Risky Business (Blu-ray)

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"Risky Business" is widely accepted as a comedy, although personally I have a hard time classifying it as such. Certainly, this doesn't mean that there aren't any comedic moments, because there are plenty. I'm just saying it isn't the type of film that has knee slapping laughs around every corner. If anything, I'd say it's built on a foundation of dramatic suspense, as Joel finds himself stuck in a rut and whenever he tries to dig himself out, he sinks deeper and deeper. The extent of the series of unfortunate events makes you wonder how on earth he's going to climb out of this mess. You start calculating in your head how long his parents will ground him for... if they don't kill him first.

Then who can forget the familiar--no, iconic--scene in which Tom Cruise dances around the living room in his underwear and Ray-Ban sunglasses to the tune of Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock 'n Roll?" It's funny how one unrehearsed cinematic moment could become one of the most memorable and spoofed sequences in filmmaking history.

Video:
Warner Bros. delivers "Risky Business" to Blu-ray on a BD-50 (VC-1 encode) presented in a widescreen 1.85:1 aspect ratio. For the film being twenty-five years old, I found the picture to be in pretty decent shape. The transfer is relatively clean with minimal grain and it appears as if the engineers scrubbed away most of the imperfections when comparing the picture quality to the alternate ending. In certain darker shots filmed at night or on the poorly lit train, sometimes the black levels came out more bluish than black--and that was the worst of it. I wouldn't call this a showpiece transfer by any means, but I'll go out on a limb to say this is probably the best we'll ever get.

Audio:
The disc has audio tracks in Dolby TrueHD English 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1, French 2.0, and Spanish 1.0, with optional English, French, and Spanish subtitles. I had a hard time telling the 5.1 mixes apart, as most of the sound is fed through the front and center channels. The lossless TrueHD track does top its brethren in acoustic capabilities when the soundtrack kicks in, though. Just make sure to activate the menu beforehand to select this audio option. For some strange reason, it isn't the default.

Extras:
Warner Bros. does "Risky Business" justice when it comes to the bonus features. First there's a "Video Commentary with Director Paul Brickman, Producer Jon Avnet, and Tom Cruise." This all-new reunion is the same commentary included on the 25th Anniversary DVD, except the Blu-ray features an added picture-in-picture (although a profile 1.1 player or higher is required). It's a charming one, and it was clear right from the get-go that all three participants were enjoying the stroll down memory lane. It also comes with a short "Intro to Commentary" (1:24).

There's an all-new 25th Anniversary Retrospective: "The Dream Is Always the Same: The Story of Risky Business" (29:30). This behind-the-scenes featurette isn't a bad way for fans of the film to spend half an hour, although I found the commentary to be much more entertaining.

Then we have an assortment of shorter features including: "Screen Tests" (14:33) with Tom Cruise and Rebecca De Mornay, a "Director's Cut of the Final Scene" (7:24) with a commentary by Brickman, and a theatrical trailer (1:27).

Lastly and exclusive to the Blu-ray release is a Digital Copy of the film.

The Final Cut:
If you've been living under a rock for all of these years like I have been doing apparently, don't hesitate to add this timeless film to your Blu-ray collection. "Risky Business" showcases the breakout performance of an eventual superstar--and with his name being "Tom" how can you go wrong?

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