Joe Dirt appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The movie offered a pretty positive presentation.
For the most part, sharpness appeared good. A little softness crept into the image at times, but the majority of the flick seemed reasonably accurate and concise. I saw no signs of jagged edges or moiré effects, and the presentation lacked edge haloes. Print flaws also failed to pop up here.
Colors looked mostly bright and vibrant. Dirt provided a fairly broad and varied palette that used a number of different hues to its advantage. These tended to come across as clear and accurate. Black levels were deep and rich, and shadow detail looked appropriately heavy but not excessively opaque. This was an appealing presentation.
I also felt pleased with the film’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack. Like most comedies, the soundfield of Dirt offered a relatively subdued affair, but the mix provided a reasonably involving experience when necessary.
The forward spectrum dominated the track, as I heard good stereo separation for the music and positive placement for effects. Those latter elements showed fine localization and smooth panning, and the surrounds also added a nice level of reinforcement. For the most part, the rear channels mainly stayed with general ambience, but they came nicely to life on a few occasions, such as when the “meteorite” plunged to earth.
Audio quality seemed to be fairly solid. As a whole speech was acceptably natural and distinct, with no edginess or problems related to intelligibility. Music was nicely vibrant and lively, as the score and the many period tunes offered clear highs and good lows that made them pack a nice punch.
Effects also came across as clear and accurate, and they could boast a lot of bass at times. For example, I thought the nuclear blast would devastate my house. Overall, this was a relatively modest track, but Joe Dirt sounded good enough to warrant a “B”.
How did the Blu-ray compare to the original 2001 DVD? Audio showed a bit more pep and range, while visuals looked cleaner, tighter and more accurate. The Blu-ray presented good improvements over the DVD.
The Blu-ray mixes old and new extras, and we start with two separate audio commentaries. The first offers a running, screen-specific affair from actor/co-writer David Spade. Objectively, this is a pretty spotty track, as Spade provides only a little real information about the film, and a fair number of gaps appear throughout the commentary. The latter never become overwhelming in length, but they add up due to volume.
Despite those concerns, I like Spade’s track, for he offers just enough humor to make it worthwhile. Not surprisingly, he takes a semi-mocking tone toward the flick and himself, and this makes the track rather enjoyable. Spade’s more than happy to point out various flaws, so the commentary turns into a moderate amount of fun.
The second track comes from director Dennie Gordon, who also contributes a running, screen-specific affair. Unfortunately, her commentary isn’t nearly as witty and entertaining as Spade’s. She contributes a bit more information than he does, but she also seems a lot more pleased with herself and the film.
Much of Gordon’s track sticks with bland thoughts about how great everyone was and how funny everything is. That tone would be tiresome under the best of conditions, but it seems especially weak after Spade’s witty track. On the positive side, Gordon appears fairly personable and engaging, which helps let the commentary pass more quickly. Nonetheless, it’s a bland piece that doesn’t add a whole lot of good information.
Next we get a collection of seven Deleted Scenes. We find these segments: “The Meteorite” (0:29), “8-Track Tape” (0:47), “Friendly Neighbors” (0:44), “Happy Dog” (0:24), “Ride to the Airport” (0:43), “Space Stuff” (0:21) and “Whatever Joe Wants” (0:21). These all offer short comedic tidbits but nothing memorable.
Note that “Meteorite”, “Tape” and “Neighbors” appeared on the DVD but the other four are new to the Blu-ray. We get commentary from Gordon for the three scenes from the DVD. She sheds a little light on the reasons for their excision, which is about all she can do given their brief running times.
The Bloopers and Outtakes Reel adds three minutes and six seconds of footage. This is the usual batch of silliness, though the presence of Spade and Dennis Miller makes it more entertaining than most.
In addition to the film’s trailer, we get two new extras, both of which relate to the movie’s 2015 sequel. The Making of Joe Dirt 2: Beautiful Loser
runs four minutes, 29 seconds and includes comments from Spade and actors Brittany Daniel and Mark McGrath. This gives us some basics about the new movie. As expected, it’s little more than a promo.