Click to read the article
Big Trouble (2002)
Runtime: 85 mins
Synopsis: In Barry Sonnenfeld's BIG TROUBLE, based on the novel by Miami Herald columnist Dave Barry, Tim Allen stars as Eliot Arnold, a former Miami Herald columnist whose wife has left him, drives a Geo, and has an awkward relationship with his teenage son, Matt (Ben Foster). When Eliot meets Anna Herk... In Barry Sonnenfeld's BIG TROUBLE, based on the novel by Miami Herald columnist Dave Barry, Tim Allen stars as Eliot Arnold, a former Miami Herald columnist whose wife has left him, drives a Geo, and has an awkward relationship with his teenage son, Matt (Ben Foster). When Eliot meets Anna Herk (a blonde Rene Russo), the wife of crazy moneyman Arthur (Stanley Tucci) and mother of Jenny (Zooey Deschanel), whom Matt is trying to supersoak, they are immediately attracted to each other. Meanwhile, Puggy (Jason Lee), a Fritos fetishist who lives in a tree, falls for the Herks' maid, Nina (Sofia Vergara), as two hit men from Newark (Dennis Farina and Jack Kehler) out to whack a sometimes wigged-out Arthur also attempt to stay away from the cops (an extremely efficient officer played by Janeane Garofalo and a doofus beefcake played by Patrick Warburton). Throw in a psycho security guard (Andy Richter), two top-secret FBI agents (Heavy D and Omar Epps), two lowlife cons (Tom Sizemore and Johnny Knoxville), some Russian mobsters, and a big silver box that probably does not have a household appliance in it and you have one wacky screwball comedy that is as funny as it is wildly complicated. [More]
Genre: Comedies
Starring: Tim Allen, Rene Russo, Stanley Tucci, Tom Sizemore, Dennis Farina
Screenwriter: Robert Ramsey, Matthew Stone
Producer: Barry Sonnenfeld, Barry Josephson, Tom Jacobson
Composer: James Newton Howard
Reviews
Faithful to the events in Barry's novel, lifts a good deal of his witty dialogue, and recruits a proven cast of laugh-winners. Why, then, is it so resolutely unfunny?
The worst thing someone could say about "Big Trouble" is that it's too much like "Get Shorty," which is one of the best reasons to go see the film
Sprawling comedy has a few laughs in it -- and the specter of recent events hanging over it.
Director Barry Sonnenfeld unites an incredibly unique and charismatic ensemble cast for this witty adaptation of Dave Barry's 1998 novel.
...a highly enjoyable romp that is as multi-faceted as it is tightly constructed.
Big Trouble is one of those great big silly capers that fails at juggling its dark humor while feeling cutesy in its ability to dance around the plot contrivances...derivative, offensive, stylish and smirky crime caper.
Tim Allen is great in his role but never hogs the scenes from his fellow cast, as there are plenty of laughs and good lines for everyone in this comedy.
It's a good thing Tim Allen has Santa Claus to fall back on because any more pictures like this one and he'd be in BIG trouble.
In this clumsy attempt to merge farce with satire, the jokes repeatedly miss the mark.
Huffs like a bus headed uphill while Mr. Sonnenfeld and company shovel on weirdness and hope for the best.
...Big Trouble is...one of the more enjoyable comedies to emerge in a good long while.
the plot is so amusingly contrived and outlandish in its coincidences that no one could ever mistake it for anything resembling reality
Nothing in Big Trouble occurs for any reason other than to appease director Barry Sonnenfeld's yen for randomly orchestrated cuteness.
Related Forums
by: BigJuicyMonkey 12/11/03


Top Critic


