The Big Picture (1989)

I pulled this puppy out of a mail-crate full of laserdiscs the other day while looking for something fun to share with a friend. Even though I'd never heard of it, it was both obvious why I'd purchased it and why it was the perfect portion for that evening's entertainment imbibement. First of all, it's a Christopher Guest movie starring Kevin Bacon. If you don't know who Mr. Guest is, you're probably wrong - you just don't know his name. He's the beaut who pumped out some of the most glorious parody films of the last twenty-five years including This is Spinal Tap, A Mighty Wind, Best in Show, yatatatata and most famously (if you ask me), The Princess Bride. If you don't know who Kevin Bacon is then....well, I recommend Wild Things because you get to see his dong in it. Yes full frontal! This passion-play falls right up there with Dr. Guest's other greats. And although it made like zero money at the box office (117k to the 5mill budget = yikes!), it clearly stands to make it's place among cult classics. First of all, the guest stars are off the hook. We're talking Martin Short, Fran Drescher, John Cleese and Richard Belzer, not to mention starring roles played by Jennifer Jason Leigh and Teri Hatcher. And seriously, Teri Hatcher's mane could send the zebras running. She is wild! All the hair in this movie is pretty out of control - not that surprising really. I love matching poof bangs! Also, The Big Picture uses some absolutely sickeningly sweet animation sequences, including historical figure thimble dances, to keep the pace up. The whole thing is speckled with noir scenes and alternate reality segments that really set it apart from other 80's comedies. Ironically enough, according to Siskel and Ebert, that's exactly what makes this movie a two-thumb down catastrophe. No wonder Hollywood is so homogenized! Seriously! Whatever dudes. Go suck on a lemon!

Ps. I totally dug The Invention of Lying and not just because I love Jennifer Garner and movies that are willing to bash the Christians. Oh wait, maybe that's exactly why I liked it...