Watch They Might Be Giants For Free

Excellent but underrated film

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

This film starts well, but each scene becomes more silly than the last. Scott's and Woodward's performances are probably the only likable parts of this absurdity. The philosophical message, dangerous and childish, is that empirical reality may not be any more reliable than a madman's delusions, an idea that gained some traction with the drug-addled 60s and 70s crowds. The comedy doesn't work, and the action is cartoonish. The producers seem to have painted themselves into a corner toward the end and thrown in a slapstick scene in a supermarket, and then a completely meaningless ending. I don't buy the many suggestions that it's really a deep philosophical question at the end. The juvenile text that comes after that final whatever only makes it all the more ridiculous. I guess it's supposed to invite the audience to make up their own minds, but an eye roll would be giving it too much credit.

They Might Be Giants is directed by Anthony Harvey,with a screenplay by James Goldman(upon who's play the film is based),a haunting score by John Barry and cinematography by Victor J.Kemper. The film stars George C.Scott and Joanne Woodward.Although at first glance this just appears to be about a man who believes he is somebody else,it's actually telling us that being different is fine,why blend in with the herd? If we all did exactly the same thing then what a boring world it would be.Despite it's downright oddness at times(in keeping with the theme of the story perhaps)the film has moments of such deep poignancy it leaves you stunned(aided greatly by Barry's beautiful score).Following the tragic death of his wife,respected Judge Justin Playfair(George C.Scott)has a breakdown and retreats into the persona of consulting Detective Sherlock Holmes.His brother refers him to a psychiatric hospital where he meets Dr.Mildred Watson(Joanne Woodward).At first only interested in trying to cure him of his delusion and help him back to reality,she soon comes to see the great good he achieves as Holmes and eventually comes to believe him when he says Moriarty(here the name which represents all the sadness and evil in the world)is after him.Scott gets his teeth firmly into the duel role of the confused and broken Playfair and an out of time Edwardian Holmes, delving headfirst into the problems of 20th century New York. He and Joanne have a lovely chemistry and Holmes growing realisation that he needs his Watson above all else is beautifully played by Scott. With brilliant performances from the leads this is one to watch.On a side note this struck me as being a fine idea for a really great TV series. Each week Watson tries to bring Playfair back to reality and in between sessions with her he as Holmes could consult on various cases.

I love this movie. I'm not sure I can claim that, objectively, this is a great movie. It's a very good movie, with an interesting story, terrific performances by George C. Scott and Joanne Woodward, excellent, witty dialogue with some wonderful lines ("I think if God is dead he laughed himself to death.") But still, it's a rather slight movie, parts of it (mostly what I'd call the "reality parts" are under drawn and some might not care for the way the tone floats from very slapstick to thoughtful and back again. And it is an absurd portrait of psychiatry.But so what? This movie is exactly the kind of movie I like. The idea of being able to wander randomly and find a series of fantastic characters and situations is terrific (and very New York, where it takes place, although I didn't know that the first time I saw the film, before I'd ever been there). I love the way Scott's version of reality dove tails with actual reality (although as I say this is not always fully developed). I love the good hearted-ness of this movie and it's suggestion that sometimes there really is more than the brain can imagine. I love the ending, which is thoughtful, and the score, which has a quiet melancholy. I love the Sherlock Holmes deductions and the quirky characters.I love this movie.

Skimming through the comments posted here about this film that deals with a genius paranoid, one might get their own paranoid notion that there was a conspiracy by Scott fans (or whomever) to present what is essentially an average movie as a humongous comedy classic. All the comments are full of nothing but praise. Mysterious almost. They Might Have Been On Giant Mushrooms when they saw the movie, no idea...TMBG has good production values. The lead duo, Scott and Woodward, are excellent and quite charismatic, managing to eke out the last drop out of the shoddy script. Additonally, we get some rather nice 70s New York scenery to look at. I was mesmerized by the brief view of Times Square at 0:37:15.However, the problem is very simple: TMBG is just not funny; maybe slightly amusing on a few occasions, all of which are early on. While the first half is solid, things totally disintegrate from the half-way mark onwards, complete with an expected cop-out ending. "Philosophical" fortune-cookie bull (that cliché quote about the heart and brain) cannot make up for a lack of imagination. Yeah, yeah... it's a love story, it's about loneliness, and about who is really insane in this world, what is really normal behaviour, and all that... It's neither new nor fascinating.The script STINKS. It is lazily written. The lowest point of the movie was also its perhaps most expensive part: the Loony-Toons-like supermarket brawl. Totally unfunny. If you expect sharp satire, wit, or even visual sight gags to laugh to, forget it. The humour is often moronic, too predictable, even cartoonish.Joanne Woodward looks terrific, a natural beauty. Pity that she plays a woman who considers herself to be homely, which is hogwash. Not all that believable, hence not funny. Only in Hollywood are we supposed to consider beautiful women ugly, and she-beasts like Laura Dern and Anjelica Huston as beauties! Maltin the Leonard even calls Woodward "tomboyish"; this, coming from a nerd who says that Julianne Moore has "radiant beauty"...