The review Text copyright Filmverdict 2006. Any film stills are copyright of their respective owners. Used without permission, sorry!
While it never struck me as a film that would be particularly brilliant, Big Nothing intrigued me sufficiently to entice me to the cinema, and it turned out to be a worthwhile 90-odd minutes, all in all. It took a while to get going, with a rather clunky first act and a script in need of a couple more drafts (to spice up the dull dialogue). The film doesn't really succeed as a comedy, but around the midway point the film moves into darker territory and becomes a lot more interesting. I had previously written it off as a very mediocre caper movie but in the second half there are some pretty good twists thrown in which upped the enjoyment level. None of the actors have much to get their teeth into - David Schwimmer plays Ross again (really, it's almost the same character), Simon Pegg is likeable but has a dodgy American accent, and Alice Eve was just the token feisty blonde. Still, the narrative kept me interested, and some seemingly random touches in the early going actually became relevant towards the end, which was satisfying. The film is definitely inconsistent in tone but overall it just about worked.
The summary
Big Nothing is no classic. Stick with it, though, because once it gets going it's pretty good - but not brilliant.
