To define "The Big Thing" as quirky wouldn´t do justice to the actors, script or concept. For lack of a better word, it feels like a British sitcom along the lines of "Keeping Up Appearances" in which the comedy is ratcheted beyond absurdity to a place it makes sense. That, coupled with moments of sincere emotion and a small cast buying into the concept lock, stock and barrel make the production a fun experience, as long as you don´t look for the typical narrative.
Our first true introduction to the characters we´ll spend the next 82-minutes with is Ned and Montana (Van Quattro, Bari Buckner). A happily coupled twosome who love weddings, they´re actually on the way to a wedding when the engine in their VW bus gives out. Whose wedding, you ask? One of Mo´s supposed high school friends, the high strung Canada (Alexandra Boyd) and her new husband Roberto (Bryan Cranston). Add into the equation Asian maid and aspiring porn star Pei Pei (Susan Chuang) and a neighbor known only by his last name-Beiber (Gideon Brower) and our six-some is complete. But what do they do? Let´s just say a good deal of the movie centers on a Big Fish.
More than the consistent tone of the script, writer/director/producer Aleks Horvat assembles a small group of actors who believe in the production. When Boyd screeches at the top of her lungs, longing for all the best things in life in a manner reminiscent of Hyacinth Bucket from "Keeping Up Appearances," she never devolves into caricature. And hers is the character most likely to do so, with a distinctly East Coast kitschy flair. Flaming red hair, gaudy jewelry…Canada is one of film´s most materialistic yet most common personalities.
(It should come as no shock, then, that Boyd´s most current work is on the British soap "Coronation Street.")
If Canada is the most over the top character, then the combination of Montana and Ned ground the film in reality. All these two care about, with their "less is more" attitude and not a single bad bone in either of their bodies, is each other, being good and-more than those two things-tranquility. Not once do we see either of them care about losing their home, how to provide for a new baby or even where their next meal will come from. They are the polar opposites of Canada and Roberto, the people we´re supposed to sympathize with from start to finish. Even as Ned smells his armpits and bristles at the odor.
The relationship between this pair is nothing but loving, calm, serene. Even at their worst moment, a negative word is never uttered toward the other. We can see the love in each of their eyes for the other, the way they interact and just act to one another. These are two people-called hippies by Canada-who are supposed to be the anti-thesis to Canada and Roberto. Very little if anything troubles them. They are unburdened by material things. In a way, they are what we should aspire to be.
No description of the gags in "The Big Thing" can accurately convey the absurdity of the situation, so I won´t even try. Besides, you probably wouldn´t believe me anyway. Suffice to say it is a refined type of camp humor, more intelligent than mass appeal comedies like "Billy Madison" but not so high brow as to be stifling. The humor is organically derived from the personalities on screen, not forced juvenile or potty jokes. Really, it all comes down to a simple dichotomy: the have´s and the have not´s.
And there´s another group sandwiched in the middle, those that have but want more. The only problem with adding Pei Pei and Beiber into the story is only the former is after money or upward mobility. All Beiber really wants is role playing sex. (His fantasy is to call the girl he´s with Ned Beatty. Yes, he´s married. No, he says he´s not gay or bisexual. And he hatches a hair brained Superman role playing scenario with Montana, Pei Pei and Ned in a scene seemingly out of the blue.)
Earlier, I mentioned there really isn´t a linear story to follow, a goal to work toward. It´s as if we´re dropped smack dab in the middle of a normal day and we exit in just the same way. Little resolution is given to most of the characters, aside from Ned and Montana, and somehow, that´s alright. Of course, this artistic choice makes the ultimate resolution a bit tough to actually care about on the usual levels. Only on the most basic, "everyone is alive and relatively happy" level can the ending be appreciated. It comes off as being somewhat of a cheat.
Modern films have conditioned the audience to expect a certain structure, an emotional payoff by the end. And, for better or for worse, "The Big Thing" doesn´t conform to that expectation. Really, we shouldn´t be at all surprised at how the film concludes because of what has come before. Then, on the other hand, it´s hard to not long for convention in an unconventional movie.
I´ve already mentioned the acting contributions of Alexandra Boyd, Van Quattro and Bari Buckner, but I should give Bryan Cranston his due. More than anything, we feel bad for him. Sympathetic for getting married to a materialistic woman. Sorry since he has to deal with wild levels of eccentricity on all sides. Maybe even wistful he grew a brain and a set of cajones to finally stand up for himself. Roberto is different from the emasculated Hal on "Malcolm in the Middle," arguably his most famous role. Hal is very nearly beaten down by life, struggling to make to it to the end of every day; Roberto rails against the people he can in an effort to make up for those he can´t do anything about. Cranston´s is a masterful performance, a combination of manic, defeated, reassertive and even loving.
VIDEO:
I wish I could say something positive about the full screen transfer. About the best I can do is reporting there aren´t too many problems present on the disc. For starters, the most noticeable issue is several instances of blocking in a more or less horizontal line across the screen. Then there´s a general softness to the entire production and a discernable lack of fine detail. A fine layer of mosquito noise coupled with complete overexposure in the outdoor scenes combine to make nearly every scene hard to watch. Many of my concerns can be explained by the undoubtedly miniscule budget Horvat had to use. But some are symptoms of a sloppy mastering job.
AUDIO:
The audio portion of the disc fares much better than the video if only because it doesn´t commit nearly as many sins as its brethren. Only an English 2.0 mix is included (no subtitles). All told, it does what it has to do without distortion…but the upper octaves of Canada´s yelling contain the faintest hint of reaching the limits of the source material. To its credit, though, dialogue is never drowned out by ambient sounds while the soundtrack appears to be mixed so one element never overpowers any other.
EXTRAS:
Only two trailers here, one for this movie (2:04) and a teaser (1:13) for "The Dialogue," a series of interviews with various screenwriters. The disc is broken down into five chapters, corresponding to five segments within the movie, named for various lines of dialogue within them.
PARTING THOUGHTS:
The lack of a narrative through line and true character development didn´t bother me nearly as much as it might have had the performances not saved "The Big Thing." Sure, they´re over the top, campy and larger than life. That´s the point, I think. To capture our attention and show us a little sliver of life. Not exactly our lives, but a close enough approximation.