DVD Reviews: Manchild Season One

"Impossibly stylish and charming", Manchild is the male answer to Sex and the City, however wickedly classy and charming as opposed to the crassness of the American version. Jessica Parker and Co. might have hit our screens first but these guys do it much better in my books.

They're a group of friends who have lived through most of life has to offer. Wives, divorced, kids, alimony, all debts are paid and these men now have their second lease on life. It's the way that they take this on that is truly a delight to behold. It's all about decadence and debauchery as these men try to recreate the glory days of their youth with fine clothes, great cars and very young women who are quite taken with them.

As time goes by and their hedonistic lifestyle goes on it's merry way, events present themselves in a way that raise uncomfortable questions to the guys. Is it really that fun pushing 50 and being single? It may not be, but it sure is fun watching them make that discovery for themselves.

There are seven episodes packed onto this wonderful DVD and although it is a dual layer disc, I could not detect the point that the layer change took place. The video transfer is excellent and is presented in widescreen format. Blacks are well presented as is most shadowing with little to no low level noise presenting itself during the disc. Audio was very good as well, although only in Dolby 2.0 which was all that was to be expected considering that it was filmed for television.

You may find yourself recognising a couple of the gents in the series, possibly the one with the most immediate recognition would be Anthony Head who plays the part of Giles in the very popular Buffy the Vampire Slayer series. Each of the seven episodes has a running time of about 28 minutes or so and makes for some great viewing.

The only shame with this disc is the absence of any extras. Yes that's right, there is nothing here other than the show itself, it might have been fun to see what the series producer, writer and director had to say about the series, either as a audio commentary or interviews.

I can say get this disc without any hesitation, as it truly brilliant and guaranteed to make you laugh out loud with it's cleverly written scripts and tightly delivered dialogue. Highly recommended.