Larger than Life Reviews

The most irksome thing about this wayward, shaggy-elephant comedy from director Howard Franklin is that it gets off to a roaring start, but goes down for the count at the first hint of plot glitch. Jack Corcoran (Bill Murray), motivational speaker and author of the self-help manual Get Over It, always thought his dad was long dead. So imagine his surpirse when his father -- a two-bit circus performer -- actually does die, bequeathing him an old trunkful of clown props and an 8,000-pound elephant named Vera. Jack tries to cash in, negotiating by phone with two potential buyers: gruff but humane zoologist (Janeane Garofalo) and a sexy but cruel animal trainer (Linda Fiorentino). The hitch: Either way, he's got to get Vera across the country to San Diego. Murray once again does his crusty yet likable curmudgeon act, a role he could pull off in his sleep -- and that's exactly what he seems to be doing. The talented supporting cast is entirely wasted, with Garafalo and Fiorentino phoning in their performances. Only Matthew McConaughney gets some real screen time, which he uses to deliver an appallingly broad performance as a psychotic, sleep-deprived trucker. Only the utterly adorable Vera survives this elephantine debacle with her dignity intact.