The Good

The Bad

I remember seeing posters for Coyote Ugly and not really paying much attention to them. Then I saw a preview of the movie and I was beside myself. There are movies that are hard to watch for a number of reasons, but I think Coyote Ugly must have been the first film I have ever seen that was hard to watch because all the main characters are too damn good looking. I mean, I could pick this movie apart as being about as original as a Happy Meal, but I think that other writers have already covered that ground. The story of a girl coming to NYC to try and make it is as old a tale as they come. Yet, this movie with it’s cast led by Piper Perabo as the young ingenue in question, does it’s best to pull off this story. Truth be told, this film is like Showgirls-very lite. Even with this “Unrated Extended Cut” there really isn’t anything too risqué about it. It’s just longer shots of the these girls and the DVD creators reveling in the real reason why people went to this movie in the first place.

Features

Additional Scenes Not Seen In Theaters, “Action Overload” and LeAnn Rimes Music Video

Extra scenes that when screened will tell you all you need to know about why they aren’t in the final film. These scenes are “Violets Goodbye”, “Driving with Gloria”, “Stolen Goods”, “Lil’s Lesson” and “Gloria and Violet”. It seems like the actors were just given longer to riff on various parts of the movie, and a lot of the time I was asking myself why these scenes were even included here. Then again, this is a new edition of the movie so it makes sense that they would want to include as much as they could on this DVD. The “Action Overload” is a compilation of “hot shots” from the movie that is done like a music video. Truthfully, I expected a little more from this. The LeAnn Rimes music video is for the song “Can’t Fight the Moonlight”. I thought she was country singer?

Behind the Scenes Featurettes - Coyote 101: How To Be A Coyote; Inside The Songs; Search For Stars

These featurettes, while very typical, are actually quite interesting. We get to see how these actresses made the transformation from regular girl (though I don’t know if any of these girls could ever be called “regular), to flashy bartenders. I love that the women who’s training them looks like she could be part of the cast. We are also taken inside the songs and the search for the main characters. This movie really came at it from all fronts because they knew they had to have pretty girls to get people in the theater, and they also knew that they could have even more success if they had songs in the movie that people wanted to hear. While the praise that people like Bruckheimer lavish on these all these people gets to be a bit mundane at times, watching these featurettes does add a facet of legitimacy to this film.

Audio Commentary with Producer Jerry Bruckheimer, Director David McNally And The Coyotes

Yes, that DOES include all of the Coyote. Yah know, I didn’t mind this commentary that much. These girls didn’t really talk over one another and they allowed each other to tell their stories. I like that fact that Bruckheimer and McNally let the ladies take center stage and just talk about the film only coming in intermittently. I had a little bit of a tough time deciphering which girl was talking sometimes, but that wasn’t really that much of a problem. Also, I have to ask, can anybody tell me know old Maria Bello is? She just seems so much older then all the characters.

Video

Widescreen (2.40:1) - Enhanced for 16x9 Televisions. The look of the movie is the most important thing about it. It does a very good job of capturing the “bar” atmosphere. The action, the energy and the tight quarters are all done perfectly. This is obviously a film that did it’s homework in that department. As this is a Jerry Bruckheimer film, I am actually quite impressed with how he has made this small story subject matter seem so big. Everything happens so quick in this movie. Even in the slower paced moments when characters are just talking, this film seems never to linger in any one area, or on any one person for too long. I also have to admit that for people who have home theater setups with huge TVs, you might want to invest in this movie simply because it does move at such a frenetic pace.

Audio

Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. DTS 5.1 Digital Surround Sound. French Language Track. What would a movie produced by Jerry Bruckheimer be without the trademark Bruckheimer sound? What would give this movie it’s “fatness” if not for this? One of the things I love about these kinds of movies is how easy they make everything look. Here Jersey (Perabo) is, living in New York City, not making much money and she has a pretty decent sized apartment (although it still is a dump). She just moves through this rough and tumble city, and although there are speed bumps from time to time, she never seems like she’s being tripped up in the slightest. No matter what happens to her in this film, no matter how loud the sounds get, no matter what the city is “saying” to her, you always get the sense that she is going to come out of everything just fine. In this movie the sound really helps because there is always something going on. Things are always happening. The images and audio are always moving so we don’t have time to fully process everything, which is sort of how the Jersey character has to be. If she wasn’t this way, she might become too overwhelmed with the life she’s trying to create for herself.

Package

The cover features the 5 coyotes and that’s really all you need to sell this movie. Behind them is of course the backdrop of the bar. The back has a decent sized description of what this movie is about, as well as the pictures of the girls that were used in the print ads, a special features listing and tech specs. There isn’t too much to this DVD cover although ”The Unrated Extended Cut” gives off the idea that you’re going to see some things you haven’t seen before. I would like to know if people who purchased the original DVD are going to buy this new one. I only say this because I think consumers are getting wise to the way DVDs are packaged and repackaged.

Final Word

Coyote Ugly is what it is. I remember seeing this film, thinking it was okay and also thinking that there probably was no way I would ever see it again. This was of course before DVD became what it is and I started doing what it is I presently do. I guess my main problem with this DVD is that unless you were a super-duper fan of this film, are you really going to want to own this DVD? There just doesn’t seem to be a whole lot here.

On a side note, I have to wonder why have I not seen these girls in more movies. For example, you would think Piper Perabo would be in more high profile movies in bigger roles, but I guess that’s just how the Hollywood cookie crumbles.

Coyote Ugly was released July 30, 2000.