Best-known as the producer of movies like Heathers and Edward Scissorhands, Denise Di Novi makes her directorial debut with 2017’s Unforgettable. David Connover (Geoff Stults) divorces his wife Tessa (Katherine Heigl), and she finds it hard to move on with her life.

The ease with which David seems to get over their relationship complicates matters, as Tessa feels punched in the gut when her ex quickly gets engaged to Julia Banks (Rosario Dawson). As Julia becomes integrated into David’s life – and that of their daughter Lily (Isabella Kai Rice) – an unstable Tessa works to disturb Julia’s new life.

As mentioned earlier, Di Novi’s Hollywood career stretches back decades, which makes one wonder why she waited until now to direct a film. Maybe this was a “bucket list” item prompted by her 60th birthday in 2016.

Or maybe Di Novi couldn’t find anyone else willing to direct the movie and decided she needed to do it herself. I find it hard to believe Unforgettable brought Di Novi the filmmaking offer she couldn’t refuse, as it delivers nothing more than a stale stab at the thriller genre.

Not that Di Novi threatens to bring anything fresh to the film. Instead, the director churns up every cliché she learned in her decades in the business and gives Unforgettable a wholly tired bent.

Unforgettable might survive its “been there, done that” plot, characters and situations if it attempted any form of creativity – maybe some form of self-knowledge might allow it to prosper. Unfortunately, Di Novi plays matters entirely straight and doesn’t appear to recognize how trite all these elements feel.

That means the film includes not a single compelling moment, as Unforgettable instead subjects us to one predictable scene after another. Replete with characters who act stupidly and irrationally at every bent, the story falters on a persistent basis.

Dawson tries her best to bring out layers in Julia, as she attempts to find substance in the thinly written part. Heigl also proves pretty believable as the icy Stepford-like Tessa.

A decent cast can’t overcome the utter lack of inspiration found in Unforgettable, though. The movie embraces every hoary cliché it can find to deliver a dull, tedious experience.

Unforgettable appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The movie came with a solid transfer.

Overall delineation looked good. A few interiors tended to be a smidgen soft, but the majority of the flick delivered appropriate definition. I saw no issues with jaggies or shimmering, and the image also lacked edge haloes or print flaws.

Like most modern thrillers, Unforgettable opted for a heavily teal palette, with some amber tossed in for good measure. While predictable, the disc replicated the hues in an appropriate manner. Blacks seems dark and dense, while shadows were usually fine, though a smattering of shots appeared a smidgen too thick. Overall, I felt pleased with this presentation.

Though not quite as good, the movie’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack suited the material. As with most melodramas of this sort, the soundscape went heavy on atmospherics and music, and those added impact to the proceedings. Occasional scenes boasted more active involvement – such as during a thunderstorm – and these moments turned the mix into a reasonably broad setting.

Audio quality worked fine, with concise, natural dialogue. Music showed strong range and warmth, while effects appeared accurate and full. This became a perfectly satisfactory mix for a thriller.

As we move to extras, we begin with an audio commentary from director Denise Di Novi. She presents a running, screen-specific look at story/characters, cast and performances, sets and locations, music and related domains.

Expect a pretty lackluster commentary from Di Novi. While she fleshes out some filmmaking elements in a reasonable manner, she often tends to simply offer annotated narration of the story. We get occasional insights but not much substance from this mediocre chat.

One Deleted Scene appears, and it lasts two minutes, six seconds. It gives us a little more of the Julia/David relationship but nothing I’d call important.

We can watch the deleted scene with or without commentary from Di Novi. She tells us a little about the sequence as well as why she cut it. Di Novi provides some useful info.

Reclaiming What’s Yours: Making Unforgettable runs 10 minutes, nine seconds and features Di Novi, writer Christina Hodson, producer Alison Greenspan, and actors Rosario Dawson, Katherine Heigl, Cheryl Ladd, and Geoff Stults. “Yours” discusses story/characters, cast and performances, and themes. This offers a fluffy promo piece without much substance.

The disc opens with ads for Dunkirk, Wonder Woman (2017), The House, Batman and Harley Quinn and Blade Runner 2049.

A second disc presents a DVD copy of Unforgettable. It includes the commentary but lacks the other extras.

Successful producer Denise Di Novi leaps to the director’s chair for 2017’s Unforgettable and flops. Despite what its title promises, the movie gives us a tedious, predictable dud of a thriller that will leave your memory the second the credits roll. The Blu-ray provides very good picture with suitable audio and passable supplements. Unforgettable winds up as a sub-mediocre film.