Spring Break
"The Big Empty" - Lion's Gate Pictures - Starring Sean Bean, Jon Favreau
Issue date: 4/29/04 Section: Entertainment
"The Big Empty" is a hard movie to classify. What starts off as a quirky character-driven film with great potential turns - in a heartbeat - into an enigmatic open-ended alien flick with philosophical overtones. The speck-on-the-radar independent film boasts an impressive collection of actors and stellar visuals that create an almost enjoyable film. The starkness of the desert is perfectly showcased by cinematographer Chris Manley.
The always funny Jon Favreau stars as John Person, a struggling actor who is slowly sinking under a mountain of debts. Instead of worrying about his financial situation, he spends his nights pondering which photograph would best sell him to potential directors. Person's financial problems are offered a reprieve when a mysterious neighbor (Bud Cort) offers Person enough money to erase his debts if he will simply take a blue briefcase into the middle of the desert to the small town of Baker, Calif. Cort plays the bizarre neighbor Neely with such oddness that viewers will be simultaneously repulsed and attracted to the squat little man. Neely and an unnamed group seem to know quite a lot about Person as Neely so carefully explains. Conversations such as this drive the first half of the movie as Person takes Neely up on his offer and makes his way to Baker to transfer the mysterious suitcase to an even more mysterious man named Cowboy.
While Person waits for Cowboy, he is introduced to the denizens of the small town in which he is now trapped. Daryl Hannah plays the town bartender, Stella, who must watch over her rowdy daughter, Ruthie.
Ruthie (Rachael Leigh Cook) is more interested in living life to the fullest, partaking in binge drinking and sleeping around. It's Ruthie's promiscuity that drives Randy (Adam Beach) wild. Randy hopes to marry Ruthie, and her constant flirting with Person drives him crazy. The real standout of the film is Jon Gries' portrayal of hotel manager Elron. Completely bonkers, Elron's subdued antics and dialogue will leave audiences anticipating his next appearance. Elron tells Person that a pornographic movie was filmed in his hotel room.
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