Arliss Howard, Debra Winger, Paul Le Mat

Vietnam veteran Leon Barlow is struggling as a writer, and his personal life isn't much better. His unsympathetic ex-wife Marilyn doesn't approve of his visits with his two children, and he has proble...( read more  read more... )ms with alcohol. Yet even when Leon manages to catch up on alimony and child support payments, things in his life seem to decline further, until a sudden tragedy catches him off guard.

Flixster Users

77% liked it

129 ratings

Critics

42% liked it

57 critics

R, 1 hr. 51 min.

Directed by: Arliss Howard

Release Date: December 31, 2002

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DVD Release Date: September 24, 2002

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Stats: 48 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (48)


  • March 3, 2009
    loved the writing- A. Howard and Winger were excellent & great visual imagery
  • March 26, 2008
    A beer-soaked poem of a movie. It's pretty slow-moving, but Arliss Howard's performance and his use of surreality help to capture the chaotic, frustrating, poetic life of Leon Barlow. Everybody in this one provides strong performances, particularly Paul Le Mat as Barlow's amiab...( read more)le best friend and Angie Dickinson as his dignified mother. The dialogue is for the most part crisp and poetic in a broken-down working-class way. Michael Parks has some great moments as the gas station philosopher, at times politely crude and other times quietly insightful. And I love Debra Winger. Her voice sends me into orbit every time. This one reminded a bit of "Factotum" except that in that movie, Charles Bukowski has no redeeming qualities whatsoever and made me not care what happened to him. Here, while Barlow has many of the same characteristics, he still struggles to overcome his demons rather than wallow in them and celebrate them. It's a huge difference and made this a better movie for it.
  • May 24, 2007
    I actually watched this movie by accident - it caught my attention & I couldn't turn it off. Not in my genre preferences, not even remotely something I would pick off the shelf to rent normally - but an excellent thought provoking movie. Realistic & stunning.
  • April 11, 2007
    Another flick about an alcoholic trying to make it as a writer, based on the writings of Larry Brown, an excellent author.
  • April 9, 2007
    an odd film about a southern author's day to day struggles with success and happiness
  • March 15, 2007
    best movie ever. based upon the collected short stories of larry brown, one of the best writers who ever lived
  • February 11, 2007
    Sometimes I love stories from the south. Anything Tennessee Williams, for example. Othertimes, it's just plain boring, like this one.
  • January 30, 2007
    This was an amazing and unique film in how it is both directed and filmed. Clever and smart - heartcrushing and soul revealing. Rings as true as a bell and if you don't hear it ringing you've lost yourself somewhere along the way. A real piece of art.

Critic Reviews


June 21, 2002
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail

The movie is obviously a labour of love so Howard appears to have had free rein to be as pretentious as he wanted. full review

March 29, 2002
Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times

The film often achieves a mesmerizing poetry. full review

March 28, 2002
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

Brims with passion: for words, for its eccentric, accident-prone characters, and for the crazy things that keep people going in this crazy life. full review

March 15, 2002
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

It all comes down to whether you can tolerate Leon Barlow. I can't. full review

February 22, 2002
A.O. Scott, The New York Times

... alternately charming and annoying. full review

February 22, 2002
Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com

there's enough meat on the bones of Big Bad Love ... to keep it from being dismissable. full review

View more Big Bad Love reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

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