The Big Empty (2003)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Steve Anderson

Writer:

Steve Anderson (writer)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Cowboys. Aliens. Blue suitcases and bowling balls. Strange things are happening out in the middle of nowhere.

Plot:

A budding actor is faced with a stalled career and a mountain of debt. |

Plot Keywords:

Budding Actor | Bar Scene | Campfire | Shot In The Back | FBI Agent

Cast

Jon Favreau	...	John Person
Joey Lauren Adams	...	Grace
Bud Cort	...	Neely
Jon Gries	...	Elron
Daryl Hannah	...	Stella
Adam Beach	...	Randy
Gary Farmer	...	Indian Bob
Rachael Leigh Cook	...	Ruthie
Brent Briscoe	...	Dan
Melora Walters	...	Candy
Kelsey Grammer	...	Agent Banks
Sean Bean	...	Cowboy
Alejandra Aguilan	...	Traveler
Jay Brothers	...	Traveler
Sara Fouts	...	Traveler

MPAA:

Rated R for language and some sexual dialogue.

Runtime:

USA:94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:M (TV rating) | Australia:MA | USA:R | Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Baker, California, USA

Company:

Aura Entertainment

Goofs:

Continuity: In the first shot after the RV stops, its light falls around one of the suitcases. Over the several shots, this suitcase gradually moves itself out of the pool of light.

Quotes:

John Person: This is not how you treat a woman. You don't kidnap a woman. You don't tie her to a chair. You don't put a gag in a woman's mouth!

Movie Connections:

References Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Soundtrack:

ALL I KNOW

One of the Finest of the Weird and Beautiful

I've just read a slew of reviews of this film. People really hate this movie and to be honest, I don't understand why. In The Big Empty, Jon Favreau plays an out of work actor who is hired/blackmailed by his landlord/neighbor (Bud Cort, aka Harold, of Harold and Maude) to deliver a briefcase to a Cowboy in the wastelands of Central California.

He is reluctant, but has nothing better to do. He heads out, leaving Joey Lauren Adams in a neighboring apartment without any shoes. As he wanders through a stark, Bakersfieldian landscape seeking solace, and a violent Englishman in full-agg-hetero cowboy regalia, he is accosted by eldritch horrors, unspeakable fornications, vicious chainsaw wielding savages, and Frasier's Kelsey Grammar. Eventually, the weirdness stacks up until his disturbingly over-sized head is viciously exploded and his torso becomes a giant bowling ball. ...wait, that's not right. It's close though. This movie IS quirky and original. Don't let the naysayers fool you with their saying of nay. In this fine piece of cinema we encounter many elements that we've seen before, but they are cobbled together into a funny and cruel shoeful of surrealist whackiness. I laughed and was temporarily dumbstuck by the shear unpredictability of it all. The cast does a fine job, and should be given waffles and fine international syrups. If you're the type of person who is afraid of movies that you can't figure out in the first five minutes (or at all), go back to the DaVinci Code. You are not ready. --S.Casey Faulkner