Talk about "The Big Empty" here:
Review by: Breanne Derby
Plot Summary
Would-be actor John Person (Jon Favreau) finds himself poor and about to lose his apartment when his quirky neighbor, Neely (Bud Cort), offers to provide him with the money he needs to pay off his debts. All John has to do in return is deliver a blue suitcase to a man named Cowboy in a tiny town called Baker, California (Population less than 1000). Baker is located out in the middle of nowhere, and the village is surrounded by desert, which is affectionately referred to by the locals as "The Big Empty." It takes John several days to finally meet up with Cowboy, and over the course of those days he meets the quirky inhabitants of Baker, and encounters excessive amounts of mayhem along the way.
Review
Throughout the course of this film, I, the viewer, consistently found myself wondering what the heck was going on. A friend of mine recommended this as the "worst movie ever made, even worse than 'Catwoman'" and I, in challenge to this claim (because "Catwoman" was an abysmal catastrophe), chose to watch and review this film, and though I was constantly thinking "What in the world…?" and there was more than likely a perpetual look of confusion of my face while I was viewing it, "The Big Empty" does not even begin to compare with the disaster that is "Catwoman."
The thing about "The Big Empty" is that it is really a very incredibly weird movie. It's not meant to be a film that one could take seriously and really be concerned about. It's something of a science-fiction comedy. The way the story is written is very strange, and the characters themselves are a bit unconventional and eccentric, which made the movie out to be very odd indeed, and I think the story was set up in the best way possible. If the film had taken itself too seriously, then it would have been impossible to believe and it would have turned out to be a really lousy.
The special effects used in this film were done as tastefully as possible considering the scenario. The movie in itself was a bit cheesy and hokey, so the special effects were a tiny bit, but for the most part they were decent and not used in overabundance like many films these days. There were two or three scenes in which special effects were used, and they weren't done to be the direct focus of the viewer in those scenes, so they didn't look out of place, and it melded fairly well with the rest of the film.
To fully enjoy this film, one must understand that it is not even remotely realistic at all, and since it doesn't try to force realism into itself, the film works well. Many plotlines of movies that are considered "classics" are really very unrealistic.
Throughout the film many events are taking place, and the plot quickly progressed at the beginning, only to slow down once John had spent a couple of days in Baker. This drag in the plot left me feeling a bit out of place, because in the very beginning characters had been established and action was beginning to take place, only to have to start over fresh and establish more characters before more things could happen.
Conclusion
It's hard to determine whether or not I actually like this film or not, and it's hard to give it a rating because it was a very strange storyline turned into an equally bizarre film. I have the sneaking suspicion that there is a symbolic message imbedded in the film that I did not accurately receive. The society developed is very cult-esque, and I imagine that would have something to do with any potential symbolism of the film, or perhaps there is none at all and I'm just overanalyzing things. At any rate, whether or not it is imbedded in the plot or I'm just looking too much into things, there could potentially be a deeper meaning to this seemingly simple film about a tiny town in the middle of nowhere. I'm tempted to watch the film again and search for meaning, because I bet I could find it, even if it isn't supposed to be there.
