neumu [ cinematronic ]




	Big Trouble
	Barry Sonnenfeld Tim Allen, Rene Russo, Stanley Tucci, Jason Lee, Dennis Farina, Janeane Garofalo, Patrick Warburton, Tom Sizemore, Omar Epps, Zooey Deschanel, Ben Foster, Dwight "Heavy D" Myers, Andy Richter, Johnny Knoxville 2001		The September 2001 release of "Big Trouble" was delayed by the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Understandable. It's a broad comedy that involves efforts by idiotic Russian arms dealers in Miami to sell a mysterious weapon in a suitcase that keeps disappearing. But the most problematic aspect of the film — directed by Barry Sonnenfeld ("Get Shorty"), based on a novel by humorist Dave Barry and featuring a cool ensemble — is that it strains too hard for laughs and doesn't get enough of them. A bravura lead might have helped. Tim Allen tries to be likable but projects his inevitable obnoxiousness, false bonhomie and cheesy sentiment as a luckless divorced dad who loses a job as a newspaper columnist, is stuck in the ad business, and may have to save South Florida from destruction to win the heart of a hottie hausfrau (Rene Russo). Any fun comes courtesy of cast members Stanley Tucci, Dennis Farina, Janeane Garofalo, Patrick Warburton, Jason Lee and Andy Richter, who know and do farce.