A one-time Coen collaborator imitates their sillier movies in the star-studded Big Trouble
Film Features Recommends
Watch This offers movie recommendations inspired by new releases, premieres, current events, or occasionally just our own inscrutable whims. This week: The fourth season of FX’s small-screen Fargo starts, so we’re singling out “Coenesque” movies, i.e. ones influenced by or imitative of the work of those famous sibling filmmakers.
Big Trouble (2002)
To the extent that it’s remembered at all, Big Trouble might be best-known for being one of a handful of movies that were pushed from fall 2001 until spring 2002 because of the September 11th terrorist attacks, after which movies with even a hint of terrorist-related plots (no matter how silly) were briefly considered too hot to handle. Its connection to a bestselling novel by Dave Barry doesn’t really help its profile, given its generic title. The Miami setting lends it a superficial resemblance to second-tier Elmore Leonard or Carl Hiaasen.
So it’s easy to overlook the degree to which Big Trouble also resembles a Coen brothers comedy; it’s even directed by former Coens cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld. Upon closer examination, though, the connections aren’t especially subtle. In its opening moments, the movie presents straight-to-camera narration from an oddball figure with prominent facial hair (with Jason Lee’s tree-dwelling Puggy subbing in for the laconic Sam Elliott character from Big Lebowski) and a fat man bellowing abusively at the film’s hero from across a desk. In a stunning upheaval of expectations, the desk belongs to regular-guy hero Eliot Arnold (Tim Allen), rather than the bellower.
Eliot is a ex-newspaper columnist turned one-man ad agency who crosses paths with a Coens-like assortment of dim-bulb criminals, irritated hitmen, and level-headed cops when his son Matt (Ben Foster) accidentally crashes the attempted murder of sleazy arms dealer Arthur Herk (Stanley Tucci). On the bright side, Herk’s long-suffering wife, Anna (Rene Russo), takes an obvious liking to Eliot, just as her daughter, Jenny (Zooey Deschanel), takes a (less explicable) liking to Matt. Various combinations of characters wind up racing to track down a nuclear warhead at the Miami airport, and along the way the dialogue has some Barry-level zingers, which is a critical term meaning “sometimes funny lines that can’t match Leonard or the Coens for consistency, invention, or poetry.”
Still, Sonnenfeld has a feel for farcical repetitions, and the movie’s running gags—like an ongoing, utterly circular radio call-in debate between a host and an obstinate Gators fan, or the way that every time Matt brandishes a water gun, someone else winds up firing a real bullet in his vicinity—enhance its Florida setting. There’s an amusing (and very Barry) thread about the ubiquity of casual TV-watching, as several characters repeatedly cite the Discovery Channel or Travel Channel as sources for their exposition, while others stare balefully at television sets that have been rendered useless by slapstick mayhem. The movie also offers the recurring, retroactive pleasures of placing its supporting players exactly into their usual roles for the time period: Dennis Farina is no-nonsense and irritable (he recycles his disdain for Miami from his disdain for England in Snatch), Zooey Deschanel is deadpan, Janeane Garofalo is exasperated, Patrick Warburton is a squinty parody of masculinity, Johnny Knoxville is a knucklehead, and Ben Foster is terribly miscast as a likable teen.
The movie fits onto the Coen continuum with similar time-capsule ease. With its brisk laughs and minor consequence, Big Trouble is compatible with the movies Joel and Ethan were about to make at the time of its release: Intolerable Cruelty and The Ladykillers. Even compared to lower-tier Coen efforts, there are noticeable differences. In addition to missing his one-time collaborator’s ear for mellifluous dialogue, Sonnenfeld’s film lacks their pitiless yet affectionate eye, which would not look upon Eliot with such obvious author flattery. He’s portrayed as charming, wittily self-effacing, and irresistible to Rene Russo, the kind of characterization that feels especially labored when Tim Allen is acting it out (though Russo maintains her near-perfect track record of having at least some chemistry with every co-star she’s ever laid eyes upon). Maybe his lightweight presence is a blessing in disguise; if Eliot were played by William H. Macy, the movie might play like a ripoff, rather than an amusing, unconscious homage.
Availability: Big Trouble is available to rent or purchase from Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, YouTube, Microsoft, Fandango, and VUDU.
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Is this a bit?
You know how some humor gets better with repetition?This isn’t that.
So, I finally tracked down who your profile pic is of. Why Alfred Steele of all people?
Because someone had to marry Joan Crawford in 1955!
Well, that is technically an answer.
Joan and I had five beautiful years together, right up until I had a heart attack and, uh, died.
Well, you don’t look like you’ve been dead for 61 years. Hell, you don’t look a day over dead for 50!
Too Many Cooks
Only in the sense that the people who run Kinja also want you to volunteer personal contact information.
I used to read Dave Barry’s column all the time in the ‘90s. I even read a couple of his forays into the “bunch of South Florida wackos” genre pioneered by the likes of Hiaasen and Leonard, which were enjoyable enough. I was really looking forward to this movie (I mean, that cast) but it was just so aggressively mediocre.Rene Russo, though. I’ll be in my bunk.
That really is just it’s own little sub-genre, isn’t it? I really loved the book of Big Trouble, and tried most of the other authors in that genre, only to be disappointed. I read one book each by Hiassen and Tim Dorsey and they were just that – it was a bunch of wacky Floridians in waaaacky scenarios. But Barry has a way of turning a phrase that makes me laugh, and the other two just…weren’t funny. Like they had a funny premise, but just seemed to forget to use the set-up to write actual jokes.But back to that cast…it’s so stacked they didn’t even get to mention Andy Richter, Sofia Vergara, or Omar Epps!
I’d suggest some Elmore Leonard then. His books have a harder (and more violent) edge to them and rely less on improbably colorful characters.
I read Get Shorty a long time ago, and while I enjoyed it, I didn’t run out and buy a whole bunch more by him, so I guess it didn’t grab me that well. I still have a ways to go in some of the longer running mystery series I’m slowly working my way through (Parker, Spenser, Scudder, Bolitar, McGee) and others I keep meaning to dive into (Dortmunder) but I’ll probably give Leonard another shot someday.
Possible hot take – the movie’s better than the book. Don’t get me wrong, I really liked the book, but the movie just came together better IMO.
I read Get Shorty a long time ago, and while I enjoyed it, I didn’t run out and buy a whole bunch more by him, so I guess it didn’t grab me that well. I still have a ways to go in some of the longer running mystery series I’m slowly working my way through (Parker, Spenser, Scudder, Bolitar, McGee) and others I keep meaning to dive into (Dortmunder) but I’ll probably give Leonard another shot someday.
Interesting. So for you Dave Barry over Carl Hiassen. Wow.
I dunno. I read Stormy Weather, and it just wasn’t funny to me. Like, I could see where there were funny situations, but no jokes that actually made me laugh. Maybe I picked the wrong book to try. But with so much other stuff I know I enjoy reading that I’m not getting around to, I’m not in a hurry to give him a second chance.
I’ve read all his solo novels except his most recent; my favorites are Double Whammy, Strip Tease, and Lucky You.
I don’t think I read any of his columns until after reading the book (which at the time was one of the funniest things I’d ever read), but I was likewise disappointed with how mediocre the film was.
He’s very, very funny.
Between the setting, the genre and the cast (Russo and Farina) this sounds like it has a whole lot more in common with Get Shorty than anything Coen.
Honestly, the “links” to the Coens suggested here, for the most part, seem to be a massive stretch. It’s basically a goofy ensemble flick with some tepid early-naughties satire points, some vague attempts at oddball humour and a climax where everyone runs around an airport in a bit of a tizzy, there’s very little that’s especially Coen-y about it. .
I agree. The Coens, in my opinion, are basically nihilists. This isn’t that, not even a little.
One-time collaborator?
Sonnenfeld was DP for Blood Simple, Raising Arizona and Miller’s Crossing
Presumably “one-time” is meant as “in the past” rather than an actual tally.
This is my go-to if I have to come up with the answer to “what other than Galaxy Quest is Tim Allen actually tolerable/watchable in?” ‘Cause it sure as hell isn’t Home Improvement or Last Man Standing, that’s for goddamn sure. Pretty funny film, though, and I well remember the fairly heavy-rotation ad campaign for it that just stopped cold that fall.
There really is *only one* other than “Galaxy Quest”, and it ain’t a comedy: Mamet’s “Redbelt”.
Does Toy Story not exist in the universe where this conversation takes place?
*Questioning grunt**Canned laughter*
More “listenable” than “watchable”, but I’d also include the Toy Story movies.
What about Toy Story?
Well, I guess the fact that it’s possible to ignore that that’s even him is a point in its favor, but I wasn’t really counting it.
How is he in The Santa Clause saga?
These philistines act like they’ve never heard of Meet Wally Sparks, Jungle 2 Jungle and the inimitable Who is Cletis Tout?
Tim Allen works really well as “oblivious asshole in space”, hell, those are two of his most famous roles.
Even more specifically: “Oblivious asshole character who portrays a fictional character from space.”
His greatest role is in What Do You Say To A Naked Lady? That’s the one where he takes a camera and mike to an event called “Nudes A-Poppin’” and interviews naked ladies.
Are we counting Toy Story?
Eh, I liked him in Home Improvement.
“razzle-bazzle”: Dismissed for being an idiot with garbage-ass tastes.
It stopped cold and the movie was pushed back after Sept 11th because it includes a bomb in an airport, which made people uncomfortable for some reason.
Why are you telling me something that it’s clear from my post I already know?
This Ben Foster guy must work at the AVClub or something.
Ben Foster (and Jewel Staite) was in a Canadian-produced tween-oriented sitcom called “Flash Forward” I used to watch as a kid. Ever since he’s been in the category of actors (like Ryan Hansen or Lake Bell) I don’t particularly care to follow but always wish well of and hope is receiving steady work.
Jewel Staite is one of the greatest things about the greatest TV show in history. Look, I get it, Firefly ain’t coming back, but I’m not putting down this torch.
Dude how can you not like Ben Foster? He first came to my attention in 3:10 to Yuma where he completely steals the movie from Russell Crowe and Christian Bale. He’s amazing in Hell or High Water as well.
Oh, to be clear I like Ben Foster and enjoy his performances. He’s just one of those actors I’ll forget about for long periods of time between momentary thoughts of “oh yeah, that guy—hope he’s keeping busy with something.”
Well okay…carry on
Uh, excuse me, Luke Wilson owns 3:10 to Yuma.
But Foster is great in 30 Days of Night. He’s kind of a rich man’s Giovanni Ribisi. Or is it the other way around?
Ha, does he even talk in 3:10? He’s always welcome in my book but I have to think much of his work on that one ended up on the cutting room floor.
I don’t know, Luke Wilson popping in is all I really remember about that movie.
Well then don’t watch Get Over It.
Damn straight, Hell or High Water! One of the best Westerns I had seen in years. And Ben Foster was great in that. I have a co-worker who likes the movies he is in, and was gob-smacked to see his character Eli in “Freaks and Geeks.”
And Jewel Staite.
She’s in that category too, right?
C’mon… you aren’t moved by his only acting trope?… His “Angry kid brother” routine has produced some truly forgettable roles.
Is Ben Foster “Discount Charlie Hunnam” or is it the other way around?
I don’t really know who he is (I saw and liked the movie years ago but don’t really remember him particularly), the review seemed to go out of its way to be hostile about him, hence the Simpsons paraphrase.
No mention of Sofia Vergara’s first film role?
I have this theory that even though Big Trouble came out in 2002, it was the last 90s comedy. It is the final hurrah of the pre-9/11 easy-breezy American farce mindset.
For a while, whenever my family was falling into a circular argument someone would let out a “We got Gators fans!” that always broke the loop. And I don’t think I’ll ever be able to go to an airport without replaying the “Are we arriving, or departing?” scene.
An article should be written how another Coen friend/collaborator (Sam Raimi) completely ripped off Fargo with A Simple Plan. While it was compelling, would not have ever been made had Fargo not paved the way.
The novel actually made a point of stacking up a whole bunch of reviews that compared it to Elmore Leonard, which is actually what got me interested in Leonard, so I have that to thank it for. And you can especially see the resemblance if you compare it to Sonnenfeld’s own adaptation of Get Shorty a few years earlier.One really notable thing is that the novel suffers from some insanely jarring tone shifts that scream “first time fiction writer,” especially regarding the character Snake who’s such a despicable monster that he instantly kills any comedy whenever he shows up. The movie quite impressively is able to keep the same basic plot with a more consistent comedy tone.
Wasn’t Farina’s character in Get Shorty from Miami? That might have been a casting gag.
“Wasn’t Farina’s character in Get Shorty from Miami?”Yeah. He was the fuckin’ dipshit from Miami. Needed to get his ass to L.A. and take a meeting with Mr. Zimm. And Zimm? He tells you the way it is…or else.
They say the fuckin’ smog is the fuckin’ reason you have such beautiful fuckin’ sunsets here.
Yes, and he also had great disdain for everything Los Angeles in Get Shorty.
How can a Dennis Farina character be from anywhere but Chicago?
Ray Barboni is from the Little Chicago neighborhood of Miami.
Is that really that much of a first-timer thing? Joss Whedon’s career is replete with examples of turning on a dime from quippy to mopey or vice versa.
Obviously mileage may vary, but I assume the difference is in whether the tonal shifts feel jarring, or like they make a cohesive whole.
For some reason I always thought this was a remake of John Cassavetes’ last movie, starring Peter Falk and Alan Arkin. I’ve never seen either movie, guess that explains why.
If I recall, Barry actually consulted with Hiaasen (they were working at the same paper when he wrote this).
It’s part of a genre that I think Hiaasen referred to as “South Florida wackos”. See, also, John D MacDonald’s Travis McGee series.
And adjacent to funny Florida serial killers: Dexter, Serge, Skink.
The Ladykillers and Intolerable Cruelty remind me of the scene from The Jerk where Steve Martin is excited for the new phonebook to arrive; even the most average Coen Brothers movie is miles better than anything else going up against it.
Big Trouble though? It’s competently made, but I just kind of feel nothing for it. It’s just there. It almost fills a functional purpose, like a chair or a towel rack.
Oof, the Ladykillers is the only movie I’m aware of that l actually forgot I had seen it. It wasn’t until this review that I remembered. What a turkey.
The Coens are easily my favorite filmmakers and The Ladykillers is the only film of theirs I’ve never seen. Intolerable Cruelty IMO works on its own terms – the Coens wanted to make a homage to Hollywood slapstick romances and as that, it’s very entertaining. Where it gets smacked is for being “less” than pretty much every other film they’ve made where you get layers upon layers. It keeps things breezy so you don’t get the intertwined pathos that even comedies like Raising Arizona have in spades.
You owe it to yourself to watch The Ladykillers. You could say that giving a recommendation to watch it is the easiest thing in the world.
I’ve seen Tom Hanks and I’ve seen Alex Guinness and Tom is no Alec.
Who the heck is Alex Guinness? Oh, wait, I know who you mean – he played a guitarist and composed music for the 1991 Austrian TV movie ORF Kultursommer. Yes, he and Tom Hanks are two very different people.
Ducking auto correct.
I wouldn’t say ‘you owe it to yourself to watch it’. It’s a fun enough movie, I enjoyed it when I saw it, but I kept hearing about how it wasn’t as good as the original.So I saw the original, and yeah, it’s a better movie. If you’re only going to watch one Ladykillers, make it the one with Obi-Wan.
Why not both? I can’t speak for the older Ladykillers movie, but bfred mentioned the Coen Brothers are their favorite filmmakers, and I certainly enjoyed the remake enough to keep a pic of J.K. Simmons’ character handy, so I’ll stand by my recommendation if you’ll stand by yours and not yuck each other’s yum.
Both’s fine! I did, in fact, like the Coen remake – walked out of the theater happy. It’s a fun film, with a great cast. I’ll also stick to my rec of the original (which, if you like the remake, you probably want to watch. It doesn’t even take that long to do, it’s a breezy 90 or so minutes.)
Intolerable Cruelty would work so much better if they removed one shot/scene, that of Catherine Zeta Jones’s character finding the homeless Geoffrey Rush character. I instantly knew where the film was going, and the second act I was just waiting for the other shoe to drop. The final act where they delve into actual murder attempts isn’t helpful either.
Big Trouble though? It’s competently made, but I just kind of feel nothing for it. It’s just there. It almost fills a functional purpose, like a chair or a towel rack.Yea, it’s a basic comedy. Nothing overwhelmingly funny about it, no standout parts that I remember. Actors in their type-cast characters, goofy situations, etc.
I’ll watch it if it’s on, but I’m not going to buy it/rent it.
Love this movie. So ridiculous and so much fun.
Here’s a really charming Barry Sonnenfeld story. Be warned- this is exceptionally gross:A close friend of mine worked on “Big” many years ago. Sonnenfeld was the cinematographer, and, as you may know if you’ve ever seen him on a talk show, he tells hilarious stories. Anyway, Sonnenfeld told my buddy that he started his career shooting porno films. One day he was situated with his camera sort of underneath a couple, filming an anal sex scene. When the guy pulled out, his partner lost control of her bowels and it landed all over Sonnenfeld, who gagged, jumped up, and ran into the next room, desperately hoping to find a towel or some water or something. But another film was being shot down the hallway and he burst in to see a guy with a gigantic penis giving himself a blow job, at which point Sonnenfeld puked all over the floor.You’re welcome.
The Aristocrats!
fuckin beautiful. star.
And that marks the first time I’ve laughed at an Aristocrats joke. Well played.
This comment wins the internet today…
The making of Wild Wild West sounds more interesting than the actual movie.
6.5 imdb, so it isn’t total garbage even though it stars Tim Allen. The cast has a ton of recognizable names, way more than most movies.
Interesting fact on the imdb page – budget of 40million, worldwide gross 8.5million…that is amazingly bad.
This looks like one of the most promising casts ever if you exclude Allen. Even if you like the guy okay, this is just a terrible fit by a studio trying to get the biggest name star available regardless of whether what made that person a star is at all compatible with the tone you want from the film.
Disney had been in the Tim Allen business for a decade, and he was minting money for them.That and the fact that he acquitted himself well in an ensemble in Galaxy Quest both make it perfectly logical to put him in there.
The movie never had a chance after 9/11, because the third act revolves around airport security being really stupid and allowing an actual nuclear bomb to get past them.Plus they had already used up a lot of their advertising budget, so by the time it came out seven months after it’s original date, most people thought it had already come and gone.I remember the trailer playing all through the summer of 01, It played before everything from Pearl Harbor to The Animal to Moulin Rouge.
It really got screwed by the timing of things – almost no one even knew it got a theatrical release. I wouldn’t let the box office numbers be an indicator of quality in this case. It’s a really enjoyable movie.
I was a giant Dave Barry fan as a kid (I believe I still have a signed copy of the book somewhere), and I actually saw this movie in the theater; I remember enjoying it, but I haven’t watched it since. I’d be curious to see how it holds up.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Snarky blonde early 2000s Zoey Deschanel>>>>>>”adorkable” brunette late 2000s-now Zoey Deschanel.
I find her tolerable solely in Almost Famous, before anyone knew who she was.
Tim Allen? Hard fucking pass.
I’m sure if I went back and read Dave’s early stuff, I’d find a lot of cancel-worthy stuff, which is why I am not going back. You can’t make me. I remember laughing all the time at his collections in the 1990s.
My favorite Barry insult, which I still use today: “That boy must have been doing situps under a parked car.”
I still find myself compulsively adding, “and I am not making this up” to conversations, e-mails, etc. I can only assume that people a) didn’t spend as much time reading Barry when they were younger as I did; and b) wonder why I’ve convinced myself that they think I’m lying.
The Compulsive Adders would be a great band name
To this day my wife and I quote from this film. Specifically: “Is that a goat?”Patrick Warburton is a goddamn National Treasure.
I liked this movie when I watched it, but I’m pretty sure that if you were to chart a spectrum of film quality and arrange every single movie ever made along it, this one would fall smack bang in the middle of “average”. Competent enough, inoffensive enough, a likeable enough cast, but the end result pretty much leaves you thinking “Yep. Watched that. What else you got?”
We’re arriving, but… we want to depart…
Unless the rest of the title is “In Little China” I am not watching this.
Or late ‘80s HBO mainstay with the same title, starring Alan Arkin.
You want books about Florida may I offer you the Dusky MacMorgan series by Randy Striker https://www.goodreads.com/series/52574-dusky-macmorgan
Dennis Farina is amazing in this movie.
Didn’t this movie introduce Sofia Vergara to the American audience?
As a Miami native who was the perfect age to be precociously interested in Dave Barry, I adored this movie, even with the delay. I still insist to my friends that it’s the most true depiction of the city on film that I’ve ever seen.
Well, I’ve got a weakness for both Florida-wacko fiction and Dave Barry, so color me interested.
I’ll say it, I think “Intolerable Cruelty” is the worst Coen Bros. movie.And Clooney is very bad in most Coen films (this one, Burn After Reading, Hail Ceasar, etc.)He does gets a pass for “O Brother”, tho.