4K UHD Review: Kino Lorber’s Career Opportunities (Special Edition)

John Hughes underseen gem Career Opportunities has Frank Whaley and Jennifer Connely finding love and criminals after hours at a Target.  The Kino Lorber 4K UHD is filled with special features a new 4K restoration. 

 

The Film 

Career Opportunities is the kind of film that could have only been made in the early 1990s.  Written and produced by John Hughes has that sort of boy meets girl fairy tale that could only happen in movies of the era.  A purely cinematic tale of a constantly blustering kid played by Frank Whaley who gets his shot at the girl of his dreams in Jennifer Connelly.  Add in a bit of danger in the final third act and you have a spiritual cousin to Home Alone set at Target for lost twentysomethings. 

We’ve all known or been Jim Dodge (Whaley) at one point in our early adulthood.  Recklessly stuck in arrested development, a constant outlandish tall tale teller who even pre-teen kids laugh at.  Jim is looking like Llyod Dobbler for that “dare to be great” situation in whatever form it takes.  Unfortunately, Jim has lost all of the jobs post-high school forcing his parents’ lands getting him a job as the night janitor at Target.  Fate would have it that Jim may get to shoot his shot in the form of equally reckless (but in a different way) Josie McClellan (Connelly).  Josie who acts out against her rich father any chance she gets is stuck in the Target with Jim after her scheme to get caught stealing at the store runs afoul.  These two opposites do as opposite do and seem to find themselves attracted to each other’s unique energy.  It would be all a happy ending if it weren’t for the bumbling but violent criminal duo (real life brothers Dermot and Kieran Mulroney) that have found their way into the store.  

The infantile boyhood fantasy of Career Opportunities shouldn’t work at all.  In spite of the cliché filled Hughes script the film works, adept at taking its concept and succeeding.   It’s the work of Frank Whaley and Jennifer Connelly that pushes the film beyond its deficiencies.  Whaley and Connelly have chemistry to spare.  Not in that “meet cute” but beyond that finding a rhythm that pushes one another.  Both are better when they’re playing off one another.  Not just in the cute “I’m attracted to you” but in the moments that they are to be challenging one another and their viewpoints on life.  Hughes always had a knack for youthful dialog that feels both earnest and jaded in the right mixture.  Here the dialog sings from Whaley and Connelly bringing out the truth in these moments.  

The action comedy third act does feel out of place, but Whaley and Connelly combined with the manic weird energy of Dermot and Kieran Mulroney make it work.  Just don’t look too hard or try to figure out the logic of it all.  Career Opportunities is not that kind of film.  It’s a movie the takes place in the same universe as Hughes’ scripted Home Alone.  Where an eight-year-old hand a pair of career criminals their asses on Christmas Eve.  If you take that into consideration, Career Opportunities makes all the sense in the world.  Who knows maybe Jim is Kevin McAlister’s cousin?  In a Hughes Scripted film and universe anything is possible.  

 

The Transfer

The all-new HDR/Dolby Vision Master – From a 4K Scan of the 35mm Original Camera Negative is another excellent upgrade in picture from Kino Lorber.  The film was released by Kino in 2021 on Blu-ray – though that transfer was sourced from an older transfer.  That 2021 disc didn’t look it was sharp and clean all-around solid experience. This newly scanned transfer on the 4K UHD disc marvelous in every way you expect a 35mm shot film to look in 4K.  The comparison between the two shows the quantitative jump in resolution and quality.  The widescreen shot film is positively luminous and gritty in equal measure.  The way the transfer handles the various locations and lighting within the Target (the primary location of the film) is an excellent example of UHD quality.  There isn’t a blemish, scratch or fleck of dirt on the transfer.  The grain structure, the clarity, the color are all perfectly balanced giving us another excellent 4K upgrade from Kino Lorber.  

The Extras

They include the following;

DISC 1 (4KUHD): 

• Audio Commentary by Director Bryan Gordon
• Audio Commentary by Chicago Critics Film Festival Producer Erik Childress

DISC 2 (BLU-RAY): 

• Audio Commentary by Director Bryan Gordon
• Audio Commentary by Chicago Critics Film Festival Producer Erik Childress
• Crafting Criminals: Interview with Actors Dermot and Kieran Mulroney (15:52)
• Interior. Night.: Director of Photography Donald McAlpine on filming Career Opportunities (10:43)
• Theatrical Trailer

The first of two Audio Commentaries by Director Bryan Gordon hosted by Critic/Filmmaker Gillian Wallace Horvat.  Horvat and Gordon begins the track with the opening which was shot after the main production – something that the studio wanted to change.  Some of the details include the opening credits designed by Pablo Ferro – and the process of getting him and working with him on the credits; Gordon growing up in a small town; how he approached shooting coverage and directing dialog scenes – like the dinner scene; the John Candy cameo – and working with the star; Gordon’s early career in the theater – eventually transitioning over to writing and moving to Los Angeles; working with Frank Whaley; the casting what-if’s of other performers that auditioned for the Jim; the specific look and the widescreen photography by Don McAlpine – including how he came to hire him and the visual references in and outside Hughes visual world; working with and casting of Jennifer Connelly – how she differs from the usual Hughes Leading Lady; the casting what-if’s for Josie; how his Academy Award winning short Ray’s Male Heterosexual Dance Hall led to Career Opportunities; why Target was initially chosen – the difficulties they had during the production with the store; the troubles with the script and the work done to help it – and Gordon’s honest assessment of the faults of the film;  discussions about the various actors that appear in the film throughout; and much more.  

The second Audio Commentary is by Chicago Critics Film Festival Producer Erik Childress begins with his bonafides and discussing producer/writer John Hughes and where he was in his career when this film was made and how Bryan Gordon became attached as director of the film.  Some of the details include the initial production of the film – including Hughes reshooting of the film, the mystery of the post-production, and his fight with the studio; Childress’s impressions of the film the first time; a discussion of the soundtrack here and in other Hughes films and their importance; the work here and career of John Candy; a discussion of some of the darker themes that the film implied in the film; the filming locations in Monroe, Georgia – including the importance of this; the career of and the appearance of here of William Forsythe; how shooting was dictated by Target allowing them only to shoot at nights; a larger discussion of the various needle drops/musical cues that appear in the film; a larger discussion of deleted scenes that appeared in the film’s trailer but not in the film; a larger discussion of the various actors appear in the film; and much more.  

Crafting Criminals: Interview with Actors Dermot and Kieran Mulroney (15:52) – filmed together Dermont and Kieran Mulroney begin with a great bet they made with each other.  The highly entertaining interview discuss their early life in high school theater, their family support of their artistic endeavors, and much more.  The brothers discuss early life in Los Angeles, how they eventually were cast in Career Opportunities – in an odd turn of events; working on the film and specifically the collaboration with director Bryan Gordon; some of the details they brought to the characters – including a great story about the unibrow that Dermot had; the directorial style of Gordon and the freewheeling nature of the set; the iconic Jennifer Connley mechanical horse scene and how improvisions came out of it; and more.  

Interior. Night.: Director of Photography Donald McAlpine on filming Career Opportunities (10:43) – McAlpine discusses his origins as a Physics Teacher in Australia led to this career in Cinematography.  Some of the other details include how he shot half of the Australian films during the new wave; those films and three of them being released back-to-back led to getting Paul Mazursky’s The Tempest; his reputation as being a great cinematographer working with first time directors – which led to getting Career Opportunities; how he approaches working and collaborating with both experienced directors and first time directors; details of the actual production and schedule itself – the prep and shoot itself; problems shooting in one location over six weeks; and more. 

Rounding out the special features are trailers for Career Opportunities (2:15); Uncle Buck (1:59); Some Girls (2:13); The Hot Spot (1:49) 

 

The Final Thought 

Career Opportunities is one of the truly criminally underseen comedies of the early 90s.  Kino Lorber’s 4K UHD release should correct this.  Recommended!!! 

Kino Lorber’s 4K UHD Edition of Career Opportunities is out April 22^nd