Despite the film’s shortcomings, I still enjoyed Jenna Ricker’s “The American Side” and wouldn’t mind seeing a return of Greg Stuhr’s Charlie Paczynski for a sequel. It was no doubt an ambitious hard-boiled film that tried to incorporate too much for its own good, but I still found “The American Side” to be entertaining and enjoyable
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DVD TITLE: The American Side
FILM RELEASE DATE: 2015
DURATION: 104 Minutes
DVD INFORMATION: 2:35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, English 5.1 Dolby Digital, Subtitles: English, English SDH, French and Spanish
COMPANY: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
RATED: Not Rated
AVAILABLE ON: August 2, 2016
Directed by Jenna Ricker
Written by Greg Stuhr, Jenna Ricker
Produced by Jonathan Shoemaker
Co-Produced by Jenna Ricker
Executive Producer: Mary Henry
Associate Producer: Tracy B. Wilson
Music by David Shire
Cinematography by Frank Barrera
Edited by Robert Grigsby Wilson
Casting by Jen Rudin
Production Design by Debbie DeVilla
Art Direction by Max Wixom
Costume Design by Carisa Kelly
Starring:
Greg Stuhr as Charlie Paczynski
Alicja Bachleda as Nikki Meeker
Camilla Belle as Emily Chase
Matthew Broderick as Borden Chase
Robert Forster as Sterling Whitemore
Janeane Garofalo as Agent Barry
Grant Shaud as The Professor
Robert Vaughn as Silver-Haired Man
Harris Yulin as Tom Soberin
Joe Grifasi as The Serb
Stephen Henderson as Stickney
Norm Sham as Maguire
Kelsey Sipeser as Kat
When Charlie Paczynski’s raven-haired partner is caught in the crossfire of a blackmail scheme gone bad, he trails the prime suspect to the brink of Niagara, only to receive a cryptic warning. Thrust into a world populated by a whiskey-swilling storyteller, strangely bonded siblings, and a dubious government agent, Paczynski joins the quest for a long-lost design by enigmatic genius, Nikola Tesla.
From actress/writer and producer Jen Ricker (“Ben’s Plan”, “The Overlookers”) comes her mystery film “The American Side”.
Co-written with actor Greg Stuhr (“Red”, “M.D. Geist II”, “Urotsukidoji IV”), “The American Side” would star Stuhr, Polish actress Alicja Bachleda (“Ondine”, “Trade”, “Summer Storm”), Camilla Belle (“10,00 BC”, “The Lost World: Jurassic Park”, “Push”), Matthew Broderick (“Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”, “Godzilla”, “Glory”), Robert Forster (“Jackie Brown”, “Mulholland Dr.”, “Me, Myself & Irene”), Janeane Garofalo (“Dogma”, “Mystery Men”) and many more.
The film revolves around private investigator Charlie Paczynski (portrayed by Greg Stuhr), who is secretly working with a stripper named Kat (portrayed by Kelsey Siepser). Together they blackmail the wealthy as Kat sleeps with the men, Charlie photographs them and uses the photos as blackmail.
But one evening, as the two plan for their next job, while Kat is with a man in a vehicle, you hear Kat screaming, a gunshot and Kat is dead.
Wanting to find out who is responsible for the death of Kat, Charlie must interview any possible leads, which include siblings Borden Chase (portrayed by Matthew Broderick) and his sister Emily (portrayed by Camilla Belle), the wealthy Sterling Whitmore (portrayed by Robert Forster), the mysterious silver-haired man (portrayed by Robert Vaughn) and many more.
But the more Charlie delves deeper into his investigation, he learns that this murder may be entrenched to some conspiracy that goes even deeper than he would ever expect.
VIDEO & AUDIO:
“The American Side” is presented in 2:35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen and English 5.1 Dolby Digital. Picture quality is good, as one can expect on DVD but I’m surprised the film was not released on Blu-ray. Audio is crystal clear for dialogue and music but there are times with good use of surround for crowd ambiance.
Subtitles are in English, English SDH, French and Spanish.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“The American Side” comes no special features.
Paying homage to old gumshoe detective stories, “The American Side” is a detective story that may be too complex for its own good.
The film follows crooked detective, Charlie Paczynski, as his partner-in-crime is killed and he wants to know who is responsible.
Problem is, the investigation brings Charlie into a complex conspiracy involving the Tesla Mystique (for those who are fascinated by Nikola Tesla) that may endanger humankind.
Featuring a strong cast and campy gumshoe dialogue for the modern era, for those who are fascinated by old detective dramas will no doubt be fascinated by what director/co-writer Jenna Ricker and co-writer/actor Greg Stuhr are able to come up with.
For the most part, Ricker and Stuhr were able to create a fascinating homage to old detective dramas, the problem is that everything feels out of place as what was a murder mystery becomes an investigation of great conspiracy. With the many talents featured in the film, the film becomes too ambitious and tries to incorporate too much for its own good.
As for the DVD, picture quality is as good as one can expect on DVD. Audio features clear dialogue and ambiance. Unfortunately, there is no Blu-ray release for this film and it’s a barebones DVD release with no special features.
Overall, despite the film’s shortcomings, I still enjoyed Jenna Ricker’s “The American Side” and wouldn’t mind seeing a return of Greg Stuhr’s Charlie Paczynski for a sequel. It was no doubt an ambitious hard-boiled film that tried to incorporate too much for its own good, but I still found “The American Side” to be entertaining and enjoyable.
