Big Trouble Reviews

Director Cassavetes here applies his remarkable talent for social observation in a light-comedy context and creates one of the strangest, and in many ways most frustrating, screen comedies in recent years. The film opens with Arkin's searching for a means to send his triplets to Yale. Appealing for help to his boss (Stack) at the insurance company, Arkin receives a pat on the back and is sent on his way. Here the plot becomes a satirical reworking of Billy Wilder's film noir classic DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944). Beautiful D'Angelo comes to Arkin for an insurance policy for her husband, Falk, whom she claims will probably be dead within a week. Unfortunately, she will be penniless if he dies. Recognizing an opportunity, Arkin agrees to help kill her husband and split the insurance money with her. There are moments of absolute comic brilliance in this film, but as a whole BIG TROUBLE seems unsatisfactory. In part, this is the result of Cassavetes' approach to plot development, which always assumes secondary importance to analysis of character interaction. Unfortunately, the characters are mainly cartoon sketches lacking the humanity required for this method to be effective. As a whole, performances are up to the caliber Cassavetes usually elicits from his actors. Stack is a particular standout. The chemistry between Arkin and Falk that made THE IN-LAWS (1979) such a success is again in evidence, with Arkin's stoical seriousness the perfect foil for Falk's unpredictable absurdity.