Big Trouble

This is a demanding comedy, because much of the humor depends on references to classic films, and will be lost to someone who is not familiar with them. It does have many incredibly funny scenes on its own right, and some great performance bits.

Plus Beverly D'Angelo is gorgeous and very funny both.

See some later reviews for relevent films, and consider seeing the referenced films first to appreciate the humor more. Without understanding the references and parodies of this film-maker's comedy though, it might be confusing.

Also consider seeing some of Cassavetes work first, to get an idea of what he is usually about. This film melds his own idosyncratic style with a more mainstream American comic style, but has the timing and structure of Godard film.

Big Trouble is a a reteaming of some of the acting same talent that made the incredibly funny The In-Laws. It is much more surrealistic and avant-garde, being directed by that greatest of American directors John Cassavetes. Like the films he himself scripted, it is more character than plot driven. Cassavetes is exploring something in this film; it is not a consistently drop-down funny flim like The In-Laws, nor is the action as suspenseful and spine-tingling, but it has some incredibly funny moments, including one of the funniest scenes ever put on film (try some sardine liquor). Not to be missed by Cassavetes fans or die-hard In-Laws fans who want more.

Someone looking for an easy to watch straight-ahead comedy or action/adventure film, however, might be disappointed.

This is a demanding comedy, because much of the humor depends on references to classic films, and will be lost to someone who is not familiar with them. It does have many incredibly funny scenes on its own right, and some great performance bits.

Plus Beverly D'Angelo is gorgeous and very funny both.

See some later reviews for relevent films, and consider seeing the referenced films first to appreciate the humor more. Without understanding the references and parodies of this film-maker's comedy though, it might be confusing.

Also consider seeing some of Cassavetes work first, to get an idea of what he is usually about. This film melds his own idosyncratic style with a more mainstream American comic style, but has the timing and structure of Godard film.

Big Trouble is a reteaming of some of the acting same talent that made the incredibly funny The In-Laws. It is much more surrealistic and avant-garde, being directed by that greatest of American directors John Cassavetes. Like the films he himself scripted, it is more character than plot driven. Cassavetes is exploring something in this film; it is not a consistently drop-down funny flim like The In-Laws, nor is the action as suspenseful and spine-tingling, but it has some incredibly funny moments, including one of the funniest scenes ever put on film (try some sardine liquor). Not to be missed by Cassavetes fans or die-hard In-Laws fans who want more.

Someone looking for an easy to watch straight-ahead comedy or action/adventure film, however, might be disappointed.

"Big Trouble" is a mediocre film. You will laugh occasionally but that's about all. And that's crushing considering the two leads, Alan Arkin and Peter Falk, and the writer, Andrew Bergman, previously teamed or "The In-Laws" an all-time great film comedy.

Here the two leads play basically the same parts. Falk is the one in control with his devious ideas while Arkin is the meek, unsuspecting one thrown in over his head. This time around the needlessly complicated plot follows an insurance scam.

The film was directed by John Cassavettes, one of our great directors. But comedy is not a genre he handled well. There were numerous reports of problems during shooting. It shows on the screen.

The one bright spot is Beverly D'Angelo looking as sexy as ever. Maybe they should have relegated Falk and Arkin to backup and made her the lead.

Writer-director Andrew Bergman and stars Peter Falk and Alan Arkin re-teamed after the success of their earlier collaboration The In-Laws with this misfire crime comedy.

Arkin plays an insurance agent who has triplet sons who are about to leave for Yale. He's struggling to find the money to pay for it when along comes seductress Beverly D'Angelo, who wishes to take out a large life insurance policy on her dying husband (Peter Falk). She convinces Arkin to help push through the policy in exchange for a cut of the pay-off. Charles Durning plays a wily insurance investigator who knows something fishy is afoot.

If this plot sounds familiar, this was meant as a take-off on Double Indemnity, although the second half goes off in a completely different direction. Columbia Pictures, which released this, ran into copyright trouble with Universal over the Indemnity similarities. Nice bet that Universal wouldn't notice the similarities, since they seem clueless about most of their classic catalog, but not Indemnity - so famous that even the suits at Universal knew the plot.

This was the beginning of this film's troubles, as the title proved to be all too prophetic. Tensions on the set became unbearable, and Andrew Bergman quit the movie about halfway through filming, as well as his producing partner, resulting in this film having no credited producers. Falk contacted his old friend John Cassavetes, who reluctantly came onboard and directed the remainder of the film. In fact, this ended up being Cassavetes' final directing credit. This isn't very funny or very interesting, and the script problems are obvious fairly early on. The performers try, but they don't have much to work with. This was barely released to theaters.

And what did Universal pictures get in return for the Columbia rehash of Double Indemnity? Columbia gave Universal an unused script they found inane and unworkable - a script titled "Back To the Future".

Leonard Hoffman (Alan Arkin) is an insurance agent with a suburban family. His three sons all get accepted into Yale. His boss Winslow (Robert Stack) refuses to help him with any scholarships. His work mate is the hard-nosed O'Mara (Charles Durning). He goes on a sales call to the drunken rich trophy wife Blanche Rickey (Beverly D'Angelo). She complains about her gambler husband Steve Rickey (Peter Falk). Desperate for money to pay for his kids' college, he joins Blanche to murder her husband for the life insurance.

This is the last film of John Cassavetes and he apparently hated it. The plot is so close to Double Indemnity that this is basically a spoof. Of course, none of it is funny because every moment of the movie, I'm asking if this is deliberate. It's hard to tell since Double Indemnity is not watched all the time. In order for a spoof to work, the audience must know all the beats in the original and what the filmmaker is doing to satire each moment for a joke. Then the last third of the movie goes bonkers. It becomes non-sense. The actors are trying for some wacky physical comedy despite the noir story. It's frustrating to watch a movie where the jokes don't work. One can see that everybody is trying but I don't understand what the film is trying to do.