Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay In 1988, the Penny Marshall-directed fantasy comedy Big made a significant impact upon its release. Not only did it gross over 150 million dollars on an eighteen-million-dollar budget, but critics universally praised the movie for the performances (notably Hanks) and it received two Oscar nominations (including Hanks’s first acting nomination). Surely, many people place Big alongside the best comedies of the 1980s (from Ivan Reitman’s Ghostbusters to Rob Reiner’s When Harry Met Sally…).
But I have to ask…why isn’t Big great? [NOTE: This blog will contain spoilers for “Big.” You have been warned.] What’s It About While trying to impress a girl at a traveling carnival, pre-teen Josh Baskin (David Moscow) is prevented from boarding the Super Loops ride due to his height. Feeling dejected, Josh goes to the fortune-telling machine Zoltar and wishes to be “big.” Despite the machine being unplugged, it dispenses a card stating that Josh’s wish is granted. The next morning, Josh (Tom Hanks) looks in the mirror revealing that he has grown into an adult man overnight. Despite trying to explain the situation to his mother (Mercedes Ruehl), she kicks him out of the house out of a belief that Josh is actually a stranger that kidnapped her son. After discovering that the carnival with Zoltar has moved on, Josh finds his best friend Billy Kopecki (Jared Rushton) and manages to persuade him that he is, in fact, Josh. Once they learn that it will take them six weeks to find the carnival again, Josh decides to rent a cheap apartment in New York City and ends up getting a job as a data entry clerk at a toy company. After impressing his boss, Mr. MacMillan (Robert Loggia), with his knowledge of toy lines and childish enthusiasm, Josh is ultimately promoted to Vice President of Product Development after impressing senior executives at a pitch meeting. Josh becomes enveloped by his “adult” life through his work and blossoming relationship of co-executive Susan Lawrence (Elizabeth Perkins), all at the expense of ignoring his friendship with Billy. However, the pressure of being the “idea man” at the company makes Josh wish for his old life back and tries to explain his situation to Susan (to no avail). After learning of the Zoltar machine’s new location from Billy, Josh abruptly flees a corporate meeting at work to run to Sea Point Park and get his old life back. Susan follows him to the machine, where she finds him wishing to become “a kid again.” She confronts him about leaving, but upon realizing that he was telling the truth about being a child is saddened by the fact that their relationship will end. Josh reassures Susan that he enjoyed being with her and suggests she make a wish to become younger, but Susan declines. After driving Josh home, Susan has an emotional farewell before he transforms into a child again and reunites with his mother. What’s Good About It In my humble opinion, Big only works as well as it does because of Tom Hanks’s central performance. Simply put, he carries the weight of this flawed movie squarely on his shoulders (maybe not an Oscar-worthy achievement, but one worth highlighting). Given the incredibly comedic potential of the premise of Big, Hanks manages to make the most of it in several scenes (notably the initial reveal with him in the bathroom and the early “fish-out-of-water” scenes with him at MacMillan Toy Company). Without delving too much into what I dislike about the film, I just wish the writing and other actors shouldered more of this weight and gave Hanks even more opportunities to shine. As I was watching Big, I kept thinking about how much potential to be really funny it lost in comparison to David F. Sandberg’s superhero flick Shazam! By no means is that movie perfect, but I think the writing and directing on display there gives Zachary Levi and the supporting cast better character moments and more fertile opportunities for laugh-out-loud comedic gold. That being said, Hanks did the best he can with what he was given. That alone is commendable, and thankfully his acting chops only improved over the next ten years in films like Philadelphia, Forrest Gump, Apollo 13, Saving Private Ryan, and The Green Mile. What’s Holding It Back I hope it’s clear by now that I don’t have many kind things to say about Big. While I don’t think it’s a bad movie, its several flaws (in my humble opinion) hold it back from being anything more than okay. The more I think about it, I think what ultimately handicaps Big from achieving greatness is its tonal imbalance from start to finish. On the one hand, Hanks’s entertaining performance as a man-child is funny in small bits but over the course of nearly two hours can be grating to the point of not being funny anymore. Which doesn’t help the fact that NOTHING about the other characters is remotely laugh-inducing when separated from Hanks’s character. On the other hand, director Penny Marshall clearly wanted Josh Baskin to have a meaningful arc where he developed a meaningful relationship as an “adult” that made him appreciate the good things about getting older. Or did she? To be honest, I’m not quite sure what Josh’s journey is actually about. Is it about longing for the innocence of youth and his friends from that life? Or is it about coming to learn something good about maturing which makes him kind of look forward to actually becoming an adult? It’s hard to say, because I don’t think the writing or directing show their hand very well at all in this regard. As a result, Big fails to work as a compelling character study with comedic beats nor as a laugh-out-loud comedy. It lacks the emotional heft for the former, while also falling short of the consistent funny moments for the latter. In short, it ends up feeling as empty and shallow as a slapstick comedy while simultaneously being not as funny. If I were to suggest rewrites (not that anyone’s asking 😊), I would advise the screenwriters to tie Josh’s character growth to something other than a romantic relationship with a real adult woman. I get that the 1980s were a different time (I mean, Marty McFly nearly had sex with his mom, for God’s sake!), but I simply cannot get behind the idea of Josh (who is ACTUALLY a child!) falling in love with Susan who then returns the affection EVEN AFTER she finds out that Josh is really twelve years old. It just feels so lazy and detached from reality, which does nothing except work against any emotional payoff that Marshall and the actors were trying to make work. But maybe I’m wrong, and Big is truly a cinematic masterpiece. I suppose you’ll have to convince me otherwise. 😊 What am I missing about this early Tom Hanks comedy classic? Do you think it’s a great movie or do you agree that something’s holding it back from greatness? What opinions of mine do you find absolutely ridiculous? Let me know in the comments below. Until next time, this has been… Yours Truly, Amateur Analyst
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Austin McManusI have no academic or professional background in film production or criticism; I simply love watching and talking about movies. Archives
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