Il grande bullo

Good watch, could watch again, and can recommend.

I love getting in the "way back machine" and seeing Rick Moranis movies, and I'm not a big fan of Tom Arnold, but he nails this big dumb bully role.

There is a lot of establishing information, and they work really hard to express a parallel in parents vs children and projecting a "break the cycle" morale on the story, but most of the movie is just Tom being a jerk to Rick. It's almost a Tom and Jerry movie.

I honestly spent a lot of the movie trying understand why Tom wasn't under arrest.

It's not the best movie, but it's reliably good.

If you're feeling an urge for a late 90's movie and this looks interesting, give it a shot.

An elementary school nerd, plagued by insecurity and the need to fit in, lives in a nightmare at the hands of a big, fearsome bully. Nearly twenty years later he's moved on with his life, has a son, and has made a name for himself as a successful writer. He returns home as a local celebrity to join the teaching staff, but once again encounters his old childhood nemesis who's bent on repeating the same torment despite their advanced ages. Not as bad as it sounds, featuring two likable, enthusiastic leads who provide some occasional laughs, but the frequent dedication to juvenile slapstick grows tiresome after a while. Fans of the actors may not mind. **

Big Bully is probably more suited to the small screen than the big screen. Some of the dialogue Tom Arnold spouts out is quite funny. Rick Moranis does an acceptable job in the lead role, even though it seems he's been playing wimpy characters for his whole film career.

The showdown is a little heavy handed (eg. Arnold firing a nail gun at Moranis), but was obviously thrown in to keep the movie from getting too dull.

If it's on TV late at night, watch it...and then go to bed.

Rating: **

Much to my surprise, I was actually finding this to be an amusing film for the first hour or so. I laughed more than a few times, and there was a touch of humanity that seemed to fit rather well. Then, for no good reason, the writers tacked on a pathetic ending that left a bitter taste in my mouth. I would even say that this was a good movie for the most part, but the STUPID showdown at the end killed all credibility that had been created. How aggravating.

I like this film. Not that the plot, acting, script, etc. would worry any kind of awards ceremony on a bad year because they are pretty awful. It's just that the film is watchable at 2am when you need to be bored to sleep by a sappy American movie. That's all I can say about it.

The plot is so transparent and formulaic that a five-year-old could have told you the ending, and has more holes than fine lace. The acting is notably bad on all counts. When the established leads get upstaged by an unknown 10 year-old you have to worry. Rick Moranis plays his usual weedy character and Tom Arnold plays his childhood bully. Not challenging parts and this shows; they aren't even trying.

I, like many others, was bullied at school and found the story interesting in that it showed both sides but the cheezy(TM) subplot involving their children was forced and let down the one saving grace.

All in all, I give this film 2/5. Watchable but certainly not worth missing anything else for.