Blu-Ray Spotlight: The Linguini Incident
MVD Entertainment puts out this under-seen David Bowie vehicle, with a director’s cut for the first time on disc.
Richard Shepard came onto the filmmaking scene co-directing Cool Blue and contributing his segment My Better Half in the anthology film Inside Out (1991). He had yet to direct his first full-length feature on his own and, having co-helmed a project with Mark Mullin and working with talent like Woody Harrelson, Hank Azaria, and Christopher McDonald, Shepard could get a really great cast together for a script he’d been working on.
Once The Linguini Incident found its central cast, Shepard found that budgeting was going to be quite the challenge. Especially when he lost funding right as he was circling David Bowie to star. Thankfully Bowie helped tremendously and as we know now stars as Monte, the new bartender at Dali — one of New York City’s flashiest restaurants.
The advent of this film becoming readily available again on the home video market isn’t exactly the entire reason for the pomp & circumstance surrounding the film’s re-emergence. In any of the release’s numerous bonus features director Richard Shepard shares that this is the version of his film that wasn’t cut up by the studio against his will — his director’s cut, in a manner of speaking, which had never seen the light of day is now here for all to see and enjoy. And that is what is presented here courtesy of MVD Visual, in a nicely restored vision of the film Shepard wanted to make.
The Linguini Incident follows Lucy (Rosanna Arquette), a waitress at Dali: a renowned restaurant in New York City whose foibles match that of the two eccentric & tunnel-visioned owners (played by Buck Henry and André Gregory). Every employee’s secret desire is to rob the restaurant blind as it brings in an unconscionable amount of money over just a single weekend. Lucy moonlights as a budding escape artist and, in the middle of working on her act meets new bartender Monte (David Bowie), who is in desperate need of money to secure a green card since fleeing the UK under questionable circumstances.
Video
The Linguini Incident is presented here in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, where the original film’s is 1.85:1. The release comes from a 4K interpositive scan which frankly looks quite incredible. No visible damage is noticeable and colors appear perfectly clear and captivating in their own bizarre way (a first-time director pulling this off could probably only do so with Bowie to provide a little sleight of hand, perhaps). The level of grain present feels nice and organic, resolving quite beautifully. Details come through clearly but don’t get a real chance to shine until we enter and subsequently re-visit the restaurant Dali, with its servers clad in silver tops and space-age inspired feminine hairdos with clashing modern-slash-surrealist art in the restaurant’s busy decorative backgrounds.
Audio
The Linguini Incident provides a sole LPCM 2.0 Mono track in the original English language. The mono recording comes through fair and clear, with some tinting towards the metallic sounding in the higher frequencies but not nearly enough to distract from the film itself. The film’s score (provided by Thomas Newman) rounds out the sound and is mixed quite well within between dialogue and incidental audio. Dialogue is communicated in a nice, clean fashion as well. There is an option for English SDH subtitles that can be toggled on and off from the menu and during playback.
Special Features
There’s a nice array of special features available on this disc, notably two separate commentary tracks, a 100+ minute “documentary” of sorts on the making-of, an introduction by Richard Shepard, and the theatrical version of the film (details on the quality of this as follows). The full list of special features below:
- 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” host Heath Holland
- Commentary by Director Richard Shepard
- The Making of The Linguini Incident, a full-length documentary with Richard Shepard, Tamar Brott, Rosanna Arquette, Eszter Balint Marlee Matlin, Sarah Jackson, Marcia Hinds & Richard von Ernst recounting the events during the film’s writing, shooting, editing, and marketing
(1 hr, 44 min & 26 sec with optional English subtitles) - Photo Gallery with commentary by Richard Shepard (5 min 55 sec)
- Original Theatrical Version, the version of The Linguini Incident that Shepard fought against, notably 5 minutes longer than his directors cut. The theatrical version is a standard definition transfer in what looks to be an older DVD source. The image is also pillarboxed, so is likely present as an archival extra. (1 hr 38 min)
- 2024 Theatrical Trailer
- Original Theatrical Trailer
- Reversible Artwork
- Booklet with essays from film historian Graham Rinaldi and director Richard Shepard [First Pressing Only] There seems to have been a printing issue or problem with the copy as the words that carry over across the page don’t correspond to each other, making the reading confusing.
- Limited Edition Slipcover [First Pressing Only]
Final Thoughts
The Linguini Incident is no doubt a quirky comedy and while it didn’t quite work for me, the performances are really very good in this. Even the star presence in this on its own is a lot of fun to watch, even if moments of plot advancement aren’t exactly working in the way it was intended. The main draw, David Bowie, is presented as the most unlikable piece of trash ever yet somehow becomes likeable in almost no time at all. The film feels like a turn at screwball comedy but in targeting pompous, artsy New Yorker types and art gallery wallflowers mooching off of cheap complimentary wine and cheese. For the most part it hits its mark but can feel empty of purpose at some points despite the clear fun everyone is having. For its place in history as a cinematic oddity or those wanting to complete their David Bowie filmography, The Linguini Incident comes recommended.
The Linguini Incident is now available on Blu-Ray and DVD courtesy of MVD Visual and can be found for purchase on DeepDiscount and Barnes & Noble.
