| . |
Big Fish
(Reviewed November 13, 2003)
-
This collection of a dying father's tall tales might have been served up all warm and wonderful if it had been directed by Robert Zemeckis (to whose "Forrest Gump" this movie will be compared by every
reviewer on Earth) or Steven Spielberg. In the hands of Tim Burton, however, the whole thing comes off as overly calculated and a bit cold, with the kind of forced whimsy that sunk "Secondhand Lions"
earlier this year. It's not a bad movie so much as one that might have been a whole lot better if it had a little more heart.
Albert Finney is good as the father, a cheerful longwinded dreamer. But Billy Crudup is completely miscast as the grown son who is tired of hearing the old man's fabulous yarns. Crudup comes
off like a rude, smartass, insensitive prick in a role that requires at least a little vulnerability (if not common decency).
Ewan Macgregor is okay as the young version of Finney's character, but the fact that he is two-dimensionally noble and heroic in every fantasy-filled flashback doesn't give the guy a lot to work
with. He is as unfailingly good as Gump as he strides from one unlikely story to the next, but his character lacks the poignancy and depth necessary to keep him from being more than a cartoon.
"Big Fish" is a hard movie to dislike too much, but it never makes the jump from "amusing" to "affecting."
Back Row Grade: C+
(Return to index by closing this window)
|
. |