SUCKERS (2001)
Label: Synapse FilmsRegion Code: Region-FREE
Duration: 87 Minutes
Rating: Unrated
Video: 1080p HD (1.78:1) Widescreen
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround, Dolby Digital 5.1
Director: Roger Nygard
Cast: Louis Mandylor; Lori Loughlin; Daniel Benzali
Suckers (2001) from Roger Nygard, the director of the the Star Trek fandom documentary Trekkies (1997), is a fun bit of biting comedy that takes a jaded-eyed look at the cutthroat world of being a new car salesman. The film centers around a down-on-his-luck guy named Bobby DeLuca (Louis Mandylor, TV's Grace Under Fire) who is unemployed at the start of the film,his phone is ringing off the hook with calls from the debt collectors, and unbeknownst to his loving but increasingly irate wife (Lori Loughlin, TV's Full House) he owes a large debt to a loan shark who is coming down hard on him, with threats of physical violence. In desperation, and with his wife's prodding, he takes a job at the car dealership as a sales associate. His boss Reggie (Daniel Benzali, A View To A Kill) is a pit-boss styled dealer who trains his salesman to be ruthless in their dealings with customers, training them to be cutthroat and unforgiving during his daily pep talks that encourage his dealers to fleece the customer for all their worth.
Not all the salesman are painted as the worst human being ever, they all have their own reasons for working in this industry, I mean where else can they potentially make over 100K a year with limited skill sets? We get to see their rivalries as they compete for financial reward, as well as the occasional altruistic gesture for a customer that defies the culture, but the best stuff is the bald-headed boss spewing venom about how there's a war happening on the sales floor, with the customer is trying to screw the dealership, and the dealership trying to screw over the customer. Benzali is the true show here, he is fantastic as he chewing up the scenery spewing vile in every single scene, a despicable human, but a fun character.
The film has not got the most fluid of story-lines, it's best appreciated a series of vignettes, with a chaotic finale that is far removed from where I thought the whole thing was heading, but it's a fun-nihilistic ending that's not a bad way to cap off this biting comedy.
Audio/Video: Suckers arrives on Blu-ray from Synapse Films with an attractive new 4K scan, framing the film in 1.78:1 widescreen in 1080p HD. Color and contrast are solid, with good clarity throughout, and the fine detail are abundant in the close-ups. Audio on the disc comes by way of crisp English DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo and a newly remixed 5.1 with optional English subtitles.
Extras for Suckers begins with an audio commentary with writer/director Roger Nygard, writer/actor Joe Yannetty, cinematographer Nathan Hope, actor/composer Jimmie Wood and composer JJ Holiday, plus we get deleted scenes, raw takes and the original trailer for the film.
That's not all either, Synapse also offer up Nygard's mockumentary Six Nights In Roswell (2001) as a bonus film, the 82-minute film is a send-up of alien-hunting UFO culture in Roswell, NM, which itself also gets a new 4K scan and a set of extras including an audio commentary and making-of featurette.
The single-disc release comes housed in a standard keepcase with a reversible sleeve of artwork, the b-side featuring the Six Days In Roswell artwork option, including the spine.
Suckers Special Features:
- All-new 4K remaster supervised and approved by writer/director Roger Nygard
- Brand-new 5.1 surround sound remix
- Audio commentary with writer/director Roger Nygard, writer/actor Joe Yannetty, cinematographer Nathan Hope, actor/composer Jimmie Wood and composer JJ Holiday
- Deleted scenes, raw takes and original trailer
Six Days In Roswell Special Features:
- All-new 4K remaster supervised and approved by producer/editor Roger Nygard
- All-new English 5.1 surround sound remix
- Audio commentary with producer/editor Roger Nygard, director Timothy B. Johnson, and star Rich Kronfeld
- The Making of Six Days In Roswell
- Original trailer
-Special reversible Six Days In Roswell cover option!
Honestly, I have been impatiently waiting for Synapse Films to release both The Kindred and Massacre At Central High for years since both films were first announced by the label, so that we got this somewhat obscure millennial comedy, a gem though it may be, seemingly from out of nowhere could be considered a bit frustrating, but once I dropped it into the player and sat back and started watching it the laughs came fast and loose. It's a funny movie, not as funny as my favorite car salesmen comedy, that title will always go to the unsung Used Cars (1980), but that's not to take away from how bitingly funny Suckers (2001) is.
