SUMMARY:

This movie is not easy to summarize but here goes: BIG TROUBLE tells of the comic convergence of a divorced adman, a rogue arms dealer, his dissatisfied wife, two hit-men, a pair of cops, a tree-dwelling hippy, two FBI agents, three teenagers playing “Killer,” a sexy Latina maid, a couple of dimbulb ex-cons, a pair of Russian criminals, a dog, a toad and a thermo-nuclear device.  Got it?  I hope so.

Steve says:

I don’t ask much of a comedy.  It can be stupid (AIRPLANE), outrageous (SOMETHING ABOUT MARY) or juvenile (AMERICAN PIE).  But if I leave the theatre with at least a dozen good solid laughs under my belt, I’ll call it a successful comedy.  As I have carped ad infinitum in this space, most of what passes for Hollywood comedy these days is barely funny, if at all.  (See last week’s review of DEATH TO SMOOCHY).  So based on this criterion, BIG TROUBLE is a resounding success.

This is not to say that the movie is without problems.  For one thing, director Barry Sonnenfeld seems to have his actors working in overdrive to be funny rather than trusting in the rich characters and situation (taken faithfully from Dave Barry’s book) to carry the day.  The result is that jokes misfire as often as they hit the bull-eye, but in today’s climate of lame comedy posers, them ain’t bad odds.  Put simply, there are enough laughs in BIG TROUBLE to recommend it.

Barry’s novel was plotted denser than Anna Nicole Smith and so is the Robert Ramsey/Matthew Stone adaptation.  Don’t go out for Milk Duds or you’ll miss something important in the advancement of the story.  Even if you stay in your seat, it isn’t always easy to follow the twisted threads of this plot, but any movie that features a psychedelic hallucination involving Martha Stewart and a dog is okay in my book.

Tim Allen is fairly subdued as Eliot Arnold, a former humor columnist for the Miami Herald (in other words, the Dave Barry surrogate). 

Stanley Tucci is such a good actor that even when he slips into mugging, which he does frequently in this film, he is still funny.  His “Arthur Herk,” (which his Latina maid pronounces “Meester Jerk) is a comic gem, particularly the “toe-sucking” scene.  Yes, it does get that down and dirty, but as I said previously, jokes that make me laugh can expiate a multitude of sins.

Janeane Garofalo plays her usual wry cynic as police Officer Monica Ramiro.  While Garofalo’s range as an actress isn’t terribly broad, she is always solid when the role fits her, as it does here.  Her partner, Officer Walter Kramitz, is basically SEINFELD’S “Puddy” in a cop uniform.  Patrick Warburton’s characterization doesn’t vary much from his squinty-eyed and deadpan TV persona. 

Renè Russo is Herk’s discontented middle-aged bombshell of a wife, Anna.   It’s nice to see her all glammed up, even in costumer Mary E. Vogt’s take on tacky Miami suburban sensibilities.

Tom Sizemore (THE THIN RED LINE) is better known as a movie psycho than a funnyman.  By playing an ex-con named “Snake” with the same focus and intensity that he normally brings to his whack-job roles, Sizemore is hilarious.  He is effectively teamed with Johnny Knoxville (MTV’s JACKASS) to portray the two stupidest bad guys since John Goodman and William Forsythe in RAISING ARIZONA .   This role should boost Knoxville ’s stock as a movie actor.  He will next be seen this summer as a two-headed alien in Sonnenfeld’s MAN IN BLACK 2.

Ben Foster (TV’s FREAKS AND GEEKS) and Zooey Deschanel are appealing as the star-crossed teenaged offspring. 

Oh and look for an amusing cameo from TV’s Andy Richter playing identical twin security guards.

Writers Ramsey and Stone have done an excellent job distilling Dave Barry’s intricately plotted farce into eighty-five minutes of screen mayhem.  The fact that so much happens in so little screen time is an indicator of the jet-propelled pacing.  But the writers also score well in reproducing Barry’s off-center point of view.

If you like to laugh, you should see BIG TROUBLE.   You will laugh.  You may hate yourself afterward, but ultimately, you won’t care.  Ya’ takes yer good times where ya’ finds ‘em.”

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Patty says:

Dave Barry is the funniest man alive...next to George Carlin and my best friend Mark Freedman from graduate school, who isn't at all funny unless you've inhaled a pitcher of margaritas.  Barry has this wonderful, twisted way of looking at the world that isn't quite satire, but he doesn't have to beat you with the punch line until you get the joke. BIG TROUBLE is classic Barry.  The plot is sophisticated but it's tempered with great characters, fast action and a smudge of slapstick just to keep the mouth breathers awake. 

And speaking of Steve...."But if I leave the theater with about a dozen good solid laughs under my belt, I'll call it a successful comedy."  More like if the concession stand is open...but I digress.  (Okay, I'm still mad that Chris got more fan mail for the last review than I have for all of mine put together.  Talk about having no job security!  Sheesh!)

Steve nailed it on the plot twists.  I kept wondering how the screenwriters were going to pull all of the subplots together as more and more interesting characters were introduced in the movie.  Let's see, there was Jason Lee as Puggy.  Somehow, Puggy (who looked like an incredibly dirty Jesus) managed to seduce the Herk's gorgeous Hispanic maid, Nina.  Nina falls for him because...well, who knows, but regardless, she somehow fantasizes herself sharing a refrigerator box with Puggy on the streets of Miami .  Puggy's role in the plot is unclear except that he manages to involve himself with most of the other principles without doing anything exceptional.  He's cute though.  In an unkempt, off of his psychotropic medications way too long sort of way.

I disagree with Steve about Rene Russo's costuming.  Even the nouveau riche could come up with something sexy that doesn't look like the Lerner's spring line.  Small matter.  She was appealing and fresh in the role of the nice gal who marries a jerk so she can afford to get her nails done once a week.  Tucci's Herk/Jerk was brilliant.  I hated him immediately, and the fun just didn't stop. 

The kids who played...well...the kids were fun and very honest in their portrayals.  It would have been tempting for the director to make them bigger versions of geek boy and valley girl, but having resisted that pitfall, director Sonnenfeld dodged the band camp bullet and the film was saved.  I enjoyed watching the chemistry between the two.  Both careers are worth watching.

Tim Allen is the king of understatement.  I find him consistently entertaining.  He doesn't feel the need to ham it up to be funny and his delivery of subtle, but funny material is flawless.  I didn't quite believe that Rene Russo would cream her peddle pushers the first time they met, but that's not Allen's fault.

If you are into sharing an hour or so with someone you like (or at least hope to have sex with later) then go see this film.  It won't be a belly laugh a minute, but you'll go away entertained and reminded of how much you like Dave Barry's humor.  If for no other reason, the Martha Stewart parts are worth the price of the ticket.

 

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