Overboard: 2K Restoration

Endlessly quotable and highly entertaining, a comedy classic has returned to us!

A rags to riches story disguised as a romantic comedy?  Who doesn’t love that idea?!  No one.  It was all the rage in the 1980s, which is why Overboard - a romantic comedy which breezes through some pretty heinous ideas involving women and their place in the home - splashed its way onto everyone’s favorite list back in the day.  Severin Films, presenting the original film (and not the remake) with a brand-new 2K scan, has every reason in the world to smile with their release of this Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell classic.

"hysterically on-point with its comedy and winds up being a movie that falls in step with anything directed by Frank Capra"


With a brightly-lit and crisp new transfer, Overboard bursts onto the screen with an effervescent ease that comes along with the direction of Garry Marshall (Pretty Woman, The Princess Diaries), who keeps things quick, lighthearted, and consistently funny.  They say opposites attract, but - in this yarn in the decade of Dangerfield - we get a reversal of sorts as the demanding socialite becomes a working-class slave for a widowed carpenter.

Hawn, playing the snobbish and wealthy Joanna Stayton, is a woman of leisure on board her yacht.  Her husband, Grant (Edward Herrmann), doesn’t particularly like her, so - after harassing Dean (Kurt Russell) for putting in a closet of oak and not cedar in the yacht - when she falls off their yacht and suffers amnesia, he’s in no rush to come to her rescue.

But Dean does and decides, because she still owes him $300, to make her his slave and invents their relationship for her to assume is her history.  Dean is a widowed father of four rambunctious kids.  He doesn’t believe in discipline, so when Joanna becomes his “wife”, it is up to her to straighten the kids up and tend to the duties in the house.Overboard: 2K Restoration

Suddenly, this spoiled socialite finds herself as a sweating working-class mother of four . . . or is it five?  Because Dean, acting like an adult child himself, never runs out of things for her to do and it is all because he’s trying to teach this woman - who can’t remember her identity - a lesson.

Co-starring Roddy McDowell as Joanna's long-suffering butler (who also serves as executive producer) and Michael Hagerty as Dean’s best friend, Overboard is hysterically on-point with its comedy and winds up being a movie that falls in step with anything directed by Frank Capra as our two heroes learn valuable lessons about stations in life and seasons of love. Written by Leslie Dixon (Mrs. Doubtfire), the film hits all the right notes and definitely - in the decades since its release - has not drowned at cinematic sea.

Don’t get caught adrift!  Overboard, also slipcovered, arrives with a new 2K scan thanks to Severin Films.

5/5 stars

 

Overboard: 2K Restoration

Blu-ray Details

Home Video Distributor: Severin Films
Available on Blu-ray
- August 24, 2019
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles
: English SDH
Audio:
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0; French: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0; Spanish: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
Discs: Blu-ray Disc; single disc
Region Encoding: Locked to Region A

Get ready to fall in love all over again with one of the most popular romantic comedies of our time: Oscar-winner Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell star in this riches-to-rags love story about a snobby yacht-owning socialite (Goldie) whose accidental amnesia presents the perfect opportunity for a widowed local carpenter (Russell) to convince her she’s his wife and mother to his four out-of-control kids. Edward Herrmann (Annie), Katherine Helmond (Time Bandits) and Roddy McDowall (Planet of the Apes) co-star in the 24-carat Goldie & Kurt classic from director Garry Marshall (Pretty Woman) and screenwriter Leslie Dixon (Mrs. Doubtfire), now scanned in 2K for the first time ever.

Video:

Framed in a vibrant 1.85:1 aspect ratio, Overboard is both bright in the interiors and crisp when it comes to its Oregon locations.  Thanks to the new 2K scan, the film, both at sea and on land, looks fantastic in giving the film a clean look without sacrificing the grain. The contrast and colors are restored to pump up the original “woodsy”palette of the film, and the sparkling elements of Joanna’s former life - including her revealing bathing suits - really seem to pop out wonderfully. Overall, this is probably a perfect transfer and the best version of the film we will ever see.

Audio:

A sparkling DTS-HD stereo track, which highlights Randy Newman’s "Something Special" song, accompanies the film.

Supplements:

Commentary:

  • None

Special Features:

Severin gives fans an interview with Leslie Dixon and a trailer.  The real draw to this release, though, has to be the brand-new 2K scan.

  • Interview with Screenwriter Leslie Dixon
  • Trailer

Blu-ray Rating

  Movie 5/5 stars
  Video  5/5 stars
  Audio 4/5 stars
  Extras 3/5 stars

Composite Blu-ray Grade

4.5/5 stars


Film Details

Overboard: 2K Restoration

MPAA Rating: PG.
Runtime:
112 mins
Director
: Gary Marshall
Writer:
Leslie Dixon
Cast:
Goldie Hawn; Kurt Russell; Edward Herrmann
Genre
: Comedy
Tagline:
From opulence... to rags... to love.
Memorable Movie Quote: "Tell me something about my life, Dean, something not horrible."
Theatrical Distributor:
MGM
Official Site:
Release Date:
December 16, 1987
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
August 24, 2021.
Synopsis: Get ready to fall in love all over again with one of the most popular romantic comedies of our time: Oscar®-winner Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell star in this riches-to-rags love story about a snobby yacht-owning socialite (Goldie) whose accidental amnesia presents the perfect opportunity for a widowed local carpenter (Russell) to convince her she's his wife and mother to his four out-of-control kids.

Art

Overboard: 2K Restoration