Watch The Big White For Free

The Age of Commercialism

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

A man (Williams) living in Alaska who is in serious debt issues tries to solve his money problems. His plan is to pass off a frozen corpse he has recently found as his long lost brother, in order to collect his large life insurance policy. It seemed like such a Simple Plan(1998), but two bubbling soon-to-be gangsters and an eager insurance adjuster have different things to say. This quirky low-key movie is definitely worth while, even just to catch Holly Hunter as Williams' Tourette's-afflicted wife. S

It makes you wonder how on earth they gathered the cast for this. I suppose the big budget meant they got paid well, so perhaps the question is, how the hell did they get the money? The script is terrible. The ideas are non too subtle rehashes of other films, too obvious to mention, yet the humor simply isn't there. Even Robin Williams can't save it, nor himself, as he really doesn't have enough to work with. Ribisi is quite good and what ever happened to Alison Lohman? She's not great in this but she's quite likable.There are a couple of semi-decent sight gags, such as the eye popping corpse but its all rather juvenile. Holly Hunter turns in the only decent performance but eventually she becomes annoying as well. Harrelson is completely wasted. Literally.There's a reason most people haven't heard of this film. It's an embarrassment for all involved.

The theme of this movie is that people can't help but revert to being caring and polite. It is quite sweet to watch even abductors and abductees treating each other with kindness, simply because they forget themselves and act instinctively. A typical joke of this form was the kidnapper preparing a gourmet meal for his victim, and fussing over whether she enjoyed it.It is not the wild crazy comedy you would expect of Robin Williams. It is more the nightmare of how a small crime is forced to escalate.There is a lot of quite grisly violence. People do it without thinking, then later think better of it.The Holly Hunter character is a complete original. She is a bit nuts, but very pleasant.Even the young ditzy phony telephone psychic loves her clients, and gives them quite reasonable advice.It does not tie up loose ends. You are always guessing why people are doing what they are. There is no Agatha Christie ending to explain it all.

Reading through some of the other comments, a common train of thought seems to be "where did this come from?". I would class myself as a regular film go-er, and pride myself with my knowledge of up and coming films. Yet, I had never even heard of this fantastic movie! It was a chance encounter in HMV that lead me to this.And, it is fantastic! Tim Blake Nelson and Earl Brown steal the show in my mind...if only every Hit-man were so inept! And, it was nice to see Robin Williams step back slightly, and tone his character down. Excellent choice! You really, really, really should watch this film, and see what so many others missed out on!