I don’t know whether 20th Century Fox planned to release an unrated version of “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” to coincide with the birth of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s baby, but the tabloid gods seem to be smiling on them right now.

Just in time for the release of little Shiloh Nouvel’s pictures (sold for $4.1 million to People magazine), you can pick up “Mr. & Mrs. Smith: Unrated” at your local video store.

It’s not really that odd releasing this so close to the initial November release of the theatrical cut on DVD. Studios do this quite often. What you get with this new double-disc set is a new version of the film. Director Doug Liman offers a new commentary track to the film and explains the purpose of the new cut.

Since Brad and Angie were getting so much press leading up to the release of “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” and because of the Bennifer fiasco a couple years before, the studio was understandably nervous of advanced screenings that could harm the film’s performance. So, Liman was unable to do an effective testing of the film on clean audiences.

He ended up releasing a cut of the movie that was safer, from the studio’s angle, and didn’t give him everything he wanted. Now, he’s got his chance to add scenes as well as delete them from the final cut. Much of the unrated content is rather mundane. The biggest changes are longer, more drawn out marriage irritations between the Smiths. Nothing that sexy, but funny from that independently-minded Doug Liman angle.

Of course, the big fight scene is extended, as well as the sex scene. (Sorry guys, no big nude scenes, just a little more erotic shots.) Liman explains in his commentary that he was on probation with that scene and likely to lose the coveted PG-13 rating if he made any changes before release last summer. Now you can see the slightly more violent and slightly more sexy scene.

However, the best parts of this DVD set isn’t the new version of the movie. It’s the extra features that come on the second disc. All the deleted scenes from the previous release were reinstated into the film, but we have a new list of a dozen or so deleted scenes (including an alternate ending) to watch.

There’s also a lengthy behind-the-scenes documentary of the making of the film as well as several image galleries.

The most interesting part of this DVD is “Doug’s Film School.” DVD fans will recognize this as a bit of a knock-off title from the Robert Rodriguez DVDs, but it’s entirely different in form. Where Rodriguez gives various tips on how to do things yourself on independent and studio features, Liman takes you through the grind of making a major motion picture.

Liman explains how scenes are changed, why they are changed and how things are reworked, sometimes in the middle of production. It’s an eye-opening view of how much harder it is to make a movie like this than his classic indie hit “Swingers.” This DVD film school isn’t necessarily applicable to making your own home-grown film, but it busts up some of the rose-colored visions of working on the big studio picture.

Ultimately, this DVD is Doug Liman’s all the way. Brad and Angie just are pictured on the cover. It shows the real spark behind this movie was Liman, and it gives a new insight into his difficult job.

It’s not surprising the guy looks so exhausted in interviews.



Specifications: Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound. Widescreen (2.35:1). French and Spanish language track. Spanish subtitles. English language subtitles for the hearing impaired.