Pie in the Sky

Do not buy this DVD.

Oh, the transfer isn't that bad. And the movie is kind of cute - a romantic comedy about two uber-nerds who first meet at age eight and finally figure out, some fifteen years later, how to be together. Josh Charles plays a guy who has been obsessed with traffic since he was a small child. Anne Heche plays the perfect woman for him in that (1) she thinks the traffic obsession is normal (2) she is in one of those modern dance troupes where they all dress up as industrial sewage and perform on polluted beaches.

Anyway, it is sort of a sweet movie without being syrupy and is charmingly eccentric without crossing over into the demented range. Heche and Charles do a good job, and there are some appealing secondary characters played by Christine Lahti and John Goodman.

The reason to avoid the DVD is as follows:

The VHS version was a 95 minute film with a very nice sex scene between Heche and Charles, highlighted by some beautiful exposure of Heche's breasts, which are quite nice in contrast to her rail-thin body.
The DVD version is a 94 minute film with no nudity in that sex scene. None at all. The entire scene has been re-edited so that nothing can be seen except those parts acceptable on broadcast TV. Only 37 seconds are missing, but it is a critical 37 seconds.

NUDITY REPORT

see the main commentary

DVD info from Amazon

do not buy this DVD.

See the main commentary

In other words the DVD, for reasons not clear to me, is actually a network TV version of an R-rated movie.

One Anne Heche nipple did make a very brief appearance in another scene, some outdoor lovemaking, but you would barely notice it without stop motion. The point is that the beautiful nudity in the other scene is lost from the DVD.

So, to repeat myself, do not buy this DVD.

The Critics Vote ...

Rotten Tomatoes summary. 8 reviews on file.

The People Vote ...

IMDB summary. IMDb voters score it 5.8/10

The meaning of the IMDb score: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence equivalent to about three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, comparable to approximately two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, equivalent to about a two star rating from the critics, or a C- from our system. Films rated below five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film - this score is roughly equivalent to one and a half stars from the critics or a D on our scale. (Possibly even less, depending on just how far below five the rating is.

My own guideline: A means the movie is so good it will appeal to you even if you hate the genre. B means the movie is not good enough to win you over if you hate the genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an open mind about this type of film. C means it will only appeal to genre addicts, and has no crossover appeal. (C+ means it has no crossover appeal, but will be considered excellent by genre fans, while C- indicates that it we found it to be a poor movie although genre addicts find it watchable). D means you'll hate it even if you like the genre. E means that you'll hate it even if you love the genre. F means that the film is not only unappealing across-the-board, but technically inept as well. Any film rated C- or better is recommended for fans of that type of film. Any film rated B- or better is recommended for just about anyone. We don't score films below C- that often, because we like movies and we think that most of them have at least a solid niche audience. Now that you know that, you should have serious reservations about any movie below C-.

Based on this description, this is a C+. If you can find the uncut version, the movie is a pleasant watch for people who like offbeat romantic comedies.