Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Complete Fourth Season
HBO Home Video
Cast: Larry David, Jeff Garlin, Cheryl Hines
Extras:
Rating:
Often tongue-in-cheek, Larry David (co-creator of Seinfeld) never ceases to amaze me at the amount humor he can load into any given situation, thanks in part to his say and do whatever he wants attitude, in the award-winning HBO comedy series "Curb your Enthusiasm."
I have to admit that I am a fan of Larry David and the writing behind this mockumentary-style series. Always managing to embarrass – even offend – the individuals within his company, anyone from his wife Cheryl (Cheryl Hines) and his manager Jeff (Jeff Garlin), to his many famous friends like Ted Danson, Richard Lewis and Wanda Sykes. Stumbling through situations in an almost child-like manner, (sometimes you just want to grab Larry and give him a shake!), but still maintaining smart and genuine comedy, "Curb your Enthusiasm" is a worthy extension to the humor that Larry David brought us with "Seinfeld". The fourth season continues to add guest celebrity appearances from; Ben Stiller, Mel Brooks, David Schwimmer and Gina Gershon, to name a few.
HBO brings the complete fourth season of "Curb your Enthusiasm" to DVD in the same fashion as the last three complete seasons, displayed in their original aspect ratio of 4:3 full-frame. The transfer is nice and clean in its presentation, but I should point out that because this series is shot using digital beta, the transfer does tend to suffer minor video issues from the source material, like aliasing and a slight addition of grain, but for the most part remain minor. Blacks are rich in depth and colors always seem to have just the right amount of saturation, providing the overall presentation with natural appearing flesh tones.
Soundtracks for "Curb your Enthusiasm" are presented in either English or French 2.0 stereo and do manage to offer a nicely balanced soundstage. Given that the material is mainly dialogue driven, there is really no need to have the sound presented any other way. The sound-mix provided a smooth and natural reproduction of the vocals with a good harmony of the other sound elements present.
Unfortunately for fans of the show, there is nothing included in the way of extras, which is a bit disappointing. I'm not going to bash HBO for their decision here, as sometimes there really isn't anything to offer in the way of prepared extras, but I would have thoroughly enjoyed the inclusion of a least one commentary from Larry David on at least one episode.
Packaged the same way as the previous three seasons, HBO continues to come up with creative presentations for their DVDs, and this series is no exception. Available in a cardboard case that, when the front cover is opened, exposes a "pull" tab at the bottom. When fully extended, the package has two digi-pack style trays that slide out, one from the top and one from the bottom, exposing the two discs that make up the complete season, very cool indeed!
