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Submitted by SHNS on Mon, 02/25/2008 - 14:27

(SOME GIRLS. 1988. RATED R. MGM HOME VIDEO. $14.98)This frothy 1988 romantic comedy is finally out on DVD, no doubt to capitalize on the 21st century success of its two stars, Patrick Dempsey ("Grey's Anatomy's" McDreamy) and Oscar winner Jennifer Connelly ("A Beautiful Mind").Dempsey plays Michael, a young man who is preparing for "the best week of my life" after his beautiful girlfriend, Gabby (Connelly), invites him to spend Christmas with her family in Quebec. But that's before he meets the D'Arc clan, headed by Gabby's writer father (Andre Gregory of "My Dinner With Andre"), who mostly wanders around nude, and including a houseful of "girls."Michael gets a frosty reception from Gabby's mom, is hit on by her two sisters and develops an odd relationship with her grandmother, who mistakes him for her dead husband of years ago. There's not much use trying to make sense of the story, but the characters are oddly appealing, and it is kind of fun to watch McDreamy looking more like McSkinny, with his Art Garfunkel hair, and Connelly, at just 18, looking so cherubic and rosy cheeked. Directed by Michael Hoffman and produced by none other than Robert Redford. No extras to speak of. -- SUE ADOLPHSON(JACKIE GLEASON: GENIUS AT WORK. 2007. NOT RATED. MPI HOME VIDEO. $19.98)"Jackie Gleason: Genius at Work" is far from the best Gleason DVD available, but anything that features the work of "The Great One" is worth an hour of one's time.Comedy's TV pioneers all influenced the evolution of the medium, but perhaps none bridged the vaudeville and television eras as well as Gleason. Narrated by Jeff Garlin, "Genius at Work" looks narrowly at Gleason's CBS variety show, and while it acknowledges the contributions of cast members Art Carney and Audrey Meadows, the spotlight is primarily on Gleason's characters, including bus driver Ralph Kramden; wealthy, sloshed playboy Reggie Van Gleason; the aptly named Poor Soul; and Joe the Bartender, who recycled old vaudeville jokes to an unseen and unheard customer.Gleason's comedy was classic, and it was very physical. Slapstick was the basis of much of the humor, and, given Gleason's girth, there were lots of fat jokes, or, more to the point, wisecracks from Carney and Meadows. The important elements of Gleason's contributions to TV were, first, that he celebrated the comic traditions of Hollywood and the vaudeville stage; second, that his characters were blue-collar everymen; and, most of all, despite all the shouting and insults, the sketches were all based in genuine affection.Some of the great Gleason bits are here, and his widow, Marilyn Taylor Gleason, and Garlin provide nice commentary, but for those who really know Gleason's work, "Genius" is a mere canape. -- DAVID WIEGAND("IT'S EASIER FOR A CAMEL. 2003. NOT RATED. NEW YORKER VIDEO. $19.95)This French film is the kind of personal film our cinema could use more of. It stars Valeria Bruni Tedeschi ("5 X 2"), who was born in Italy to a wealthy industrialist family. During the leftist terrorist scares of the late 1970s, her family moved to France, where she made a substantial career for herself as a pensive, gentle leading lady. For this 2003 labor of love, she wrote, directed and starred. It's a semiautobiographical story about a rich family from Italy that goes to France, etc. The main difference between fact and fiction is that the lead character, Federica (Bruni Tedeschi), is not an internationally respected film star.The film's one substantial flaw is in its depiction of Federica. Tedeschi falls into the familiar writer's trap of making her own alter ego bland, sweet and innocuous. But everything else is quite good. It is, first of all, a glimpse into a world that is, alas, alien to most of us -- fabulous wealth, in which people need never concern themselves with making a living or having a career. The result is that the characters drift in a state of boredom, dissatisfaction and spiritual lethargy -- a tendency that Federica does her best to fight. The family scenes are in Italian, and the rest is in French. Despite the blandness of the lead character, Tedeschi's lovely, awkward humanity comes through. -- MICK LASALLE(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)