Starring:	Adam Sandler	97min
	Drew Barrymore
		1998
		Romantic
Screenplay:	Tim Herlihy	Comedy
Director:	Frank Coraci	Colour

Region	1	Studio:	New Line
Format	Double Sided, Single Layer	Subtitles	English Closed Captions
			Spanish
Aspect ratio	16:9 or 4:3		French
Anamorphic	Yes
Soundtracks	Dolby Digital 5.1	Extra Features	5 80's Karaoke songs
	French Dolby Digital 5.1		80's Music Lyric Game
			Photo Gallery
Case type	Cardboard		Animated menus & music
			Biographies

The DVD * * * * *		The Movie * * * *
This is so, so wonderful. Simply because it proves that a movie doesn't need to have feature a giant AK-47 weilding exploding mosquito as the hero to make for a cool DVD. No-one - not even Warner Brothers - does DVD better than New Line. The movie looks and sounds perfect in whichever version you chose, plain and simple. But it is of course the extras that make this a bundle of pure joy. The package is held together by a themed menu, which plays (of course) Billy Idol at you. As you select your option, you spin round in a virtual wedding reception and go through the door of your choice. To pick a scene from the film, for example, you are faced with a full motion animated wedding cake, with each teir playing part of the scene in question! Yum. The Karaoke bar meanwhile, offers hits from (again) Billy Idol, The Police, The Thompson Twins, Culture Club and, most fun of all, Rapper's Delight by The Sugarhill Gang. After a count in, the lyrics appear in true Karaoke style word by word, and you get the option (although not advertised) to turn the vocals on or off as you go by pressing the "audio" button. Once you've embarrassed yourself with these big hits, it's time to really test your 80's knowledge in the lyric trivia quiz. It's quite endless. Although US biased (fogiveable on a US disc), with some of the songs obscure to say the least, it's a fine party game. But beware, if you finally DO manage to get to the end of it all, you are rewarded by the final scene of the film - best play this one through after you've seen the film... Some real fun and imaginative thought has gone into this. While Universal pack their Special Edition discs with extras, it's all a bit formula and dull to look at it. New Line have done something better than make DVD impressive - they've made it FUN. Thank you, thank you, thak you...		Watching this makes it all seem so easy - why are so many romantic comedies so bad? The Wedding Singer works because it follows the number one formula rule of screenwriting - give the audience a sympathetic hero with a clearly indentifiable goal. And to boot, the film also follows the lesser known number two rule - pack your movie full of toe-tapping 80's hits and TURN THE VOLUME UP! Adam Sandler is the eponymous wedding singer, carving out a poor existence for himself by being quite good, and really nice. Yet on his wedding day, the unthinkable happens and his wife-to-be makes a no show, earning the sympathy of just about everyone including catering waitress Barrymore. Herself due to be hitched to a clearly unsuitable older-guy, she enlists the expert help of Sandler in getting her big day organised. I'll leave it to you to guess the rest. Romantic comedy doesn't work by giving you surprises, and the Wedding singer is certainly true to type here. In fact, as the film goes on, some scenes look as if they were churned out from a scriptwriting program, but - it really doesn't matter! Sandler is so likeable every female audience member would want him, and for the lads, Barrymore is no moose. There are a number of laugh out loud moments to zip things along, and director Coraci pulls it all together in a sprightly fashion. This is a safe bet for the date crowd, and a thoroughly enjoyable antidote to the ballistics filled mayhem of the summer season. One up on the already tired 70's stuff, it trades heavily on the 80's nostalgia card, appealing to twenty and thirtysomethings with its in your face soundtrack and in-jokes at the expense of The Cure, A Flock Of Seagulls and Billy Idol - who makes a cameo. A cameo by Cameo really would have been the finishing touch.