Well, it's been an arduous several months without them, but it looks like those fine folks at Synapse have finally decided to return from hibernation and get back to doing what they do best: presenting the public with high quality releases of independent and cult movies. Despite the fact that Lawrence's Entrails reviews (review here and here) were both up first, today's Synapse-related topic of discussion, The Deli, is actually the film with which Synapse chose to return. As such, it's an appropriately fine package, so let's take a moment to examine in more detail Synapse's re-entry into the world of cult DVD distribution.

The Deli takes place largely in the Amico delicatessen, which is owned by the Amico family, which consists of a son - Johnny (Mike Starr) - and his troll-like mother (Judith Malina). The deli's hired help consists of the handsome young Andy (Matt Keeslar of Waiting for Guffman) and Pinky (Brian Vincent), a strange young man who seems to be a few inches short of a footlong (sandwich, folks - this isn't Bacchanales Sexuelles review here). Johnny, it seems, has a great trust in Pinky's ability to pick winners in various sporting events, despite the fact that absolutely none of Pinky's predictions lend credence to this notion. To make matters worse, Johnny has developed the very bad habit of financing his addiction with the ten dollars his mother gives him to play for her in the mafia lotto.

Of course, whenever gambling appears in a movie, problems cannot be far behind. Johnny gets a little too zealous with his betting, and soon finds himself in a good deal of debt to local mob boss Tommy Tomatoes. To add insult to injury, some of the money he used to make the bet was, as usual, his mother's and unfortunately, this is the week that her number has come in. Now Johnny has one week to make enough money both to pay off his gambling debts and to get his mother her lotto winnings so she will be none-the-wiser as to his indiscretions with her gambling funds. And how will he obtain this money and get himself out of this mess? The same way he got into it! Johnny places his remaining funds on one final, end-all be-all bet with mobster Petey Cheesecake (Jerry Stiller, in a nice cameo) in hopes that he will strike a lucky break; if he loses, the deli becomes Petey's. Will Johnny win this long-shot bet and dig himself out of the hole he's stuck in? Does his deli stock cold cuts?

So what do Pinky and Andy have to do with all of this? Not all that much, actually. Indeed, there are a lot of characters that don't have very much purpose in relation to the plot, though that comes with the territory in 'slice-of-life' movies. Personally, I like it when films are willing to go off on a bit of a tangent and expand upon various supporting characters and locations, so I actually found this appealing. Broadening the personages of the various supporting roles truly does serve to give The Deli a wider scope, and this made it at least for me, more interesting to watch.

In the interest of fleshing out this cast as adeptly as possible, the creators of The Deli have managed to put together a surprisingly elaborate and prestigious supporting cast that is definitely worth noting. Among the various notable supporting actors are Michael Imperioli from The Sopranos rapper Ice-T; Willian McNamara (do you recognize him as Christina Marsillach's ill-fated bed-partner in Opera?); the wonderful Heather Matarazzo from Welcome to the Dollhouse; and Debi Mazar, who plays the girlfriend of mobster Tommy Tomatoes and sports hairdos that look less like fashion statements and more like affronts to humanity.

All of this talent definitely helps to give The Deli a very polished feel, and this is further aided by the film's professional production, which helps to give it even more class and make it, on the whole, a fun and entertaining experience. Of course, a good deal of credit is also due to the fine folks at Synapse, who have done another wonderful job with this release. The image quality of The Deli is quite good: the film bears few if any signs of age and looks, overall, very nice in its 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer.

Synapse appears to have done its best in the extras department, even if they are a little light. Starting things off are liner notes comprised of three pieces written by director John Gallagher, all of which are quite interesting. Synapse seems to be one of the few companies that still bother including liner notes with most of their DVD releases, and I wish more firms would follow their lead, as I almost always enjoy the notes on Synapse releases.

As for the disc itself, two features are included: deleted scenes and a commentary track with director John Gallagher, Brian Vincent (Pinky), and producer John Dorrian. Sadly, both of these features are a bit of a letdown. The 15 minutes of deleted scenes are, for the most part, largely expendable and not all that interesting. The commentary is similarly, rather lackluster: while the three participants offer a few amusing anecdotes, the track is mostly comprised of rather bland observations about various characters and descriptions of the careers of different stars doing cameos. I suppose it's worth a listen if you're a big fan of the film, but in the end it's not all that compelling. Still, I give Synapse credit for the attempt and I think it's good that they as usual, included everything they could in their package.

So, while extras may in general be a bust (aside from those entertaining liner notes), Synapse's package is still worth checking out, as The Deli itself provides enough entertainment to merit at least a rental. It's nice to see that Synapse is back after its period of dormancy, and it's very reassuring to see that they are just as capable of doing quality film presentations as they ever were (perhaps they're even better after taking a little rest). Give The Deli a try and support this fine company, which will soon be up to its old tricks again with those Entrails... releases. Welcome back, Synapse! It's good to have you with us again.