NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (June 2021): Kino Lorber now brings Bryan Gordon's Career Opportunities to Blu-ray, on a new single-layered disc. The film's 2.35:1 1080p image boasts a completely maxed-out bitrate, which benefits the image while in motion. No further information is given regarding the source material used for this transfer, and given the somewhat digital look of the presentation, one can assume that this is not, say, a 2K or 4K master from the original camera negative, and is more likely a digital master. There is a bit of digital noise, and when shots are not static, there is some bleeding of fine details which comes across as fuzzy with some halo effects. Caveats aside, when the camera is still, some fine details can be discerned, although colors still seem to bleed a bit. In short, this is not the finest Blu-ray transfer but surely miles ahead of any previous SD DVD representation of the film.

Kino's Blu-ray of Career Opportunities sports a 16-bit 2.0 DTS-HD Master audio track. Not much to say here other than the dialogue is clear and intelligible and the music sounds fine. Nothing too dynamic, and there isn't any audible distortion. Thomas Newman (Erik Brockovich, In the Bedroom, American Beauty, Shawshank Redemption) is responsible for the film's score, while the film's soundtrack features a cornucopia of sampling from I Wanna Stay Home performed by Jellyfish, Lawrence Welk's Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, The Jeopardy! Theme, Ennio Morricone's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly theme, Johnny Clegg's Cruel, Crazy, Beautiful World, Where Are You Baby performed by Betty Boo and more late 80's / early 90's one-hit-wonders. There are optional English subtitles on this Region 'A' Blu-ray from Kino Lorber.

The main bonus feature on Kino's new Blu-ray of Career Opportunities is a new audio commentary from Chicago Critics Film Festival producer Erik Childress. Right off the bat, I was fascinated by Childress's rather honest takes on the behind-the-scenes curiosities regarding this production (not to mention its release and distribution). Childress is not afraid to go into details regarding John Hughes' disowning of his project (Hughes wrote the screenplay and apparently even re-shot some scenes due to the film being a mess, though these scenes likely never saw the light of day). Also of note, Childress talks of the film's curious lack of scenes in the trailer, as well as the pretty abridged running time (surely a lot of tinkering and cutting was done behind many of the film's creators' backs). Even still, Career Opportunities is an enjoyable picture, and only really falls apart when you juxtapose the film against the backdrop of Hughes' pretty successful canon. Childress also speaks of the film being shot in 1989 and not being released until 1991, suspiciously after the wild success of John Hughes' "Home Alone". Also of interest is learning about director Bryan Gordon's early success (Academy Award short film winner) and his later TV-directing fame (Gordon worked on 'The Office', and many episodes of 'Curb Your Enthusiasm'). Speaking of TV, Childress makes the astute comparison of Frank Whaley's character and Aziz Ansari's character Tom on TV's 'Parks and Recreation'. A highly informative and fun commentary track, surely benefiting from Childress's having no direct links to the film himself. Also on Kino's Blu-ray is the film's trailer (featuring the Fine Young Cannibals track "She Drives Me Crazy".) Some other trailers round out the extras on this Blu-ray from Kino Lorber.

I have fond memories of Career Opportunities, the film being something of a cable TV staple in the mid 90's. Kino Lorber's Blu-ray features a decent 1080P presentation, and a fabulous audio commentary. Recommended to John Hughes, and Jennifer Connelly, fans.

Colin Zavitz