Steve Martin is a brilliant man; I marvel at his range as both a thespian and a writer. He has in the nineteen-nineties unfortunately sunk to the depths of two Father of The Bride films, plus a big-screen update of "Sgt. Bilko". Recently, he redeemed himself with a cracking good performance in David Mamet's otherwise humdrum The Spanish Prisoner; those who point out that "he's come along way since The Jerk" are missing the obvious point, that it takes as much skill and instinct to play stupid as to play smart, and L.A. Story is the cinematic battle of Martin's yin and yang, a smarty-pants romantic comedy that is, occasionally, surreally and satisfyingly dumb.

Martin is Harris K. Telemacher, the "wacky weatherman" of a dry L.A. morning show--in every one of his reports he puts a new spin on the same forecast: "Sunny. 72." ('Tele-mocker' that he is, Harris disrespects his TV job and telephone ettiquette, answering calls as if he's the machine.) His girlfriend (Marilu Henner) is prissy to a fault, and he feels only lust for SanDeE* (Parker), a nubile clothing-store clerk with whom he has a mid-life crisis fling. When the British Sara (Victoria Tennant) stumbles into his life, he is finally stirred from the depths of boredom. (His hobbies include rollerblading in L.A.'s art galleries.) He falls in love with her quickly, and seeks the advice of a mystical freeway sign to pilot their relationship in the right direction.

L.A. Story is complex and pulchritudinous. Its Australian director Mick Jackson went on to helm the classics The Bodyguard and Volcano, unfathomable considering how complete a package this film, his Hollywood debut, is. Beautifully shot (by Andrew Dunn) and edited (by Richard A. Harris), the filmmakers add rich visual texture to Martin's satyric screenplay, presenting L.A. as a place of poetic vacuity. Often L.A. Story is precious and cutting in the same breath, poking fun at its own Enya-influenced new-age slant during an early-morning sequence in which, in time with Peter Melnick's transcendent synth score, Harris turns the water to "SLO-MO" in his shower, thus enjoying his moment of clarity at its desired half-speed.

I enjoy the film more and more as the years go by. I've never been to the titular city, and yet, like Woody Allen's New York pictures (glossy though they may be), L.A. Story communicates such a physical sense of place that one senses--grasps, even--an authenticity. A beautiful, funny, and romantic post-modern travelogue, I cannot recommend L.A. Story more highly.

LIVE DVD's widescreen edition of L.A. Story is presented at approximately 1.85:1, and after years of watching the sub-standard full-frame VHS, the film finally looks right--at last, those messages on the highway sign don't seem so crammed-in. The biggest improvement is in the picture quality: here, we have a film-like transfer, retaining its soft-focused origins but almost tangibly clear, with strong colours that are perhaps a bit oversaturated. I noticed no digital artifacts. The image is not 16x9-enhanced.

The audio, DD 2.0 surround, is not especially dynamic, but the dialogue is crisp, and the soundmix creative. (Be sure to listen for the "testicle chimes".) LIVE has included a few supplements, some of them from the second Laserdisc incarnation: a trailer (which really does not do the film justice), and an EPK (Electronic Press Kit) that has a few nice quotes from the stars. It runs about six minutes. Additionally, LIVE offers skimpy production notes, cast and crew bios, and a list of cameos in the film. The menu is most creative: the main scene access menu features full motion clips on the lenses of sunglasses; take too long in finally choosing a sequence and Martin skates by with a whoosh! Also on board are a few "eggs"--whose respective locations I won't reveal here--containing short, talking-head clips of Martin, Tennant, and Jackson. Only Spanish subtitles are included in the languages section.

After the film, you can watch a preview of LIVE Entertainment's DVD catalogue. It certainly whet my appetite for some upcoming titles, Special Editions of Jacob's Ladder and Terminator 2, specifically. If you're a fan of L.A. Story, this is the best home video version yet--don't hesitate to order it. With, of course, a "twist of lemon."-Bill Chambers