Big Trouble

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Big Trouble

R

Released May 30, 1986

1h 33m

Comedy

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Popcornmeter

14%

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7 Reviews

25%

Popcornmeter

500+ Ratings

Leonard Hoffman (Alan Arkin) is an insurance salesman struggling to make ends meet. The fact that he has triplet sons who all want to go to Yale isn't making things any easier. Blanche Rickey (Beverly D'Angelo) is also worried about money; her husband is a millionaire with a weak heart (Peter Falk), and she worries that he'll blow through all his cash before he finally dies. When Blanche meets Leonard, she devises a murderous plan that she claims will fix both their problems.

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

A big mess.

Rated: 2/4

Feb 17, 2023

Full Review

Richard Freedman

Newhouse News Service

What starts out as a merry enough romp soon runs out of steam and becomes painfully labored.

Nov 15, 2019

Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

It's not top-notch Cassavetes, but is still watchable.

Rated: B-

Apr 15, 2013

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Travis Hoover

Film Freak Central

From the depths of the files marked 'for completists only' comes John Cassavetes' Big Trouble, a film that defies all but the most determined attempts to fit it into the master's canon.

Rated: 2/4

Aug 30, 2006

Full Review

TV Guide

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.

Rated: 2.5/4

Aug 30, 2006

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Chris Robe

PopMatters

It's distressing that his last film, Big Trouble, appears to capitulate to just that sort of formula.

Aug 30, 2006

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Alec B

What if the plot of "Double Indemnity" was executed by complete idiots? Its not as awful as its reputation (the movie is too weird to hate) but it feels like they should either have let Cassavetes go all the way or hired a different director.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/27/24

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Audience Member

Although actors are great, narration is not coherent enought to maintain humour.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

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Audience Member

"Big Trouble" is unbelievable, unfunny and filled with unlikeable characters. Cassavetess should have made a better comedy.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

01/13/23

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Audience Member

I really like "non-studio Cassavetes" much better.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

01/23/23

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Audience Member

A funny well-put film by Cassavetes.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/09/23

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Audience Member

Really funny movie with Arkin and Falk at the top of their comedic game. You know what isn't funny, though? This is the last new Cassavetes film I'll ever see. Now excuse me while I go cut myself.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/19/23

Full Review

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John Cassavetes

Director

Peter Falk

Steve Rickey

Alan Arkin

Leonard Hoffman

Beverly D'Angelo

Blanche Rickey

Charles Durning

O'Mara

Robert Stack

Winslow

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Synopsis

Leonard Hoffman (Alan Arkin) is an insurance salesman struggling to make ends meet. The fact that he has triplet sons who all want to go to Yale isn't making things any easier. Blanche Rickey (Beverly D'Angelo) is also worried about money; her husband is a millionaire with a weak heart (Peter Falk), and she worries that he'll blow through all his cash before he finally dies. When Blanche meets Leonard, she devises a murderous plan that she claims will fix both their problems.

Director: John Cassavetes
Screenwriter: Andrew Bergman
Production Co: Columbia Pictures Corporation, Delphi III Productions
Rating: R
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): May 30, 1986, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 16, 2012
Runtime: 1h 33m

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