Big Nothing
Formerly a professor, Charlie Wood (David Schwimmer) has a Ph.D. but his attempts at writing books are stuck in mediocrity. In order to make ends meet, he takes a job at the computer company as an answerer of phones. This is where he meets Gus (Simon Pegg), an offensive yet somewhat light hearted colleague who happens to have a blackmail scheme against Reverend Smalls (Mitchell Mullen), a foul mouthed minister involved with illegal child pornography websites. The plan needs a participant and Gus has set his sights on unsuspecting new guy Charlie. Gus’ girlfriend Josie (Alice Eve) also weasels her way into the plot by insisting that the pair needs someone to actually call and demand the money.
Gus is selected to go to the clergyman’s house for collection but is met by Smalls waving a gun. From there it all goes downhill and then further down hill from here. Everything goes wrong; wrong accompanied by gags and miscommunication errors. Blackmail turns into murder; trespassing turns into kidnapping; victims are doubled, life is masked, snuff films are discovered, wounds are self-inflicted and ransoms are raises all while cops keep showing up at the worst times possible; just when they think their plans have fallen apart completely though, real disaster begins: betrayal, cas -filled suitcase switch a roo’s, dead bodies coming back to life after being buried and flight-turned-road trip landing them with group perpetually in custody of law enforcement officers on verge of being put behind bars.
The editing is choppy in places, especially with rapid-fire scene transitioning that jolts story along without giving much time for traditional character development. This works partly in its favor as it allows for maximum dialogue & action but keeps characters locked into position where they can’t really show any subtleties that might set them apart from actors’ usual, expected types.
Simon Pegg is very Simon Pegg and Schwimmer is the same Schwimmer seen in all of his comedies. There are also intrusive flashbacks, multiple panes appearing within the frame, animation and camera cutting back & forth between characters from every conceivable angle. It’s kind of creative but mostly pointless; fancy tricks seem to be thrown in for the sake of being new & cool without realizing that it’s all been done before.
The humor lands most of the time by providing an abnormally funny set-up with three incredibly bumbling crooks. However, Charlie frequently mumbles random useless facts that are intended to relieve tension through comedy many of which fall completely flat. The complexity, irony, character dynamics and constant coincidences are what make “Big Nothing” so enjoyable to watch though the point seems to simply be a movie filled with a bunch of difficult twists and turns that eventually gets old; every now & then it’s slightly clever but put together in generally forgettable way.
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