plenty of strong ambience and the like.
8 out of 10
The Extras
Your special features selection begins with a very good commentary track by director Roger Michell. Striking a great balance between production detail and anecdotes, he guides the viewer through his film while talking about the challenges of matching up shots so that they could keep the consistent overcast look throughout the film as well as his nervousness about having a famous director such as Sydney Pollack on his set.
He also talks about keeping the twin towers in the movie as pretending that they didn't exist is "crazy". Another mention of 9/11 comes when he talks about the firefighters that were used as extras in the film, as several of them were lost on that day.
It's a comfortable track and easy to listen to with just enough information about the filmmaking process to keep it interesting.
Following that is a fifteen-minute "Making of Changing Lanes featurette that's one of those promotional specials that you'd see on HBO or Showtime, while "A Writer's Perspective" is created just for the DVD, runs about five minutes, and is presented in anamorphic widescreen.
Following that is a fifteen-minute "Making of Changing Lanes featurette that's one of those promotional specials that you'd see on HBO or Showtime, while "A Writer's Perspective" is created just for the DVD, runs about five minutes, and is presented in anamorphic widescreen.
There are two deleted scenes included. One features Gavin conducting an interview in his office, while the other shows Doyle begging for his job in the supervisors' office. Also, an extended version of the confessional scene is included. All three are shown in non-anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen.
Finally, the films' theatrical trailer is available on the disc.
7 out of 10
