Rent 'Closer' for film, not features

"Closer" is easily director Mike Nichols' best film since he won an Oscar for "The Graduate." And it is a surprisingly good first feature-length effort by writer Patrick Marber, who also wrote the play that this film is based on. All four of the main actors do a wonderful job. In fact, Natalie Portman and Clive Owen each nabbed a Golden Globe for their work on this film. It is an original love story with tons of lust, betrayal and sex to keep you interested, balanced out by touching dialogue that makes you actually care about the main characters. Overall, this is one of the best films that came out in 2004.\nThat being said, the makers of "Closer" really dropped the ball when they released this DVD. If you are looking for special features, look elsewhere. There is no director commentary, deleted scenes, making-of featurette or any of the other things that make us DVD fanatics squeal with delight. The only special feature on this DVD is a music video of Damien Rice's "The Blower's Daughter." Other than that, the best you can find is previews for "Guess Who" and Spanish subtitles in case you want to know how to say, "Feel free to call me the Sultan" in Spanish, and who doesn't? (Tu puede llamarme el Sultán!)\nDespite its special feature shortcomings, "Closer" is still worth renting or even buying because the film is so well done. Just don't expect to be impressed with the DVD extras or lack thereof.