Big Trouble

I consider myself an intelligent person, a lover of movies, and having seen this movie twice now, I still think it's great. "Laugh-out-loud-embarrassing-the-person-sitting-next-to-you" great. The film was perfectly cast, perfectly paced, just bizarre enough to keep one's attention, and loaded with funny, crazy scenes. I haven't met a person in the flesh who hated this film, and yet the critics and several folks here have trashed the heck out of it. Frankly, it would seem that America has lost its sense of humor.

I am so surprised this wasn't more popular. It seemed Sept. 11 ruined its chances. I was enthralled. This movie is consistently funny and silly and satirical all at once. It's a brilliant Dave Barry adaptation. All I could think the entire time was, Dave Barry is a movie. Patrick Warbuton was ingenious, as was the rest of the cast. I highly recommend this to anyone with a sense of humor.

I still remember laughing so hard I was in tears in a theater filled with less than 20 people! A great cast and well written, this movie got the shaft after it was suddenly moved to a 12/2001 release (with almost no publicity)after the events of 9/11 because the movie had scenes depicting lax airport security. We Americans were far to fragile to see someone smuggling an atomic bomb and a gun through poor security! What people missed was a funny story and some of the best one-liners I have ever heard ("maybe you guys should plead Not Guilty by reason of stupidity!). Honestly, I have never been able to drive into an airport without thinking about Arriving and Departing ("We're arriving, but then we are departing?")and Florida Gator fans just get hammered! Great flick, get the DVD and see it for real, not the Comedy Central version.

When my husband and I heard that Barry Sonnenfeld was going to direct the film version of Dave Barry's first novel, we were pretty excited. Both men have a similarly nutty knockabout comic sensibility with a touch of the surreal, and this wacky farce about a motley crew of Miami citizens embroiled in a race to recover an atomic bomb seemed like the perfect vehicle for them to pool their talents on. Well, it was! Hubby and I had a grand time -- but alas, we seemed to be among the very few moviegoers who even gave the flick a chance! I guess it didn't help that BIG TROUBLE's originally-scheduled December 2001 release was delayed due to worries that a plot involving smuggling an A-bomb through laissez-faire airport security would seem more disturbing than funny after the horrific events of 9/11/2001. Maybe most audiences are still too spooked right now to appreciate the satiric possibilities in Sonnenfeld & Co.'s cynically funny, Billy Wilder-esque treatment of these elements -- but I hope that down the line, folks will give BIG TROUBLE a chance, because really, it's like what might have resulted if Billy Wilder had ever had an opportunity to direct The Marx Brothers. We were laughing throughout! The ensemble cast is superb, from Patrick Warburton and Janeane Garofalo as members of Miami's Finest, to Tom Sizemore and Johnny Knoxville as dunderheaded crooks, to Tim Allen and Rene Russo's chemistry as single (well, unhappily married in Russo's case) parents who get drawn into the shenanigans when their respective teenage kids Ben Foster and Zooey Deschanel (both delightful -- I wouldn't be surprised if these two became big stars someday!) accidentally foil a hit on Stanley Tucci (hilariously obnoxious as Russo's dreadful second husband) by Jack Kehler and Dennis Farina (spoofing his earlier role in Sonnenfeld's GET SHORTY adaptation). Everybody gets a moment to shine, even Jason Lee as a hippy-dippy drifter and Sofia Vergara (who looks remarkably like a Latina Denise Richards) as Tucci's put-upon maid. C'mon, give this unfairly underappreciated gem a chance when it hits home video!

Big Trouble is most assuredly one of the funniest movies ever produced, written and directed. An all-star cast, in my opinion. Tim Allen, Rene Russo, Ben Foster, Dennis Farina, Stanley Tucci, Janeane Garrafolo, and Tom Sizemore all star in this laugh out loud comedy about how a (seemingly) easy hit-job goes terribly awry. This movie is so funny and the subject matter is so easy to follow, however, very difficult to write about, because without giving the movie away as far as what the plot is and how it ends, you can't really tell what it's about. But, Allen and Tucci are funnier than ever. Tucci is one of the best character actors, you always believe he is who he's playing, and Allen is just always good at delivering those quick-witted lines. Ben and Zooey are also very good in their apathetic performances and the kid from "The New Guy" and "Road Trip" is also funny in the few scenes which he is in. I really dislike Dennis Farina and Rene Russo in most films, but in this they both are extremely likeable and make me forget how bad they are usually. It's not so much that they're normally bad, but they always have the same performance in every role that they play. However, these two roles that they play suite their personalities better. Jason Lee was also one of the stars, who is always good in everything that he does, even in the worst movie ever made, 'Vanilla Sky', he was extremely good. At the beginning of the movie he's sitting in front of the camera talking and it makes him appear as though he is Jesus. But, it's not as sacreligeous as it may sound. The lines that are delivered by everyone are hilarious and fast. That was the other thing about this movie that was really well done. The fastness of the speech. The director was really smart in having everyone deliver their lines as quickly as they could, I've seen this done in a couple of other movies, the most specific one that comes to mind is 'Brain Donors'. Some of the movie is realistic, for example the scene in which Farina is eating in a restaurant. If you've seen the movie, you'll know what I'm talking about. I enjoyed this movie a great deal, and I've seen it twice now. I hope everyone watches it, because they don't make movies this funny anymore, and they really should. Cynical, and dry were two words that come to mind. I hope you check it out because it's a definite 10 out of 10. See ya at the movies!