The Linguini Incident Blu-ray Review

Richard Shepard’s oddly titled The Linguini Incident unjustly fell through the cracks when it premiered in the early 1990s. Despite music icon David Bowie and actress Rosanna Arquette (Desperately Seeking Susan) as headliners, the quirky caper flick came and went barely making waves. Maybe audiences had a hard time taking David Bowie (The Prestige) seriously as a romantic male lead. Now newly restored in a fresh director’s cut over thirty years later, the film’s hipster charms make it a fun, easygoing vehicle for its notable cast worth catching.

The romantic romp has an eclectic cast beyond its two stars, including deaf actress Marlee Matlin and Buck Henry among other recognizable faces. Bowie and Arquette make quite the odd couple. The relationship works on screen mostly because Arquette is a real ball of fire.

The Linguini Incident has an off-kilter energy with the cast doing their best keeping pace with the madcap antics

David Bowie was at his best playing inhuman characters such as when he was an alien in The Man Who Fell to Earth. That may have been part of the problem for audiences accepting The Linguini Incident. Here’s a larger-than-life rockstar playing a mostly quiet bartender and hopeless romantic. You can spot Bowie’s then-girlfriend and future wife Iman in a crowd scene.

Director Richard Shepard (The Matador) was quite young making The Linguini Incident, barely 25 at the time. His inexperience shows at times but the film’s heart is always in the right place. It ends up being a quirky but creative romantic comedy that keeps things lively. Thinking he was originally writing a project built for Madonna, Rosanna Arquette is the plucky female lead. She’s the perfect foil for Bowie’s rather understated performance as a roguish gentleman with marriage on his mind.

Lucy (Rosanna Arquette) is a waitress at a hip NYC lounge run by two eccentric men. She dreams of being an escape artist like Houdini. Badly in debt, new British bartender Monte (David Bowie) hopes for a quick green card marriage. The odd pair grow closer together as they cook up a kooky criminal scheme to rob the place, aided by Lucy’s wacky friend Viv (Eszter Balint) who designs exotic lingerie for outlandish occasions.

Rarely seen for many years and hard to find on home video, The Linguini Incident has an off-kilter energy with the cast doing their best keeping pace with the madcap antics. It’s hard not enjoying Rosanna Arquette’s Lucy, she’s just a character you want to root for and hopes she makes it.

The vibe is more screwball comedy than a regular romcom with an emphasis on the supporting cast adding laughs. Romance often takes a backseat to the comedic beats. That being said, there’s a certain storytelling genius found within the movie’s interesting characters. Throw in amusing dialogue and a few great sight gags, you get a strange but always charming romantic comedy.

Originally filmed in 1990, Richard Shepard’s The Linguini Incident has had it rough on home video until now. Taking years to get the rights back, director Richard Shepard creates a beautiful director’s cut fashioned from a new 4K scan of the movie’s Interpositive he tracked down in Europe. The nice film transfer licensed by MVD here serves as the basis of a crisp 1080p presentation.

A faithful 1.78:1 rendering of The Linguini Incident boasts healthy saturation, warmish contrast and accurate flesh-tones. Inky black levels underline the excellent definition and clarity. The sharp, snappy cinematography offers fine texture and detail in close-ups. Cinematic fidelity and grain reproduction are superb, unaltered by any processing.

The director’s cut runs a tight 92 minutes, cleanly encoded in AVC on a BD-50. If you’re looking for the original theatrical version, it’s a standard-definition bonus in middling quality on the disc. The elements are consistent without visible wear and degradation.

Few catalog releases from the ‘90s look this good after going MIA for so many years on DVD and BD. MVD isn’t known for videophile excellence but The Linguini Incident’s Blu-ray is a strong-looking disc.

The Linguini Incident played in Ultra-Stereo when it hit theaters in 1991. MVD provides a satisfactory 2.0 PCM soundtrack which is listed as a mono mix. If in fact this Blu-ray track is stereo, the imaging is narrow and heavily focused towards the center anyway. Bowie doesn’t make any musical contributions as composer Thomas Newman sets an amusing score for the dialogue-driven drama and comedy.

A handful of music songs pop up in the soundtrack from artists such as the Meat Puppets. Dynamics are serviceable with intelligible dialogue reproduction. Recording fidelity is stellar, if a touch bright and punchy. The bottom end is better than expected, possibly at the expense of higher frequencies.

Optional English subtitles play in a yellow font.

The Linguini Incident hits Blu-ray for the first time ever courtesy of MVD’s Rewind Collection. Arriving in a clear case with reversible artwork, a slipcover is available on early pressings. A 16-page booklet contains wonderfully detailed essays from Graham Rinaldi and filmmaker Richard Shepard. The disc is coded for all regions.

The quirky romcom receives copious bonus features, including two separate audio commentaries and a massive making-of documentary with virtually everyone from the cast and crew besides Bowie himself, who passed away back in 2016. Shepard and his cast share their memories working on the project in intimate detail.

Audio Commentary with director Richard Shepard, actors Rosanna Arquette and Eszter Balint, co-producer Sarah Jackson and co-screenwriter Tamar Brott, moderated by “Cereal at Midnight’s” Heath Holland – Fairly revealing, fun chat that keeps it moving while also sharing pertinent information about the production.

Commentary by Director Richard Shepard – A solo commentary that brings something different to the table than the freewheeling group discussion found in the other commentary.

“The Making of The Linguini Incident” (104:26 in HD with optional English subtitles) – Full-length documentary which includes interviews with director Richard Shepard, co-writer Tamar Brott, Rosanna Arquette, Eszter Balint Marlee Matlin, Sarah Jackson, Marcia Hinds & Richard von Ernst. Basically anyone integral to the movie appears with the exception of David Bowie.

The Linguini Incident: Original Theatrical Version (98:22 in 4:3 SD with 2.0 Dolby Digital audio) – A longer but less structured version of the film which hit movie theaters. Richard Shepard. admits he didn’t have final edit on this version, which is why he went back to make his director’s cut.

Photo Gallery with commentary by Richard Shepard (05:55 in HD)

Introduction by Director Richard Shepard (02:26 in HD) – Briefly discusses the genesis of this director’s cut, recently salvaged from a European print.

2024 Theatrical Trailer (01:42 in HD)

Original Theatrical Trailer (02:18 in upscaled SD)

Bonus Trailers from MVD (SD):

Delirious (02:20)

Mr. Jealousy (02:31)

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (02:07)

Highball (02:01)

Zeroville (02:27)

Art School Confidential (01:44)

Full disclosure: This Blu-ray was provided by the label for review. This has not materially affected DoBlu’s editorial process. For information on how we handle all review material, please visit DoBlu’s about us page.

The following six screen shots serve as samples for our subscription-exclusive set of 47 full resolution, uncompressed HD screen shots ripped directly from the Blu-ray: