Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with a short review of the very first movie I saw at the Fantastic Fest here in Austin, TX. This movie is THE BIG WHITE, a low budget black comedy starring Robin Williams, Holly Hunter, Giovanni Ribisi, Woody Harrelson, Alison Lohman and Tim Blake Nelson.
The flick is set in Alaska and focuses on a dead body temporarily discarded in a dumpster in front of Robin Williams' failing travel agency shop. Williams is poor, his business on the verge of a total bankruptcy. His wife (Holly Hunter) is sick and the medical bills are piling up and, of course, the insurance won't cover much, if any, of the cost. Williams' brother has been missing for over 5 years, so he decides to get him declared legally dead, which would give him access to his brother's life insurance policy.
He is told, by Giovanni Ribisi, an insurance investigator who is trying to find a big scam so he's able to get the hell out of Alaska, that he's at least 3 years away from even maybe being able to cash in the insurance policy, so unless he can provide a body then he'll have to wait to jump through the hoops that might not even result in a payout.
So, Williams comes across this dead body in the dumpster outside of his work and formulates a plan. That's the set up.
The movie is one of those quirky black comedies, less along the lines of Coen Bros, but closer to something like WELCOME TO COLLINWOOD, a movie I really liked, but didn't make any sort of lasting impression on me. It's easy to compare THE BIG WHITE to FARGO... there are hitmen, there is lots of snow and lots of quirky characters. The tone is pretty similar as well, so it's an apt comparison.
Robin Williams - I like him better in ONE HOUR PHOTO, but he does a good job here, especially in scenes with his wife. This isn't crazy ADD Robin Williams, but more the "serious actor" Robin Williams. Since he's a good actor, that's not a bad thing.
Holly Hunter - She is the reason I would recommend this movie. Everybody is good in the movie, Hunter is great. She's the quirkiest of the quirks (tired of that word yet?) playing a woman who might or might not have true-blue Tourettes and has seemed to have reverted back to childhood in personality. She plays the role like a child, but sometimes the adult pops through, scared at what's happening to her and insisting that she's not crazy. Her interaction with Tim Blake Nelson in the movie are hilarious and make the movie a solid recommend instead of a "it's alright..."
Tim Blake Nelson - Speaking of. He plays one of the hitmen. He's not a professional and it shows. He's actually a sensitive person (believe or not) and looks genuinely hurt when Hunter insults his casserole ("It tastes like an anal polyp!"). He and his partner, Jimbo (played by W. Earl Brown) are a good team and help make the movie for me.
Giovanni Ribisi - This is a strange lad. He's actually turned me around. At the beginning of his career, I couldn't stand him. He was like nails on a chalkboard to me with those beedy little eyes and half-smile. But in the last couple years he's done some work that I have truly loved. It really all started with his turn in THE GIFT and since then I loved him in SKY CAPTAIN and the criminally unreleased LOVE'S BROTHER. He's really good in this, playing the kind of weasel/heavy of the movie. Alison Lohman plays his girlfriend and their relationship is surprisingly well developed for being the kind of B story to the movie.
Everyone is solid in the movie, but those noted above really stand-out. THE BIG WHITE won't change your life and a lot of it has been done better before, but it's a solid little movie that's worth seeing if it ever swings by your neck of the woods. I don't think it has been picked up yet, but I think it'd be a really solid arthouse release.
So, I'm off to day 2 of Fantastic Fest. Be back with my review of ZATHURA very soon!
-Quint
