It's entirely possible that I'm not the go-to guy for an objective assessment of Meatballs. Not that it's one of my touchstone movies (I barely remembered it before viewing the new DVD), but it's of a genus that doesn't exist anymore and which rekindled fond memories of being eight years old and wholeheartedly embracing cheap yet lovingly-reproduced jokes. Sort of a gross-out comedy for those who would still be too young to get into Porky's two years later, it looks up to the rude hijinks of teenagers from a vantage point that can barely fathom their true capacity for depravity. It's also entirely possible that those past a certain age will get nothing out of it, its tameness far from the cutting edge and its gentle tone anathema to the hipster archaeologists of pop detritus. But Meatballs' essential kindness won me over even as I had to admit there was nothing especially brilliant about the content.

Episodically detailing the miscreant behaviour of the staff at the cut-rate Camp North Star, this, you will recall, was Ivan Reitman's entrée into the big leagues and Bill Murray's into the feature-film racket. You know the drill: horny boys; girls who know better; mockery and humiliation of camp director Morty (Harvey Atkin); counsellor romance; and, of course, rivalry with the rich and powerful Camp Mohawk across the lake. Murray holds court as head counsellor Tripper Harrison, whose mirthful PA announcements are the best thing about the movie. (His nurturing of self-critical camper Rudy (Chris Makepeace, on his way to a season of mild Canadian celebrity) the most conventional thing about it.) On the surface, it's business as usual, and under normal circumstances it would be hard to differentiate Meatballs from its peers.

The film has something those other movies lack, though: compassion. This is not a vision of young people as heartless tormentors (pro or con), but of gentle goofing and low-impact silliness. One could easily have played the practical jokes and nerd/fat guy mockery as ruthless bullying, but Reitman and his co-scenarists are more generous--they dole out a victory to most of the put-upon characters, going so far as to allow tripped-up nerd Spaz (Jack Blum) a touching moment of romantic triumph. Furthermore, the boy-movie elements aren't as heavy-breathing as they could be: the good-looking girls are nonetheless somewhat gawky, the clumsy romances more friendly than leering. Perhaps this is less noble than necessary (a PG rating seems to have been the goal), but it makes all the difference in terms of accepting the film's borrowed goods.

One must indeed face facts that Meatballs is trying its damnedest to avoid controversy. It lacks, for example, the racial subtext of the first two Porky's movies (by Reitman's harder-edged CanCon rival Bob Clark). Still, in its way, the film has a style and a sensibility the blunt-witted Clark lacked, and it's missing the mean streak that sometimes made those movies a little hard to take. The point of Meatballs is acceptance. One quintessentially Canadian scene finds Murray pointing to the North Star's probable defeat by Camp Mohawk in the inter-camp Olympiad and observing that winning or losing, "it just doesn't matter" when the opponent has the advantage anyway. That sense of fair play (which Reitman would never regain in his Hollywood career) adds up to a sweetly pleasing diversion.

1.87:1 DVD capture: Meatballs

Passed around from studio to studio over the years, Meatballs finally gets the inevitable deluxe treatment from Sony, who inherited the title from Warner sub-division HBO. (Purists will be happy to know the film retains the Paramount logos that bookended its theatrical release.) Remastered in HD under Reitman's supervision, this latest incarnation of Meatballs is perhaps a hair too oversaturated for comfort, with the palette leaning towards the unnaturally pink hues of faded '70s stock, but the 1.87:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer makes a strong impression thanks to a near-total absence of artifacts, optical or digital. The Dolby Digital 5.1 remix, engineered by the original sound designer, sometimes reveals the limitations of the mono master (the sharpness of the insidious music is noticeable chiefly because it's the only element with an even sound), but it wrests more fidelity than you expect. Surround cues, for what it's worth, are not terribly prevalent.

Extras begin with a feature-length commentary from Reitman and writer/producer Dan Goldberg. This proves surprisingly fruitful: we learn of not only the arduous attempts to get then-little-known Murray to commit, but also the process by which Murray's role was beefed up (along with that of Makepeace) to provide the film an emotional core. Memories of the early days of the NATIONAL LAMPOON/"Saturday Night Live" mentality persist, as do anecdotes about the low-budget necessity of using real campers at a real summer camp in Haliburton, Ontario. Michael Gillis' excellent three-part retrospective making-of follows. The first segment, "Role Call" (17 mins.), deals largely with the casting and shows the wisdom of hiring non-Hollywood-style performers (such as Kate Lynch--who for my money makes her scenes--and Makepeace). Many excellent tidbits therein. "Cabin Fever" (18 mins.) is a discussion of how all of these actors interacted on set, and of how Reitman and Murray--a no-show here--cultivated an improvisatory atmosphere that was "the final polish, on set." Much love for Murray in addition to some interesting explanations of famous scenes. "Final Campfire" (11 mins.) is a mélange of fond remembrances and discussions of the film's legacy; if it's the least informative featurette of the trio, it's also the most heartfelt. Trailers for "Seinfeld" Season 8, Stranger than Fiction, and Ghost Rider round out the disc.-Travis Mackenzie Hoover

© Film Freak Central; filmfreakcentral.net. This review may not be reprinted, in whole or in part, without the express consent of its author.

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DVD VITALS:
Running Time
94 minutes
MPAA
PG
Aspect Ratio(s)
1.87:1 ONLY, 16x9-enhanced
Languages
English DD 5.1,
English Stereo
CC
Yes
Subtitles
English, French, Spanish
DVD-9
Region One
Sony

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Published: May 29, 2007