Just about all that needs to be said about Mariah Carey’s infamous starring debut Glitter has already been said, so I’ll limit my comments about the actual film to this: it still sucks.
So what of Columbia TriStar’s DVD edition? It’s not the disaster that the film is, but it is certainly mediocre. Particularly disappointing is the running commentary by director Vondie Curtis-Hall, who sounds like he’d rather not talk about the film (and who can blame him?). Instead of dishing dirt on Miss Diva, he harps on inconsequential details for minutes on end in an apparent effort to use up time; case in point, he goes on for about five minutes on the film’s opening shot of a foot entering a spotlight. But every once in a while, nagging mysteries about the film are solved, with the answers inevitably pointing to Carey’s ego: the bad dubbing can be attributed to her lip synching on set to a soundalike, for she was worried about piracy (though given the soundtrack’s horrendous sales, she needn’t have worried); and a late voiceover that should by all means have been delivered by co-star Max Beesley (who plays Carey’s love interest/svengali) is done by Carey because the studio was legally bound to release the film with her voiceover. But these are the only times where Curtis-Hall gets remotely negative about his star; the rest of the time he generically says it was a “pleasure” to work with her.
Unfortunately (or is that “fortunately”?), no outtakes or deleted scenes are included on the disc. The standard theatrical trailer and filmographies are included, as are both the widescreen and full-screen editions of the film. But any laughs that may have come from a deleted scenes reel are provided by one of the two music videos on the disc: the hilarious clip for “Loverboy,” where Mariah dons hotpants, wears a bandanna as a top, and bends over in suggestive ways, culminating in her popping out of a cake. No matter how many times I see this clip, it never fails to make me laugh. The other video is for the power ballad “Never Too Far”; this video is merely an excerpt from a concert scene in the film.
Specifications: 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen and 1.33:1 full frame; English 5.1 Surround; French mono; English and French subtitles.
