The Big White (2005)

Great Actors; But "The Big White" Tries Too Hard to Be Funny

Paul Barnell (Robin Williams) is a nearly bankrupt travel agent in Alaska who stumbles upon a dead body hidden in a dumpster. To raise money for his loving wife Margaret (Holly Hunter) who she thinks has Tourette's syndrome, Paul thinks of a brilliant idea: he has a life insurance policy on his brother who has been missing for five years and here is a nearly frozen corpse that might prove his actual "death."

"The Big White" looks like a cross between "Fargo" and "A Simple Plan." Like these crime films, things often go wrong. Paul Bernell, who is desperate to cover his crime and get money, has to confront one insurance company investigator Ted (Giovanni Ribisi) who is not convinced.

"The Big White" which includes many eccentric characters is more a comedy than a thriller. To call it a thriller, "The Big White" has so many plot holes and its script is predicable. However, in spite of the great cast including Robin Williams, Holly Hunter, Giovanni Ribisi, Tim Blake Nelson, W. Earl Brown, Woody Harrelson and Alison Lohman, I couldn't find the film very funny probably because the film itself tries to be very funny. The film's obvious attempts to make us laugh (like the two bumbling crooks) are sometimes irritating.

Also, some of the (male) characters are, as one reviewer has rightly pointed out, mean-spirited. Ribisi's Ted says nasty things to her telephone psychic girlfriend, but we are supposed to like him as the film's conclusion suggests. The film's narrative lacks the subtlety in telling its story, and Tim Blake Nelson and Woody Harrelson, both great actors, are also wasted, having to play clichéd characters.

"The Big White" fails to make use of the very absurd situations Paul is in. It needs more creative energy to make Paul's story a really funny farce (and I found "Fargo" twice as funny as this). The film only relies on small unimaginative gags that are not very funny. Fortunately the filmmakers managed to have secured the great cast and their talents solely lift the entire film to 3-star rating. January 24, 2008

Excellent, Excellent, Excellent

Did I say Excellent?
This is a really entertaining film.
There are a number of long involved reviews of this film so I'll just say that I really enjoyed the film. It's a funny story, that well acted by the leads, but the supporting characters are a riot.
This film does not disappoint, very quirky, a lot of fun. December 30, 2007

Check Out "The Big Empty" Instead

I don't need much of a budget to write a review of a film, only a little bit of my time for watching and writing. That said, I'm confident that if I had "The Big White's" $16 Million budget, indie director's dream cast, and lame "Fargo" inspired script; I could have made a better and more entertaining film. My first move would have been to throw some of the budget into a major script re-write, maybe just sending the thing off to the Coen brothers themselves for a quick IQ transfusion.

The "Fargo" rip-off comparisons are valid, but that does not mean that there is much about "The Big White" with which "Fargo" fans will connect. The similarities are pretty much confined to setting (Alaska instead of Minnesota), production design (white), and basic plot elements (two bumbling hoods, financially desperate businessman, kidnapped and bound wife), and a side story featuring an odd domestic couple (an insurance investigator instead of a female sheriff).

The "Fargo" disconnects are more subtle. Instead of a crime thriller with black comedy elements, "The Big White" is a black comedy with crime thriller elements. Which would not be a problem except that "Fargo's" occasional ironic comical moments have several times more amusement value than "The Big White's" frenzied efforts to inject some humor.

Secondly, on its most fundamental level "The Big White" is mean spirited. While "Fargo" parodied the great white north culture of Minnesota, the characters themselves were comfortable inhabitants of their strange white world; they had grown up there and were well suited to their environment. In "The Big White", the conflict and the character motivations stem from a desire to escape from a remote Alaskan town that seemingly has no virtues.

In The Big White, a failing Alaskan travel agency owner (Robin Williams playing his Jack Dundee character from "The Best of Times-1986) schemes to collect on his missing brother's life insurance policy by claiming that a dead body in finds in a dumpster is that of his brother. Things become complicated when two bumbling (possibly gay) hoods (Tim Blake Nelson and W. Earl Brown) kidnap his wife (Holly Hunter) because they need the body to prove that they have carried out a contract killing. Hunter's character may or may not have Tourette's Syndrome, a psychological condition which may or may not have comic potential in a feature film. But we will have to wait for a better script and a better to director to find out because the results are inconclusive here.

The main side story involves an obsessive insurance investigator (Giovanni Ribisi) and his air- headed telephone psychic girlfriend (Alison Lohman). Their scenes together provide the film's best moments and the only times when it manages to duplicate "Fargo's" almost poetic humor. Ribisi is solid in all his scenes and you wish a bigger part for Lohman.

If you like small off-kilter films (with big name actors having fun with their performances) you would be far better served by "Dummy" (2002) and "The Big Empty" (2003). "The Big White" tries for the feel of these two films but falls short.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child. September 11, 2007

Excellent film marred by ridiculous ending.

This film is a Coen Brothers wannabe. Quirky characters abound, and there are two dead bodies. The characters and the plot are very interesting, especially with heavy hitters like Robin Williams, Holly Hunter, and Woody Harrelson.

The climactic scene ties up all the loose ends in a neat and tidy package, but I found the staging quite artificial and contrived, for which I am docking the movie's rating. A man passes a dead body he finds in a dumpster off as his brother, who has been missing for 5 years, in order to collect on his brother's life insurance policy. Meanwhile, the two-bit hoods who killed the guy need a body to prove they carried out their assigned hit so they kidnap the man's wife and set up and exchange; his wife for the body. Once they complete the exchange, everyone just stands around waiting, and this was the part I found very contrived. No one would be hanging around after they did such an exchange. I don't appreciate movies in which the characters do stupid things that no reasonable person would do.

Worth watching despite the ending. August 8, 2007

Very unique movie!

Robin Williams and Holly Hunter are always great, but the supporting parts make the movie. Very intriguing and surprising story line. Not for young children. July 23, 2007

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