Given his penchant for litigation, I wasn't sure that Tom Cruise would be cool with me re-posting this old DVD review, originally published upon the commercial release of the sixth season of Dawson's Creek. But no, Cruise was adamant — he wanted to get the word out as widely as possible. To wit, this effusive DVD review, transcribed by me, as told to me by Cruise:
"Being a globe-trotting movie star is great and all, what
with the pay, the fame, the free travel, the first-class accommodations and the
endless supply of other perks. But there’s another benefit, in that my schedule
allows me, Tom Cruise, plenty of time to catch up on the lives of my favorite,
smart-talking teens — Dawson Leery (lovably enormous-headed James Van Deer Beek), Jen
Lindley (gay cowboy lover Michelle Williams), Pacey Witter (fellow gay cowboy
lover
Joshua Jackson) and Joey Potter (future Oscar winner Katie Holmes).
For a
long time I was just TiVoing everything off of TBS like the rest of the world,
but recently technological advances have spawned things called DVDs, and now
Hollywood
studios are releasing films and entire seasons worth of television programs.
The best and most recent —
Dawson’s
Creek: The Complete Sixth Season!
The final year of genius creator Kevin Williamson’s amazing show is
chiefly one of roiling discontent, with broken hearts and interrupted dreams
causing major friction for the entire extended Bayside gang. (Thankfully, no
one seeks solace in the form of mind-altering psychotropic drugs or psychiatric
treatment — they instead rightfully indulge in pithy one-liners as a mechanism
of self-defense.) Dawson and Joey rekindle their romance, but that flame
quickly dies out when he reveals that he had a romance with an actress in
Los
Angeles — the same actress coming to
Boston
to star in Todd’s movie.
Speaking from experience, as I’ve been in a similar
situation, I can safely say that “the Beek” should just move on and let his
publicist and lawyers deal with the situation.
At any rate, Audrey (Meredith Monroe) helps Pacey get a job
through her father, and makes her singing debut with Emma’s band, but her inner
demons and addiction threaten to destroy everything. Hot up-and-coming band No
Doubt gets showcased in “Spiderwebs,” and in “Goodbye,
Yellow
Brick Road,” Pacey struggles to tell
Dawson
about a costly investment debacle, which reminds me of the time I had to tell
Nicole about the $5.5 million check I scratched the
Church
of Scientology for a special
endowment.
In the compelling “Sex and Violence,” meanwhile, Dawson
is tempted with an offer to make a film that he doesn’t really believe in,
which is exactly how I felt about Cocktail.
The two-hour series finale flashes forward five years into
the future.
Dawson is the creator
of a successful teen-centered television show (
The Creek!) and Joey is a book editor in
New
York City. Single mother Jen, meanwhile, having failed
to commit herself to Scientology, faces the biggest challenge of her life in
the form of an incurable congenital heart defect. What an ending!
All 23 episodes of
Dawson’s
Creek: The Complete Sixth Season are presented here in 1.33:1 widescreen
with an English language Dolby digital surround sound track. Optional subtitles
are available in only Portuguese and Spanish, so the rest of the world will
have to learn one of those three languages to indulge in the brilliance of this
four-disc set, presented in gatefold cardboard packaging that showcases
pictures of the entire
Dawson’s Creek
gang and a nice solo shot of a swinging Holmes. There’s also a great little
full-color scrapbook that features character biographies, a vast assortment of
promotional photographs, trivia (Simon and Schuster published 15 novels based
on the series!) and teleplay excerpts. Creator Williamson and Paul Stupin sit
for an audio commentary track on the finale.
My only complaint here is that
there’s not a pop-up collage or punch-out baby mobile of the beautiful Holmes.
Otherwise, this is clearly the best show in the history of small, talking
picture boxes, docked a half-grade only because Xenu doesn’t make a special
guest appearance."
A- (Show) B- (Disc) 
