Big Trouble (film)
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| Big Trouble | |
|---|---|
 Big Trouble movie poster | |
| Directed by | Barry Sonnenfeld |
| Produced by | Jim Wedaa Barry Sonnenfeld Tom Jacobson Barry Josephson Graham Place Chris Soldo |
| Written by | Robert Ramsey Matthew Stone based on a novel by Dave Barry |
| Starring | Tim Allen Rene Russo Stanley Tucci Tom Sizemore Johnny Knoxville Dennis Farina |
| Music by | James Newton Howard |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures |
| Release date(s) | April 5, 2002 |
| Running time | 85 min |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $40,000,000 (estimated) |
| IMDb profile | |
Big Trouble (2002) is a film based on the novel Big Trouble by Dave Barry. It was directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and featured a large cast including Tim Allen, Rene Russo and Dennis Farina. Like much of Barry's fiction, it follows a diverse group of people through a series of extremely strange situations against the backdrop of southern Florida.
Tagline: They have forty-five minutes to save the world. They need forty-six.
Contents |
[edit] Characters
Eliot Arnold (Tim Allen) has had some bad luck lately. He lost his job as a newspaper columnist after losing his temper with his editor. His wife cheated on him, leading to their divorce. The advertising agency he opened has only attracted a few lowlife clients. His teenage son Matt (Ben Foster) thinks his father is a complete loser because he drives a Geo Metro. Matt also has a friend, Andrew (D.J. Qualls).
Anna Herk (Rene Russo) has had better days herself. She has a close relationship with her daughter Jenny (Zooey Deschanel), but her husband Arthur Herk (Stanley Tucci) is insufferable and quite possibly insane. Anna would leave Arthur, but that would mean dooming Jenny and herself to a life of poverty.
Arthur Herk is a bit on edge. He works for a company that has scored several lucrative state contracts, and he has made good money from it — but not exactly "honestly." He had the poor judgment to steal from his employers, who happen to have some very powerful connections. They do not want the money back... they want Herk dead.
Henry (Dennis Farina) and Leonard (Jack Kehler) are not happy. They hate Miami. They have one simple job to do before they can go back to New York: kill Arthur Herk. Unhappy hitmen are bad news, and these two are not getting any happier.
Puggy (Jason Lee) is an easygoing kind of guy. He has very few worries, and things always seem to work out well. He drifts into town and takes up residence in a treehouse, depending on odd jobs and the kindness of strangers to supply him with Fritos.
Nina (Sofía Vergara) misses her homeland. She does not want to be a maid, especially not for a toe-sucking freak like Arthur Herk. When she finds a mysterious stranger living in a treehouse in the Herks' back yard, she falls in love with the kind, soft-spoken man.
Snake (Tom Sizemore) and Eddie (Johnny Knoxville) are criminally stupid. Or, to be more accurate, they are stupid criminals, always on the lookout for a way to steal a quick buck.
Two FBI agents (Omar Epps and Heavy D) are making their way through Miami's darker corners on an important case. An international arms dealer is known to have smuggled a nuclear device into town recently, and it must be recovered at any cost.
Miami PD Officer Monica Romero (Janeane Garofalo) is a good cop, but she has been saddled with a narcissistic idiot for a partner. Namely, Officer Walter Kramitz (Patrick Warburton), who is always hitting on her. In fact, he hits on every female he sees.
[edit] Plot
A simple high-school game of "Killer" brings all of these characters into direct contact with each other. Matt Arnold has to "shoot" classmate Jenny Herk with a squirt gun to advance in his game, and decides to sneak up on her at home one night. Meanwhile, hitmen Henry and Leonard are also watching the house, biding their time until they can whack Arthur. When the fake assassination attempt crosses paths with the real one, the police are called out to the resulting disturbance and Eliot has to explain his son's actions. Matt and Jenny feel an instant attraction to each other, as do Eliot and Anna. But if this was just a prank gone wrong, why is there a bullet lodged in the TV?
Arthur Herk realizes that he was the bullet's intended victim, and loses the little bit of mental stability he had. He races to a seedy bar that serves as a front for Russian arms dealers, hoping to get something with which to defend himself. His employers, he tells the dealers, have sent him to retrieve the big guns. They give him the biggest gun imaginable: a nuclear bomb in a suitcase. Unfortunately, lowlifes Snake and Eddie pick this moment to rob the "bar". Oblivious to the actual contents of the suitcase, but convinced that it is very valuable, they steal it.
The FBI agents pursue the crooks. The hitmen pursue Arthur. The Herk women and the Arnold men pursue each other. The cops try to figure out what in the world is going on. And Arthur gets squirted in the face by a hallucinogenic toad.
The dimwitted criminals end up on a plane headed for The Bahamas with the bomb still in tow. Eliot manages to sneak onto the same flight in one last effort to save the day, stop the bad guys and show his son that he is not a loser after all.
[edit] Controversy
Big Trouble was originally scheduled for release on September 21 2001 and had a strong advertising push. Unfortunately, the events of September 11 of that year cast an unshakable pall over the movie's comedic smuggling of a nuclear device onto an airplane. (A gun also makes its way onto the plane, but this was easily overshadowed by the specter of the WMD.) Consequently, the film was pushed back until April 2002, and the promotion campaign was toned down almost to the point of abandonment. Big Trouble came quietly to American theaters and left quickly afterwards, receiving some positive reviews but generally ignored by audiences.
[edit] Quotes
- Eliot: Do you think someone's trying to kill your husband?
Anna Herk: God, I hope so! - Henry: We have a Die Hard situation developing in the kitchen.
Leonard: What's happening?
Henry: Well, either he's going to whack 'em with a rolling pin or bake him a cake. I don't know. Could go either way with this crew. - Henry: Moron #2 just got Moron #1 all wet.
- Leonard: If I don't shoot someone soon, I'm gonna forget how.
- (Arthur Herk speculating on who might have shot his television)
Arthur: I'll tell you who did it. It's probably some goddamn kids. Cause these goddamn kids today, they all got goddamn guns, and they're all sniffing glue!
Officer Monica: Any additional insights, Mr. Herk? Any information can help us to protect you.
Arthur: I seriously doubt that you or any other member of the police force in this town could protect their own dicks with both hands.
Officer Monica: Thank you for that observation. I'm not gonna arrest you, Matt, unless Mrs. Herk wants to press charges.
Arthur: I want to press charges! Cuff him!
Officer Monica: My hands are kind of full right now, what with holding my dick and all. - Eddie: Let's get the hell outta here, Snake. I think I hear one of them silent alarms.
- Eddie: Okay, we gotta pick a road. Arrivals or departures? We're arriving, but then we're departing. Which one, Snake?
Snake: What do you think?
Jenny: I think you guys should turn yourselves in and plead not guilty by reason of stupidity. - Eddie: Departures? Arrivals? Well, we wanna depart from here, but we wanna arrive in the Bahamas.
- Snake: We need four tickets to the Bahamas, one-way, next flight you got.
Ticketer: Nassau or Freeport?
Snake: The Bahamas.
Ticketer: Nassau and Freeport are in the Bahamas.
Snake: Whichever's next.
Ticketer: First name?
Snake: John Smith
Ticketer: And the rest of your party?
Snake: John Smith. - Henry: Well, Miami sucks. But the cops are kind of nice.
- (Snake explaining the nuclear bomb to an airport security checker)
Checker: What is this?
Snake: A garbage disposal.
Checker: A garbage disposal?
Snake: Portable.
Checker: You'll have to turn it on.
Snake: It's got a timer.
(turns the bomb on)
Snake: Grounds up your garbage while you're out.
