Ali G Indahouse appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this single-sided, double-layered DVD; the image has been enhanced for 16X9 televisions. The picture didn’t seem immaculate, but it came across as consistently positive.
Sharpness was good most of the time. Some wide shots displayed a slight amount of softness, but those examples occurred rarely. Most of the movie looked distinct and detailed. No issues related to jagged edges or moiré effects occurred, but I did see a bit of edge enhancement at times. Print flaws looked minor. I noticed a few small specks, but otherwise the flick was clean and fresh.
Indahouse featured a bright and somewhat cartoony palette that seemed well reproduced here. The colors came across as rich and full at all times, and I noticed no problems connected to bleeding, noise or other issues. Black levels were deep and tight, while low-light situations appeared well defined and accurate. Overall, Indahouse presented a consistently attractive image.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack of Indahouse lacked great ambition but consistently satisfied. The soundfield maintained a pretty firm balance toward the forward speakers. Music showed solid stereo imaging, and the effects provided a fairly involving sense of atmosphere. However, the track occasionally expanded beyond general environment. Some directional elements popped up, especially at the film’s start. The fantasy gunfight used the spectrum well. Otherwise, the track stayed with fairly ambient audio, which allowed it to feel natural.
Audio quality was quite good. Speech mostly sounded distinct and accurate, and the lines always remained intelligible with no edginess. Music seemed reasonably bright and bold. The score was rich, and the hip-hop tunes bounced with nice low-end. Effects came across as accurate and full. This wasn’t a great mix, but it worked surprisingly well for the material.
The set of extras starts with an audio commentary from Ali G and Ricky C (Martin Freeman), both of whom sit together for a running, screen-specific piece. Yup, this is an “in-character” chat. This means you’ll learn very little about the making of the movie, though the pair discuss themselves as actors in the flick; they pretend they played themselves. Mostly they slag on each other and what they watch. This offers some moments of amusement but doesn’t go much of anywhere. Essentially, the more you like Ali G, the more you’ll enjoy this track. It’s not a particularly good character commentary, though.
After this comes a collection of deleted scenes. We get 12 of these plus a reel with outtakes and mistakes. All together, this package lasts 22 minutes and 12 seconds. An Ali G intro tells us they didn’t make the cut because they were “shitty”, but that’s not true. Some of them are actually pretty good, so I’d guess most got the boot for time concerns.
In the Video Diary, we find an 11-minute and 49-second featurette. It follows Ali G on various sets and locations. It’s all tongue in cheek, of course, and it’s moderately amusing.
The two-minute and 18-second Talking the Talk deciphers Ali G’s dialogue. After an Ali G intro, we see movie clips followed by very literal translations of his words. It’s another cute feature.
A Photo Gallery presents a running montage of pictures. It lasts 74 seconds and includes 12 publicity shots. We find one full trailer for Indahouse plus two teasers. The DVD opens with some Previews. These include ads for Shaun of the Dead, Drunken Jackasses - the Quest, and the new DVDs of Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Dazed and Confused, Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore.
Too smart to be a truly puerile flick, but too dumb to strongly appeal to that side of things, Ali G Indahouse suffers from the lack of consistency. It has its funny moments but can’t quite mesh well enough to become a strong movie. The DVD presents pretty strong picture and audio plus a reasonably good roster of extras. Ali G fans will likely enjoy this movie, but I doubt it’ll win over too many newbies.
