Big Trouble
Movie Reviews | Apr 2nd, 2002
Starring Tim Allen, Rene Russo, Stanley Tucci, Tom Sizemore, Johnny Knoxville, Andy Ritcher, Patrick Warburton, Janeane Garofalo, Omar Epps, Heavy D, Jason Lee, Dennis Farina, DJ Qualls, Ben Foster, Sofía Vergara
Written By: Robert Ramsey, Matthew Stone
Directed By: Barry Sonnenfeld
This movie was supposed to come out a little bit after 9/11 and got pushed back to April. I’m surprised it didn’t get the “Gangs Of New York” treatment and get pushed back even farther.
This movie is based on Dave Barry’s novel. It’s basically several side stories merging into one. It’s sort of similar to Pulp Fiction and Lock Stock And 2 Smoking Barrels, but this isn’t as good as those films. Some of the characters in the film are a columnist/advertiser played by Tim Allen, a wealthy kingpin played by Stanley Tucci, his wife (Rene Russo), 2 hitmen trying to kill Tucci’s character (one of them played by Dennis Farina), a bumbling security guard/his twin brother who’s also an airport security guard played by the awesome Andy Richter, 2 goons played by Tom Sizemore and Jackass Johnny Knoxville and so forth. You get the idea right? I know you don’t. It’s confusing to explain so read the book or watch the film.
But is the film worth watching? I thought it was funny, but I don’t think you need to rush out and see it. This is more of a DVD rental. I had many problems with the film. Some of the actors probably shouldn’t have been in this film because there was no context to their characters. For example, Tim Allen and Jason Lee’s characters are pretty much worthless in this film. Or their scenes got cut up to death in the editing room. This movie was more about the smaller roles than the bigger ones. I though Andy Ritcher was funny, for the few seconds he was on screen. I thought Dennis Farina stole the movie though. His role was basically the same it was in Snatch. Grumpy old NY mobster bitching about the city he’s in.
That’s a movie they should have made. One funny joke that continued throughout the movie was his character listening to the local Florida sports radio and they kept talking about the same thing throughout the film. I thought that was a great because that’s exactly what sports talk is. I liked Johnny Knoxville and Tom Sizemore playing the stupid goons. I see Johnny Knoxville getting big and I can see why he’s left MTV to go into movies. Though he is doing a Jackass movie this summer so he’s totally not done being a jackass.
The movie had a great cast and some funny jokes, but It seems that it got really chopped up in the editing room. Another awkward thing to watch was the airport scenes. It had to do with a bomb and a gun getting passed security and it kind of freaks you out because I’m sure they are still retards at security checkpoints. But I still thought the stuff was fun to watch even though in the back of your mind you know this wrong to laugh at. Yet another problem I had with the film was the story. It went all over the place. It was hard to keep track of all the characters. I think they could have made this movie longer too and maybe it wouldn’t have been so out of place to watch. Great cast and some funny stuff in the film, but it could have been ten times better. Rent this one instead of seeing it in the theaters
Favorite Scenes: When Dennis Farina’s character and his side man are sitting in the car and listening to the Sports talk radio. Funny stuff.
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 85 minutes
Overall Rating:
