Big Trouble (2002 film): Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|2002 film by Barry Sonnenfeld}}

{{Infobox_Film |

{{more citations needed|date=August 2016}}

name =Big Trouble |

{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}

image =Big trouble ver2.jpg|

{{Infobox film

caption =Big Trouble movie poster |

| name director =[[Barry Sonnenfeld]]Big |Trouble

| image = Big trouble ver2.jpg

producer =[[Jim Wedaa]]<br>[[Barry Sonnenfeld]]<br>[[Tom Jacobson]]<br>[[Barry Josephson]]<br>[[Graham Place]]<br>[[Chris Soldo]] |

| caption = Theatrical release poster

writer =[[Robert Ramsey]]<br>[[Matthew Stone]]<br><small>based on a novel by [[Dave Barry]] |

| alt =

starring =[[Tim Allen]]<br>[[Rene Russo]]<br>[[Stanley Tucci]]<br>[[Tom Sizemore]]<br>[[Johnny Knoxville]]<br>[[Dennis Farina]] |

| director distributor = [[BuenaBarry Vista PicturesSonnenfeld]] |

| producer = Barry Sonnenfeld <br />[[Barry Josephson]] <br />Tom Jacobson

released =[[April 2]], [[2002]] |

| screenplay = Robert Ramsey <br />Matthew Stone

runtime =85 min |

| based_on = {{Based on|''[[Big Trouble (novel)|Big Trouble]]''|[[Dave Barry]]}}

language =English |

| starring = {{Plain list |

budget =$40,000,000<br>(estimated)|

* [[Tim Allen]]

music = [[James Newton Howard]]|

* [[Zooey Deschanel]]

awards = |

* [[Omar Epps]]

imdb_id =0246464 |

* [[Dennis Farina]]

* [[Ben Foster (actor)|Ben Foster]]

* [[Janeane Garofalo]]

* [[Johnny Knoxville]]

* [[Jason Lee (actor)|Jason Lee]]

* [[Heavy D|Dwight “Heavy D” Myers]]

* [[Rene Russo]]

* [[Tom Sizemore]]

* [[Stanley Tucci]]

* [[Sofia Vergara]]

* [[Patrick Warburton]]

}}

| music = [[James Newton Howard]]

| cinematography = [[Greg Gardiner]]

| editing = [[Steven Weisberg]]

| studio = [[Touchstone Pictures]] <br />The Jacobson Company <br />Sonnenfeld/Josephson Worldwide Entertainment

| distributor = [[Buena Vista Pictures Distribution]]

| released = {{Film date|2002|4|5}}

| runtime = 85 minutes

| country = United States

| language = English

| budget = $40 million<ref name="mojo" />

| gross = $8.5 million<ref name="mojo">{{cite web |url=https://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=bigtrouble.htm |title=Big Trouble (2002) |website=[[Box Office Mojo]] |access-date=29 July 2011}}</ref>

}}

'''''Big Trouble''''' (is a 2002 [[2002United States|American]]) is[[black acomedy film]] based on the [[novel]] ''[[Big Trouble (novel)|Big Trouble]]'' by [[Dave Barry]]. It was directed by [[Barry Sonnenfeld]] and featured a large cast including [[Tim Allen]], and [[Rene Russo]] andwith [[Dennis Farina]], [[Zooey Deschanel]], [[Sofia Vergara]], in her film debut, and [[Jason Lee (actor)|Jason Lee]] in supporting roles. Like much of Dave Barry's fiction, it follows a diverse group of people through a series of extremely strange and humorous situations against the backdrop of southern[[Miami]]. The film was a [[Floridabox-office bomb]], and received mixed critical reception.

==Plot==

'''Tagline:''' ''They have forty-five minutes to save the world. They need forty-six.''

<!-- Per WP:FILMPLOT, plot summaries for feature films should be between 400 to 700 words. -->

In a high school game of "[[Assassin (game)|Killer]]," in which a student must shoot another with a squirt gun, Matt Arnold has to "kill" classmate Jenny Herk, so sneaks up on her at home. By [[coincidence]], hitmen are also there to assassinate Jenny's father, Arthur Herk, who has embezzled money from his company, Penultra Corp.

As the fake [[assassination]] attempt coincides with the real one, police officers Monica Romero and Walter Kramitz are called out to the resulting disturbance. During the chaos, Matt's friend Andrew calls Eliot Arnold, Matt's father. Picking up Matt, Eliot immediately feels a mutual attraction for Anna Herk, Jenny's mother. Matt and Jenny are attracted to each other too. Meanwhile, their housemaid Nina falls for Puggy, a young homeless man who lives in a tree on their property. She runs from the shootings and he saves her from the hitmen.

==Characters==

Eliot Arnold ([[Tim Allen]]) has had some bad luck lately. He lost his job as a newspaper [[columnist]] after losing his temper with his [[editor]]. His wife cheated on him, leading to their [[divorce]]. The [[advertising agency]] he opened has only attracted a few lowlife clients. His teenage son Matt ([[Ben Foster]]) thinks his father is a complete [[loser]] because he drives a [[Geo (cars)|Geo]] [[Geo Metro|Metro]].

Realizing he is the intended victim, Arthur visits arms dealers to buy a rocket but is sold a [[Suitcase bomb|suitcase nuclear bomb]] as the dealer is out of rockets and doesn't tell him what it is. Escaped convicts Snake and Eddie, previously kicked out of the bar for disorderly conduct, hold it up, kidnapping Arthur and Puggy (an employee there) and taking the suitcase, not knowing its contents.

Anna Herk ([[Rene Russo]]) has had better days herself. She has a close relationship with her daughter Jenny ([[Zooey Deschanel]]), but her husband Arthur Herk ([[Stanley Tucci]]) is insufferable and quite possibly insane. Anna would leave Arthur, but that would mean dooming Jenny and herself to a life of poverty.

Meanwhile, when Matt pretends to "kill" Jenny in a mall parking lot, a security guard thinks his [[Water gun|gun]] is real and opens fire on them. Matt and Jenny flee the scene and eventually return to the Herks' home, followed by officers Monica and Walter, who stumble into the confusion. Eliot is called over once again.

Arthur is a bit on edge. He works for a company that has scored several lucrative state contracts, and he has made good money from it &mdash; but not exactly "honestly." He had the poor judgment to steal from his employers, who happen to have some very powerful connections. They do not want the money back... they want Herk dead.

The convicts force Arthur to return home, where they capture everyone and tie them up. Taking Puggy and Jenny, they leave with the suitcase for the airport. Nina, who was hiding in her room, frees everyone but Monica and Arthur who are handcuffed. Shortly after, the house is visited by two [[FBI]] agents tracking the bomb. They free Monica and she leads them to the airport, while Arthur is left behind tripping on a [[Psychoactive toads|hallucinogenic toad]], believing [[Martha Stewart]] has possessed the dog.

Henry ([[Dennis Farina]]) and Leonard ([[Jack Kehler]]) are not happy. They hate [[Miami, Florida|Miami]]. They have one simple job to do before they can go back to [[New York City, New York|New York]]: kill Arthur Herk. Unhappy [[hitman|hitmen]] are bad news, and these two are not getting any happier.

The criminals, Puggy and Jenny pass through security, where the bomb is inadvertently triggered and its 45-minute timer begins; Puggy escapes in the confusion of boarding. The FBI agents warn that unless the bomb is recovered soon, the plane will have to be shot down. Puggy leads them to the criminals' plane, which Eliot manages to sneak onto. Meanwhile, the two hitmen finally escape the traffic jam caused by Snake and Eddie and reach the airport. There, they bump into Officer Romero, and Special Agents Greer and Seitz, accidentally knocking the hitmen's rifle out of their golf bag in the process. Romero grabs it, renders it useless, and returns it.

Puggy ([[Jason Lee (actor)|Jason Lee]]) is an easygoing kind of guy. He has very few worries, and things always seem to work out well. He drifts into town and takes up residence in a treehouse, depending on odd jobs and the kindness of strangers to supply him with [[Fritos]].

Eliot, having sneaked onto the plane, attacks Eddie and Snake with a fire extinguisher. Upon realizing the case holds a bomb, Eliot hurls it out of the open rear door, only for Snake to leap after it. By a stroke of dumb luck, Snake manages to grab onto the door's steps and hang on. Despite Eliot's insistence that the case is a bomb, Snake opens fire on him, prompting Eliot to pull the emergency lever decoupling the door. Snake plunges into the ocean with a defiant smile, still clinging to the bomb, which explodes safely in the water. Eliot is congratulated by the FBI, promised presidential cowboy boots and a hat, and told the events that took place are strictly top secret.

Nina ([[Sofía Vergara]]) misses her homeland. She does not want to be a maid, especially not for a [[Foot fetishism|toe-sucking]] freak like Arthur Herk. When she finds a mysterious stranger living in a treehouse in the Herks' back yard, she falls in love with the kind, soft-spoken man.

In the last scene: after chasing down a plane, subduing two criminals, and saving Miami from a nuclear disaster, Eliot finally wins Matt's respect. Anna and Eliot marry a week after she divorces Arthur. Walter, after a forced strip search by the airport guards, becomes a [[male stripper]] and marries. The hitmen escape Miami after a series of very weird events. They claim their Miami job was the lowest point in their careers. They were surrounded by the fans of [[Florida Gators]] on their plane home, as a running joke in the film. Eddie goes back to jail in a prison outside of [[Jacksonville]], becoming friends with another dimwitted inmate who has the same affinity for crude jokes. Arthur is last seen still handcuffed and tormented by his dog.

Snake ([[Tom Sizemore]]) and Eddie ([[Johnny Knoxville]]) are criminally stupid. Or, to be more accurate, they are stupid criminals, always on the lookout for a way to steal a quick buck.

==Cast==

Two FBI agents ([[Omar Epps]] and [[Heavy D]]) are making their way through Miami's darker corners on an important case. An international arms dealer is known to have smuggled a [[nuclear device]] into town recently, and it must be recovered at any cost.

{{Anchor|Characters}}

* [[Tim Allen]] as Eliot Arnold: A divorced man, fired from his job at the ''[[Miami Herald]]'' and running a struggling advertising agency. His teenage son Matt thinks he is a loser.

* [[Rene Russo]] as Anna Herk: Jenny's devoted mother and Arthur's wife. She becomes immediately attracted to Eliot upon meeting him.

* [[Stanley Tucci]] as Arthur Herk: A rude and obnoxious man marked for death for embezzling from his company.

* [[Ben Foster (actor)|Ben Foster]] as Matt Arnold: Eliot's son and the "killer" of Jenny. He also develops a crush on her.

* [[Zooey Deschanel]] as Jenny Herk: Anna's daughter and a classmate of Matt. She is also Matt's target in the school's game "Killer."

* [[Tom Sizemore]] as "Snake" Dupree: Bumbling ex-convict.

* [[Johnny Knoxville]] as Eddie Leadbetter: Snake's henchmen

* [[Dennis Farina]] as Henry DeSalvo: Hitmen hired to kill Arthur for embezzling.

* [[Jack Kehler]] as Leonard Ferroni: Henry's assistant

* [[Janeane Garofalo]] as Officer Monica Romero: A competent police officer.

* [[Patrick Warburton]] as Officer Walter Kramitz: Monica's incompetent fellow officer. Asks his partner Romero out on dates even though he is married, and flirts with attractive women on duty.

* [[Heavy D|Dwight "Heavy D" Myers]] as Special Agent Pat Greer: FBI agent determined to retrieve a missing nuclear bomb.

* [[Omar Epps]] as Special Agent Alan Seitz: Pat's partner

* [[Jason Lee (entertainer)|Jason Lee]] as "Puggy": A homeless wanderer who loves [[Fritos]] and Nina.

* [[Sofía Vergara]] as Nina: The Herks' young Mexican housemaid. She falls in love with Puggy, whom she initially mistook for [[Jesus]].

* [[Andy Richter]] as

** Jack Pendick: Ralph's identical twin brother, a security guard with a drinking problem. He sees Matt pointing a squirt gun at Jenny and gives chase while shooting at them with his handgun.

** Ralph Pendick: Jack's identical twin brother, an equally incompetent security guard at the airport.

* [[Mike McShane|Micheal McShane]] as Bruce: The customer from hell who constantly belittles Eliot's advertisement ideas for his products. He suffers several indignities at the hands of other characters during the movie.

* [[Daniel London]] as John / Ivan: Puggy's friend.

* Lars Arentz Hansen as Leo: Puggy's other friend.

* [[DJ Qualls]] as Andrew Ryan: Matt's school friend and witness for when Matt "kills" Jenny.

==Production==

Miami PD Officer Monica Romero ([[Janeane Garofalo]]) is a good cop, but she has been saddled with a [[narcissistic]] idiot for a partner. Namely, Officer Walter Kramitz ([[Patrick Warburton]]), who is always hitting on her. In fact, he hits on every female he sees.

Filming took place entirely in [[Miami]], [[Florida]] from July 31 to October 2000.

==PlotRelease==

{{spoiler}}

A simple high-school game of "Killer" brings all of these characters into direct contact with each other. Matt Arnold has to "shoot" classmate Jenny Herk with a squirt gun to advance in his game, and decides to sneak up on her at home one night. Meanwhile, hitmen Henry and Leonard are also watching the house, biding their time until they can whack Arthur. When the fake [[assassination]] attempt crosses paths with the real one, the police are called out to the resulting disturbance and Eliot has to explain his son's actions. Matt and Jenny feel an instant attraction to each other, as do Eliot and Anna. But if this was just a prank gone wrong, why is there a bullet lodged in the TV?

''Big Trouble'' was originally scheduled for release on September 21, 2001, and had a strong advertising push. The [[September 11 attacks]] of that year made the film's comedic smuggling of a nuclear device onto an airplane unpalatable.<ref>{{cite web |last=IGN Staff |date=September 13, 2001 |title=Hollywood Halted in Wake of Tragedy |url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2001/09/13/hollywood-halted-in-wake-of-tragedy |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230619004724/https://www.ign.com/articles/2001/09/13/hollywood-halted-in-wake-of-tragedy |archive-date=June 19, 2023 |access-date=June 19, 2023 |website=IGN |df=mdy-all}}</ref> Consequently, the film was pushed back until April 2002, and the promotion campaign was toned down almost to the point of abandonment.<ref name="Bomb">{{cite web |title=Big Trouble |url=https://bombreport.com/yearly-breakdowns/2002-2/big-trouble/ |website=Bombreport }}</ref>

Arthur Herk realizes that he was the bullet's intended victim, and loses the little bit of mental stability he had. He races to a seedy bar that serves as a front for [[Russia]]n arms dealers, hoping to get something with which to defend himself. His employers, he tells the dealers, have sent him to retrieve the big guns. They give him the biggest gun imaginable: a nuclear bomb in a suitcase. Unfortunately, lowlifes Snake and Eddie pick this moment to rob the "bar". Oblivious to the actual contents of the suitcase (''"What is that, a garbage disposal?"''), but convinced that it is very valuable, they steal it.

== Reception ==

The FBI agents pursue the crooks. The hitmen pursue Arthur. The Herk women and the Eliot men pursue each other. The cops try to figure out what in the world is going on. And Arthur gets squirted in the face by a [[Psychoactive toads|hallucinogenic toad]].

''Big Trouble'' came quietly to American theaters and left quickly afterwards, receiving mixed reviews and being generally ignored by audiences, becoming a [[box office bomb]].<ref name="Bomb" /> On [[Rotten Tomatoes]], it has an approval rating of 48% based on 111 reviews, with an average rating of 5.5/10. The site's consensus is "With its large cast and frantic comic pacing, ''Big Trouble'' labors for [[slapstick]]-style hilarity, but it never really gains steam."<ref>{{cite web |title=Big Trouble |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1109942_big_trouble |website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |access-date=29 October 2022 }}</ref> On [[Metacritic]], it has a score of 47% based on reviews from 32 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.<ref>{{cite web |title=Big Trouble |url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/big-trouble |access-date=2020-05-04 |website=[[Metacritic]]}}</ref> Audiences polled by [[CinemaScore]] gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home |url=https://www.cinemascore.com/ |access-date=2022-12-07 |website=Cinemascore |language=en-US}}</ref>

[[Joe Leydon]] of ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' called it "A genially amusing ensemble farce that doesn't quite achieve enough momentum for liftoff."<ref>{{cite web |date=28 March 2002 |last=Leydon |first=Joe |author-link=Joe Leydon |title=Big Trouble |url=https://variety.com/review/VE1117917333 |website=Variety }}</ref>

The dimwitted criminals end up on a plane headed for [[The Bahamas]] with the bomb still in tow. Eliot manages to sneak onto the same flight in one last effort to save the day, stop the bad guys and show his son that he is not a loser after all.

==ControversyReferences==

{{Reflist}}

''Big Trouble'' was originally scheduled for release on [[September 21]] [[2001]]. Unfortunately, the events of [[September 11]] of that year cast an unshakable pall over the movie's comedic smuggling of a nuclear device onto an airplane. (A gun also makes its way onto the plane, but this was easily overshadowed by the specter of the [[WMD]].) Consequently, the film was pushed back until [[April]] [[2002]], and the promotion campaign was toned down almost to the point of abandonment. ''Big Trouble'' came quietly to American theaters and left quickly afterwards, receiving some positive reviews but generally ignored by audiences.

==External links==

*{{imdb titleWikiquote|id=0246464|title=Big Trouble}}

* {{IMDb title|id=0246464|title=Big Trouble}}

* [https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2002/BIGTR.php ''Big Trouble''] at The Numbers

{{Barry Sonnenfeld}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Big Trouble (Film)}}

[[Category:2002 crime comedy films]]

[[Category:American crime comedy films]]

[[Category:Films based on American novels]]

[[Category:Films directed by Barry Sonnenfeld]]

[[Category:Films postponed due to the September 11 attacks]]

[[Category:Films produced by Barry Sonnenfeld]]

[[Category:Films set in Miami]]

[[Category:Films set in Florida]]

[[Category:Touchstone Pictures films]]

[[Category:Films scored by James Newton Howard]]

[[Category:American black comedy films]]

[[Category:2002 films]]

[[Category:ComedyFilm filmscontroversies]]

[[Category:Disney controversies]]

[[fi:Big Trouble]]

[[Category:2000s English-language films]]

[[Category:2000s American films]]

[[Category:English-language crime comedy films]]