Gigantic (2008)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Matt Aselton

Writers:

Matt Aselton (written by)
Adam Nagata (written by)

Release Date:

19 June 2009 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

When it comes to family and relationships, there are no small surprises

Plot:

Mattress salesman Brian Weathersby (Dano) finds his plan to adopt a Chinese baby augmented by the arrival of a young woman, Happy (Deschanel), who comes into his workplaces, falls asleep on one of the beds, and starts to affect his life upon waking up. |

Plot Keywords:

Salesman | Mattress | Adoption | One Word Title | Homeless Man

Cast

Paul Dano	...	Brian Weathersby
Zooey Deschanel	...	Harriet 'Happy' Lolly
Edward Asner	...	Mr. Weathersby
Jane Alexander	...	Mrs. Weathersby
John Goodman	...	Al Lolly
Sean Dugan	...	Gary Wynkoop
Brian Avers	...	Larry Arbogast
Louis Ozawa Changchien	...	Matsubara
Zach Galifianakis	...	Homeless Guy
Frank Harts	...	Kenyatta Folds
Tatsuo Ichikawa	...	Nagata
Ilana Levine	...	Ducky Saltinstall
Susan Misner	...	Melanie Lolly
Kenji	...	Kanagae (as Kenji Nakano)
Clarke Peters	...	Roger Stovall

MPAA:

Rated R for language, some sexual content and violence.

Runtime:

Argentina:98 min (Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente) | USA:98 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R | Argentina:16 | UK:15 | Ireland:15A

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Gigantic Movie

Trivia:

Comedian Zach Galifianakis plays a key and controversial (though uncredited) role alongside Paul Dano.

Quotes:

Happy: What are you reading?
Brian: Uh, it's an article about a Tibetan Rinpoche who plays basketball with some other monks in Arizona. It says they got in fight with five advertising executives in front of a bunch of kids. What are you reading?
Happy: Um... mostly just ads.

Soundtrack:

Did You See the Words?

Quite Worth Your Time

I greatly enjoyed this film at the Toronto International Film Festival... my favorite of over 20 films/debuts seen over the week. (The Wrestler my second favorite) The film does not explain every single detail of the story, allowing the viewer to fill in some of the unknowns with their own ideas of origins and what the untold really means to the major characters. Even the title of the film has to be examined for meaning. This may bother some people, but I found it to be very refreshing and thought that the writing and acting outstanding.

I think that Matt Asleton did a great job directing and co-writing the work... which in some ways reminded me of a David Gordon Green effort (a compliment in my book).

I hope that others might enjoy the film as much as I did.

Thank you.

Randall Dobson