Big Trouble (2002)
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48% of critics liked it
(112 reviews) -
51% of users liked it
(20,869 ratings)
Barry Sonnenfeld directs this kissing cousin of his own 1995 hit Get Shorty, a comic caper adapted by Robert Ramsey and Matthew Stone from the novel by newspaper humorist Dave Barry. When two New Jersey hitmen (Dennis Farina and Jack Kehler) show up in Miami to whack crooked businessman Arthur Herk… More Barry Sonnenfeld directs this kissing cousin of his own 1995 hit Get Shorty, a comic caper adapted by Robert Ramsey and Matthew Stone from the novel by newspaper humorist Dave Barry. When two New Jersey hitmen (Dennis Farina and Jack Kehler) show up in Miami to whack crooked businessman Arthur Herk (Stanley Tucci), they happen to creep into his backyard at the same time as Matt (Ben Foster), a high school kid with his own assassination plans. Only, Matt plans to use nothing heavier than a squirt gun on Jenny (Zooey Deschanel), Arthur's daughter, as part of a school-wide game of "killer." When the plans collide, mayhem ensues, and Matt's struggling ex-columnist dad (Tim Allen, loosely modeled on Barry), Arthur's bored wife (Rene Russo), and two confused police officers (Janeane Garofalo and Patrick Warburton) are also called to the scene. Shift to the next day and there's more craziness to follow. Two dimwitted petty criminals (Tom Sizemore and Johnny Knoxville) choose the exact moment Arthur is transacting a nuclear arms deal to hold up the dive bar where they're regulars, which is actually a front for the Russian mob. Soon the whole motley cast -- including an agreeable drifter (Jason Lee), a buxom maid (Sofia Vergara), and a pair of ruthless FBI agents (Heavy D and Omar Epps) -- are caught up in a hostage scenario in which the weapon accidentally gets brought aboard a hijacked plan. ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi
- Directed By
- Barry Sonnenfeld
- Written By
- Robert Ramsey, Matthew Stone
- Genres
- Drama, Comedy
PG-13,
- In Theaters
- Apr 5, 2002 Wide
- Studio
- Touchstone Pictures
Critic Reviews
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Jeff Strickler, Minneapolis Star Tribune
In this clumsy attempt to merge farce with satire, the jokes repeatedly miss the mark.
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Robert K. Elder, Chicago Tribune
Mostly ... Sonnenfeld mishandles the broad part of the comedic formula, preferring repetition to thematic development.
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Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
Because the tone is so light, so genial and eager to please, the whole enterprise seems the opposite of prescient. It seems naive, almost delusional.
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Nick Rutigliano, Village Voice
Makes for distinctly uneasy viewing, as Big Trouble's massive subtext repeatedly threatens to overwhelm its haphazardly stylized diegesis.
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Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper
... Big Trouble produces only a very few small chuckles.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
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Cast
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Tim Allen
as Eliot Arnold
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Rene Russo
as Anna Herk
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Stanley Tucci
as Arthur Herk
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Tom Sizemore
as Snake Dupree
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Johnny Knoxville
as Eddie Leadbetter
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Omar Epps
as Alan Seitz
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Dennis Farina
as Henry
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Heavy D
as Pat Greer
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Jack Kehler
as Leonard
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Patrick Warburton
as Walter Kramitz
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Janeane Garofalo
as Monica Romero
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Jason Lee
as Puggy
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Zooey Deschanel
as Jenny Herk
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Ben Foster
as Matt Arnold
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D.J. Qualls
as Andrew
- Andy Richter
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Sofía Vergara
as Nina
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Siobhan Fallon-Hogan
as Ticket Agent
