"Big Nothing" lives up to its name
I was disappointed with "Big Nothing." I expected that it would be a lot funnier. Maybe I should blame my being a Simon Pegg fan. Maybe I should blame the trailer, since it made it look like the film would be pretty entertaining. But, whatever my reasons for wanthing to watch it, this black comedy was kind of a letdown.
David Schwimmer stars as Charlie, a former teacher with a degenerative mental condition. He gets a job working at the local call center, where he meets Gus (Pegg), who indirectly causes Charlie to get fired on his first day at work. By way of apology, Gus offers Charlie in on a blackmail scheme. Gus' former one-night-stand, Josie, overhears and wants in on the deal. Of couse, in the ways of all black comedies, nothing goes according to plan.
To director Jean-Baptiste Andrea's credit, the editing is pretty cool. Every once in a while, he tosses in a split-screen, a triple split-screen or animation effect to liven things up a bit, and it works (at least for the fifteen-to-thirty seconds the shot is on screen). Other than that, I got a bit bored. I know Pegg and Schwimmer to be great actors, and they do what they can with the material, but the actors can only do so much. The script is pretty unexceptional, thus the movie is unexceptional. I just hope Schwimmer's directorial effort, "Run Fatboy Run," starring Pegg and fellow "Shaun of the Dead" veteran Dylan Moran, won't be the same way.