New On DVD: ‘Date Night’ and ‘Death at a Funeral’

Date Night

20th Century Fox, $29.98; Blu-ray, $39.99

Maybe Steve Carell and Tina Fey treat movies as a vacation from their more creative TV work, or maybe “Date Night” director-producer Shawn Levy kept them on too short a leash, but whatever the reason, this action- comedy often feels like a wasted opportunity. Carell and Fey make a likable married couple, and Levy gets a lot of comic mileage out of the two of them shaking up their dull routine by heading into the city for dinner. But then the twosome get mistaken for criminals, multiple chases ensue and the movie sputters, with too little of the Carell-Fey wisecracking that makes the first hour so fun. Still, half of an inspired comedy is better than nothing. The DVD contains a Levy commentary track, behind-the-scenes featurettes, a gag reel and a minute-and-a-half of alternate takes; the Blu-ray adds even more deleted scenes.

Death at a Funeral

Sony, $28.95; Blu-ray, $34.95

There’s a lot about “Death at a Funeral” that doesn’t make sense. Why would once-edgy playwright-filmmaker Neil LaBute and brilliant comedian Chris Rock collaborate on a near-exact remake of a popular British film that’s only 3 years old? Truth be told, anyone eager to see a farcical comedy about a dysfunctional family burying their patriarch is better off sticking with the original, which had a wryness that doesn’t survive the transition from the U.K. to the U.S. Still, it’s worth taking a look at the new “Death at a Funeral” DVD or Blu-ray if only to hear LaBute and Rock’s chummy commentary track, or to see the featurettes and outtakes that show all concerned having a grand time making a movie that isn’t much fun to watch.

The Joneses

20th Century Fox, $29.99; Blu-ray, $27.98

Derrick Borte’s debut feature stars David Duchovny and Demi Moore as the heads of a fake family, strategically placed in an affluent suburban neighborhood and supplied with cutting-edge luxury items so that they can subtly market them to their new friends. There’s so much story potential in this idea that it might’ve been better-suited to a TV series; as it is, Borte has to rely on a lot of montages and big speeches to get his point across. But there’s still a lot to like about the film, including a keen Duchovny performance and a smart exploration of the various ways that we’re all selling to each other, all the time. The DVD and Blu-ray add only two lengthy deleted scenes.

Max Headroom: The Complete Series

Shout! Factory, $49.97

Max Headroom was such a ubiquitous character in the mid-’80s — in commercials, on MTV, on late-night talk shows, etc. — that the short-lived ABC TV series has almost become a footnote. Maybe Shout! Factory’s well-assembled collection of the show’s full 14-episode run will correct that. A bonus disc with hours of interviews puts “Max Headroom” into proper context, explaining how what began as a snippy satire of media banality evolved into a dense sci-fi universe in which the TV networks run the government while one daring investigative journalist seeks to expose the truth. The show has more ideas than it knows what to do with, but its innovative use of computer animation and its insights into how the media controls the public conversation are bracing even now.

And...

“Letters to God” (Possibility, $24.95)

“Multiple Sarcasms” (Image, $27.98; Blu-ray, $29.98)

“My Name Is Khan” (20th Century Fox, $27.98)

“Tapped” (Disinformation, $19.98)

“The Thorn in the Heart” (Oscilloscope, $29.99)

“Titan Maximum: Season One” (Cartoon Network, $19.98)

“Trauma: Season One” (Universal, $39.98)