Lady Bird is a 2017 American comedy-drama film that was written and directed by Greta Gerwig and stars Saorise Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts, Lucas Hedges, Timothee Chalamet, Beanie Feldstein, Stephen McKinley Henderson, and Lois Smith. Set in Sacramento, California in 2002, it is a coming-of-age story of a high-school senior and her turbulent relationship with her mother.

The film premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on September 1, 2017 and was released in the United States on November 3, 2017 by A24. Gerwig’s screenplay and direction and Ronan and Metcalf’s performances received praise, and the film ended up grossing $59 million against its $10 operating budget.

Lady Bird was chosen by the National Board of Review, the American Film Institute, and Time as one of the top 10 films of the year. At the 90th Academy Awards, it earned five nominations: Best Picture, Best Actress for Ronan, Best Supporting Actress for Metcalf, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Director. At the 75th Golden Globe Awards, it won the award for Best Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy and Best Actress — Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Ronan), and was nominated for two more. It was also nominated for three British Academy Film Awards.

The Film Itself (5/5):

I wasn’t completely sure of what to expect when watching Lady Bird. Having seen minimal advertising content for this film, and only knowing the fact that it was a coming of age film, I was looking forward to checking it out. With this film, we’re given an absolutely brilliant performance by Ronan as the stars as the titular character who is transitioning from the awkwardness of adolescence into adulthood as she continued to ultimately find herself. The performances of not only Ronan, but Metcalf and crew did an absolutely phenomenal job at portraying every minute detail of the story they set out to tell while throwing the occasional nod towards Gerwig’s hometown. As we progress through this film, we not only see the evolution and development of Christine (Lady Bird) McPherson, but her mother as well as she comes to terms with the fact that her daughter is growing up.

Picture Quality (5/5):

Available in the standard 1080p presentation, Lady Bird looked really beautiful as it played out across my living room television. Making sure to really capture the overall amount of feeling “grey” as an awkward teenager and the variety of struggles they go through as they work to really figure out who they are as a person. All while perfectly capturing the considerable amount of stress that her mother experiences because she really wants to do her thing, this film really really beautifully presented the story that it intended to. Offering no visual distortion that I could see, both my wife and I agreed that the picture was clean and clear and able to visually see and understand everything without having to add extra focus to understand what is going on.

Audio Quality (4.5/5):

Packaged with an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 audio track, Lady Bird sounded really great as it echoed through my home theater system. While the track isn’t as immersive as I would have really liked it to be, the movie at play doesn’t necessarily call for the use of the surround speakers or the elevation speakers. Cleanly presenting the dialogue, the film a nice handful of robust sequences that push those audio limits. Pieces like the school musical or teen party really stood out as my wife and I watched through this. Overall, everything about the track was clean and clear and offered no problems whatsoever.

The Packaging (3/5):

Lady Bird comes packaged in your standard two-disc Blu-ray amaray case. Within that case is the standard Blu-ray copy of the film as well as the standard DVD copy of the film. Neither of the discs feature any artwork that’s relative to the film and offer the standard release text and generic background to differentiate the two discs apart from each other. A digital copy redemption pamphlet has been included so you can add the movie to your digital library, as well as a slipcover that’s been made available during the initial pressing that features the same piece of art that’s featured on the case art.

Special Features (3/5):

While the Blu-ray release of Lady Bird doesn’t necessarily come packed with a lot of supplemental content, the features that have been included do offer an extended look into the film at hand. The content that is provided doesn’t really show much in terms of the experiences that the cast and crew had in making this film; however, I found the content to be decently done. Included with this release is:

Feature Audio Commentary With Writer – Director Greta Gerwig And Cinematographer Sam Levy

Realizing Lady Bird Featurette

Technical Specs:

Video

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC

Resolution: 1080p

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Original Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Audio

English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1

Subtitles

English SDH, Spanish

Runtime

Original Film: 93 minutes

Final Thoughts:

Overall, I’m really glad that we were given the opportunity to check out Lady Bird. This particular movie is one that I really wouldn’t have checked out on my own and since its arrival to my doorstep, I was given a beautifully presented coming of age story. The performances of all that were involved were beautifully done and the film really did a great job at capturing that overall awkwardness that everyone goes through as they’re trying to discover who they really are. The picture and audio quality of the Blu-ray were really nicely done and offered a really clean view into the story that’s being presented, and I really couldn’t have asked for much more on that horizon. While the special features are pretty barebones, the content that has been provided offers a nice look into the film at hand. If you’re on fence about checking this film out, I’d definitely recommend giving it a shot. It’s not a film that will be for everyone, so if you have the chance to rent it or borrow it from a friend beforehand, definitely do that. Lady Bird came out onto Blu-ray and DVD on Tuesday, March 6, 2018.

Note: This Blu-ray was sent to us for review. This has not affected our judgement or editorial process in any way. Please contact us if you have any questions regarding this process.