Mr. 3000 DVD Review (Bernie Mac) Empire Movies

MR. 3000 DVD REVIEW

Mr. 3000
(Buena Vista Home Entertainment)

The Movie

The Extras

Reviewed by

5/10

5.5/10

Liam

I used to like sports. I still enjoy the odd game, whether it be hockey or football or baseball, but I don't enjoy sports nearly as much as I used to. The owners are greedy. The players aren't much better. And the sport suffers for it. Most players don't play to win - they play for the money and for the attention - players like Stan Ross (Bernie Mac) in Mr. 3000.

In Mr. 3000, Bernie Mac plays a superstar athlete for the Milwaukee Brewers who gets his 3000th hit and sees it as his automatic ticket into the Hall of Fame. So what does he do? He quits. He's got the money. He's got the attention. He's got his immortality. So, he quits. (Honestly, this isn't such a stretch of the imagination in this day and age.) However, several years pass and Mr. 3000 still hasn't made his way to Cooperstown. So, he orchestrates a couple of events to get the light shining back on him. And then, it's discovered that due to an error in the statistics, Mr. 3000 was a few hits shy - and that he's actually Mr. 2997. So, he comes out of retirement to try and get those last three hits and learns a thing or two about what an ass he's been.

So what did I think? I'm not the biggest Bernie Mac fan to begin with - and this movie didn't make me like him any more. And to top it off, the story was contrived. I didn't believe any of it and it didn't make me think any better of today's athletes - or that any athlete would have the change of heart that Mr. 3000 did.

This DVD comes with your standard set of extras. First, a making of featurette titled "The Making of Mr. 3000" where we go behind-the-scenes with interview with the cast and crew, telling us what they think the movie is about. (Interesting note - Denzel Washington was one time considered for the leading role.) In "Spring Training: The Extras' Journey" we look at the casting of extra players in the movie. This extra is nice in that it gives the little guy who didn't get a speaking part in the movie to have his say on the DVD. The last featurette is "Everybody Loves Stan" which is a faux series of interviews with baseball players such as Bo Jackson and Ryne Sandberg as well as ESPN footage mocking Stan's return to baseball. I guess it was a little fun - but not really.

The next set of features are your deleted/extended scenes and outtakes. Under "Extended Sequences" there's some extra SportsCenter footage, a look at the full Mr. 3000 TV commercial and an extended version of the Jay Leno interview from the film. We also get three deleted scenes (with optional commentary on two) and roughly 3 minutes worth of outtakes.

Rounding out the special features is an audio commentary featuring director Charles Stone III. Having seen this guy in most of the features, I really wasn't interested in a lot of what this guy had to say. You won't be either. The only thing of note - to hear him say that he doesn't want to be doing the commentary - that he's against going behind the scenes - against the deconstruction of the magic of filmmaking. But that's about it.

Maybe it's because I've been jaded by sports. Maybe there's been one too many strikes. Maybe the players have been locked out one too many times. Maybe it's that we're in the midst of losing an entire NHL season. Or maybe it's that it's the middle of January and the baseball season is months away. Or maybe, it's just Bernie Mac. Either way. I just wasn't buying this movie. And neither should you.

Features
Outtakes, Deleted Scenes, Uncut Scenes from the Movie, "Spring Training: The Extras Journey" Featurette, "The Making of Mr. 3000" Featurette, "Everybody Loves Stan" Featurette, Director Audio Commentary

Video
Widescreen (1.85:1)

Audio
DTS Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound

Subtitles
French, Spanish, Closed-Captioned

Release Date
February 1, 2005

Rating
PG-13

Length
103 mins.

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