Blu-ray Movie Reviews

At first glance, Ray Drecker seems like an ordinary divorced dad who's facing tough times and trying to make ends meet. But Ray's got one extraordinary, God-given gift - call it his 'winning tool' - that sets him apart from other underpaid high-school teachers. With a little help from an unlikely business ally named Tanya, Ray is about to hatch an inspired plan to ride his winning tool all the way to a more productive, debt-free life.

As far as odd premises go, this one takes the cake. We’re so used to seeing the business end of prostitution from the female end but HBO brings a new side with their series Hung. The story revolves around a down on his luck gym teacher whose only real talent is his large manhood. After his house catches fire he decides to take out an ad and become a gigalo to earn some extra cash. With the help of a rather flakey poetry teacher he turns the business into a happiness consulting firm (read escort service) and starts getting his life back. The show has some truly funny moments but isn’t as provocative as one might expect from the show’s obvious themes. The characters are also quite good, but the show isn’t quite as engaging as some of HBO’s more popular series.

The Blu-ray presentation looks good but isn’t what I would necessarily call eye candy. Detail is solid and colors are very natural but the image can turn a bit flat at times and lacks some of the visual polish of some of HBO’s other productions. The audio side is delivered in DTS-HD Master Audio and delivers the textbook soundtrack with aplomb, but the soundtrack can be on the boring side aside from the quirky musical selections.

Extras include a look at the production with interviews and behind the scenes footage. You also get some funny personal ads and some feature commentaries on key episodes.

I enjoyed the first season of Hung enough to recommend it but it isn’t the out of the park hit that HBO seems to be known for. The Blu-ray does a decent job with the presentation but don’t expect too many oohs and aahs from this rather textbook production.