SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

I expected to watch a movie about a winter holidays vacations and it turns up it's rather a black comedy in which a husband, Robin, tries to scam his insurance officer, Ribisi, to help his disturbed wife, Holly. Honestly, it will not be remembered as a classic for each of them and the movie is sometimes sluggish and dull ! For a funniest cumbersome corpse movie, you should take a look at the old french one « Joe » that shares a lot of situations. But this one has fantastic outdoors, up in this Northen Alaska town really covered by snow, and for one time, not destroyed by the common color grading ! Robin is good as this little crook with a heart as well as Holly who proves one more time her dynamic and crazy side ! Ribisi, whom i watched recently in "the gift" confirms he is a young talent much more convincing than the ones you always heard of (ex : Rockwell). The psychic girl was charming and i was sure to have seen her before : it's only now that i catch that she stars in Tim Burton's « Bigfish » indeed !

This is a black comedy. As a black; it's like the worst one ever. And as a comedy it is nasty, boring and unfunny.What kind of movie where you wish for its end all the time? A movie full of poor plot and obnoxious time. There are no real events after the return of the brother. Even that itself wasn't utilized well for anything. (Giovanni Ribisi)'s character lacked the motive. Why that guy was so obsessed to get the truth like this ? Is that because he sucks in his love life ?! So the movie's moral is be sloppy at work to be great at home?! What is this ?! I didn't understand the sickness of the lead's wife ? Or how Hawaii would cure her? The dialog between (Holly Hunter) and her kidnapper, in the kitchen, concerning lying about being sick seemed philosophical in totally the wrong place, I don't know what's the need for it in the first place ? And really; why the songs with the photomontage while the useless shots for the movie's characters getting into their cars ?? That said nil and added more bore.If I ever read on this movie's cover that it's a "Comedy", then I must screeeeeem. That could be the lousiest scheme ever !! Nothing was comic about it. Not the torn corpse in the video. Not the human flesh in the refrigerator. Not breaking a dead guy's leg. Not the bloody scratches and bruises on the leads' faces. Not the hostage situation. Not a performance. Not a scene. And not even a line !I didn't figure out any meaning out of this movie's dark world. That because there isn't any. It's only about how far a lover can go for his love, however made by one dull way! As you see, it isn't a black comedy, rather a black hole. Nevertheless, it's not all empty. It has its free nastiness !(Giovanni Ribisi) can sum up this movie well. First off, he can't be an equal to Robin Williams as a co-lead. So forget about antagonism, hot conflict, whatever. Then he's incredibly silly, and I'm not talking about his character at all. And he looked deformed for no reason, now I'm talking about his character. I don't know why he was beaten to this extent to look the awful way he did? That was not slightly comic or meaningful or anything !I'm sad for (Williams)'s choices. Look at his career in that phase since the end of the 1990s : Bicentennial Man (1999), One Hour Photo (2002), Death to Smoochy (2002), The Final Cut (2004), The Big White (2005), The Night Listener (2006), RV (2006), Man of the Year (2006). They were all financial flops or about to be. Thank god that he made Insomnia (2002), Robots (2005), Night at the Museum (2006), Happy Feet (2006) in between. It's clear that for every good movie he makes 2 doomed ones. While starring some of these movies is justified, having good elements to share in them, I don't know why he, or anybody, would do something like this big nothing, sorry, this big white ?! Good things? Ahhh, it's my curse to be objective in a movie like this. Well, they would be 1) a line that says "love is sacrifice". Yes, I know it's tacky and doesn't originally belong to this movie, but I must find something good ! 2) Holly Hunter running around cutely. 3) Marilyn Monroe dancing steamily, urrrr, No, that was my imagination trying to lessen the movie's burden during the viewing !Finally, at one of the movie's nastiest moments (Woody Harrelson) hits (Giovanni Ribisi) in the groin, for nothing at all, or maybe because the last bugged him. So, according to this dealing itself, I want to hit this movie's groin. It bugged me very !

northern accents, snow, quirky characters, money, greed, deception, black humor, so obvious comparisons to fargo. There was a great cast here and on paper this is a sleeper hit but there is a reason why movies like this are not released to mainstream audiences, its because they're rubbish. As usual at IMDb a misleading score and a vast number of top block reviews from all the people who probably love any indie low budget flick going. Don't be fooled, its not an awful film but despite the likes of robin williams, giovanni ribisi, harrelson, hunter etc, the movie never gets out of first gear due to a weak script and mediocre direction.

The obvious other movie that comes to mind when watching 'The Big White' is the Coen Brothers's 'Fargo' (you know, the kidnapping/ransom of the spouse, the money, Winnipeg etc). However, it's the comedy that makes the difference. In 'Fargo' the humour is more subtle and disguised as drama while in 'The Big White' the dialogues and situations are more obviously funny and that's what gives it its own charm. Another difference is that 'Fargo' is a black comedy while this one is more of a dark comedy that's not exactly black. Mark Mylod directs a splendid ensemble cast and tells the story at an initially slow but eventually steady pace. The actors are great. Robin Williams as the down-on-his-luck travel agent trying to make some quick bucks is wonderful. Holly Hunter is hilarious as the wife suffering from fake Tourettes syndrome (more likely a form of Munchausen's syndrome). She brilliantly balances humour and pathos. Both she and Williams share a good chemistry as do Giovanni Ribisi and Allison Lohman. Ribisi naturally fits the part while Lohman has a small role but makes the best of what she has and shines. Tim Blake Nelson and Earl Brown are quite funny too and Woody Harrelson, though initially loud, manages to give a more controlled performance in the latter reel. It's a dark comedy, so the humour is obviously dark but this is a fun film and I really liked it. The songs are very nice too especially 'I Want To Protect You' by Mark Everett. The cinematography is marvelous in the beginning but slowly settles for OK as the story moves towards the end. It's a pity that the film didn't even get a proper theatrical release and remains underrated and unseen by many. I'm glad I caught it and it's definitely worth watching for those who like dark comedy. What's not to like? There's violence, romance, suspense, humour and it's a clever story.