- Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
- Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
- Resolution: 1080p/24 (23.976Hz)
- Audio Codec: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz/16-bit)
- Subtitles: English, English SDH, Spanish
- Region: A (Region-Locked)
- Rating: PG-13
- Run Time: 91 Mins
- Discs: 1 (1 x Blu-ray)
- Studio: Miramax/Lionsgate
- Blu-ray Release Date: January 3, 2012
- List Price: $14.99
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BestBuy.com:
Purchase Serendipity on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:3.5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:3/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures
(All TheaterByte screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG at 100% quality setting and are only are meant as a general representation of the content. They do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)
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The Film
[Rating:3.5/5]
A sugary sweet romantic comedy from the early 2000s, Serendipity finds John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale playing two strangers who meet by chance in a New York City Bloomingdale’s whilst shopping for Christmas presents, only to find they have instant romantic chemistry. They end up spending several hours together that night after a series of coincidental meet-ups leads Sara (Beckinsale) to believe it must be fate at work. Too bad for Jonathan (Cusack) however, when he finally convinces her to give him her number when it blows away, and Kate, being the slave to fate that she is, decides they must part, leaving their relationship in the hands of fate. They send two signs out into the world for each other, a five dollar bill with Jonathan’s name and telephone number on it and book with Kate’s information inside, vowing that should one find the other, it means they were meant to be.
Years later, still having not seen each other again, they have both moved on with their lives, Jonathan engaged to be married and Kate dating and soon to be engaged to a new age musician. But both still long to find their true soulmate, the person they met and spent only a few blissful hours with in New York years ago. It is now once again up to serendipitous happenstance to bring them back together before they each end up with the wrong person – but not for want of trying to find each other. Jonathan has been desperately searching for years to find Sara and now she just may be in is reach, will they end up together and fall in love all over again?
Almost too charming to hate, Serendipity is one of those romances that has a unique spin and isn’t off-putting for, ahem, either gender in attendance.
Video Quality
[Rating:3/5]
It looks like we get with Serendipity yet another Miramax title from Lionsgate shoved out the door onto to Blu-ray with an old master that doesn’t really shine on the HD format. There’s a lot of source damage straight through, the image looks rather rough, soft, and flat. There are a few moments where the film looks okay, but this is not a reference catalogue release at all.
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack is respectable, but certainly nothing groundbreaking. The surround channels are occupied with lots of what sounds like reprocessed ambience — not that it is — and atmospherics while across the front there is good spread of sounds, especially the score. Too bad the high frequencies in this one sound a bit metallic. Otherwise, dialogue is clear as a bell.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
There are no new HD features included and everything is provided in standard defintion.
The supplements:
- Feature Commentary with director Peter Chelsom
- Behind-the-Scene Starz Encore “On the Set” (1.33:1; 00:19:54)
- Peter Chelsom’s Production Diary
- Deleted Scenes with Commentary by Director Peter Chelsom:
- Original Bloomingdale’s Opening
- Jonathan Gets Cubed
- The First Kiss
- Time Marches On
- Is This Garfinkle’s Department Store?
- A “New Age” Approach to Romance
- I Ching-ing in the Rain
- Sales Associate
- Turn Offs: Bald Fascists Who Pick Their Noses
- Storyboard Comparison – The golf range scene
- Theatrical Trailer (1.33:1)
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:3.5/5]
A perfect date night movie from 2001 comes to Blu-ray and is hindered only by the throwaway HD transfer that is middling at best.
Additional Screen Captures
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[amazon-product]B005UPOAT2[/amazon-product]
BestBuy.com:
Purchase Serendipity on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:3.5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:3/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
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