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| The Simple Life DVD Review |
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Order this DVD from Amazon.com
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The Simple Life
(Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment)
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| DVD Release Date:
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January 20, 2003
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| Length:
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150 mins.
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| Rated:
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Not Rated
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| Format:
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Full Screen (1.33:1)
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| Audio:
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English Dolby Surround
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| Subtitles:
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Spanish, Closed Captioned
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| Extras:
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The Simple Life Test Presentation, Outtakes: "Paris and Nicole Pack For The Trip", "The Taxidermist Job", "Shopping At Buffalo Bill's Store", "Can Opener", "The Vet"
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I've watched my fair share of reality television. Survivor, The Bachelor and more recently The Apprentice. But The Simple Life is in a different league - there's nothing real about it. At least in the previously mentioned shows you learn a little bit about the people involved - you witness some of the hardships they go through. In The Simple Life, the only thing you learn about the two main characters (Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie) is what idiots they are, and how out of touch they are with reality (Nicole much more so than Paris). It's more like anti-reality television. Why did they call it The Simple Life? What was so simple about it? The title still confuses me.
To set it up a little better, I'll go back to the beginning. Paris Hilton is heiress to the $300 million Hilton hotel empire. (Hence the nickname, Paris the heiress.) Nicole Richie's claim to fame? She's the daughter of musician Lionel Richie. Although, I don't know if that really makes her that famous. When was the last time he had a hit? Of course, if you watch television or read the tabloids at all, you'd know they are famous for a lot more than that. So anyways, they live the simple life, with their millions of dollars and having everything handed to them on a silver platter - until they are challenged to live in a rural community, on a farm, in the middle of nowhere, with no cell phones, no credit cards, etc. They are challenged to live "the simple life", which is what confuses me. Don't they already live the simple life? What's so simple about having to work for a living, or not having any of the comforts they are used to?
Comprised of 7 episodes, The Simple Life follows Paris and Nicole on a variety of adventures in Altus, Arkansas - population 817. There, they live with the Leding family who, I wonder if they really knew what they were getting into - and I wonder how much money they got for their part in this "reality" series. If anything, they were the real people who suffered here. So, the girls get a variety of jobs - including working at a dairy farm, the local Sonic Burger, a cattle auction and a gas station. Seeing as how the girls had never worked a day in their lives, these made for some painfully comical moments. There's also their adventures around town, including a trip to the Spring Fair (where they act as co-Chairwomen) and the time they spend at the bars and with the boys. For being there for 30 days, you would think there would be more than 7 episodes - but I guess there wasn't as much material as you might expect.
There are a lot of questions this series raised that weren't answered. Are the girls really this clueless? Did they really suffer all that much - after all, Paris knew her credit card number? What happened to "Chops", who kinda disappeared without any explanation? Did he move to California and become a model? And again, are the girls really this clueless? And almost as important, did they take anything away from their little spectacle? Did they learn anything about the real world that will inspire them to not act like such spoiled brats? I highly doubt it. Even in the last episode, Paris made some comment about all she had learned, and from what I watched, she didn't learn anything - except maybe how to pick up some road kill.
Maybe I'm being to hard on Paris. Sure the show didn't necessarily portray her in the best light, but at least she was 100% better than Nicole, whose behaviour was completely unacceptable. Nicole disgusted me. Everything about her turned my stomach. It was just embarrassing. Probably the best thing Paris did was to bring Nicole. Similar to the theory that good looking girls hang out with uglier girls - or skinny girls only hang out with not-so-skinny girls - because it makes them look that much better, everything about Nicole only makes Paris look better. Again, the only word I can think of is embarrassing. It's just painful to watch. I can only imagine poor Lionel Richie watching, and the embarrassment he must feel - knowing that this is how his daughter turned out - knowing that beyond his music, that this is the legacy he leaves behind. Poor guy. And again, there's nothing really bad you can say about Paris, because anything she does only looks better when you look at Nicole and what she did. Ruining the milk at the dairy farm. Screwing around at Sonic Burger. Charging things (pretty much stealing) at the expense of the Auctioneer's account, and the absolute train wreck of her actions when she got caught. Hell, she didn't even know how to pump gas at the gas station. And finally, her scene at the bar when her purse went missing. Nicole Richie is a fucking moron. If Paris is guilty of anything, it is being friends with Nicole - or at least going along with Nicole's schemes when she should have spoken up. There were times when Paris showed a hint of having conscious, but only a hint - and it never went beyond that. The two had no remorse for anything they did - and to say that their attempts at showing any were insincere would be too much of an understatement. Just embarrassing - and again, painful to watch.
I'd be amiss if I didn't mention the special features included on this disc. They include a "Test Presentation" where the girls go to work at a pet grooming store and 5 outtakes (more like deleted scenes) showing such gold material such as the girls packing for the trip, working for a taxidermist, shopping at Buffalo Bill's, and the real gem here - showing that Nicole doesn't know how to use a can opener? How dim-witted can you be - really? As for the rest of the DVD, it really could have been a lot better. The audio presentation (the disc is presented in Dolby 2.0) could have been better - or a commentary track featuring the girls would have been nice. Also, the disc is a bit rushed. I don't even know if the series is done it's run on television. A little bit of an epilogue would have been interesting too - to learn about what the girls took from their little adventure - and to follow up with the Leding family and see where their lives have gone since Paris and Nicole landed on their doorstep.
Again this series, more than anything, really just raised a lot of questions for me. Has reality television really come to this? Or is it just Fox taking the premise and twisting it to meet the demands of their low-brow audience (a la "My Big Fat Obnoxious
Fiancé)? And again, can Paris and Nicole really be this out of touch with reality? I know there are people out there who like this kind of entertainment, but I'm not one of them. I can't say it enough, how painful this show was for me to watch - but at the same time, it's kinda like a car wreck - you can't really look away. So, if this kind of trash appeals to you, by all means, check out this DVD. Or, if you want to see another, less-famous Paris Hilton video, watch this. But, be warned that this material is the lowest of low brow - and if I haven't said it enough - it is painful and embarrassing to watch. The only thing simple about this "Simple Life" are Nicole and Paris.
| The Movie: |
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3/10 |
| The Extras: |
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2/10 |
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