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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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You, the Living
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Big Trouble

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 32 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 9 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Crime
Written by:
Dave Barry (novel)
Robert Ramsey
Matthew Stone
Directed by: Barry Sonnenfeld
Release Date:
Theatrical: April 5, 2002
DVD: October 8, 2002
Running Time: 85 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for language, crude humor and sex-related, material
Starring Tim Allen, Omar Epps, Dennis Farina, Ben Foster, Janeane Garofalo, Jason Lee, Rene Russo, and Tom Sizemore
Based on the novel by Dave Barry, this is an ensemble comedy about how a bomb in a suitcase changes the lives of a divorced dad, an unhappy housewife, two teenagers, two hit men, two street thugs, two FBI men, and a psychedelic toad.
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Get Shorty Men in Black Men in Black II RV Wild Wild West
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
Zigging and zagging serenely between the extremes of deadpan, postmodern comedy and the antic, Max Sennett-style japery of yore.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Stephen Hunter
This is, after all, the kind of movie in which traffic accidents not only mess up getaways but also liberate goats to wander through the airport. We need more of that stuff.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
With a cast of characters so large that Robert Altman would feel at home, Big Trouble manages to do a lot of clever little things and generate quite a few big laughs without wearing out its welcome.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
There are stretches of big fun in Big Trouble, and little pleasures too.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
The script is consistently humorous, even if a few punch lines are predictable and the wit is neither highbrow nor split-a-gut funny.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
A slick, smart-alecky rat-a-tat crime comedy.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Connie Ogle
Timing is key in a comedy like this, and Sonnenfeld keeps everyone and everything clicking. The pacing is swift and the laughs are steady.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Gareth Von Kallenbach
Light-hearted and enjoyable film that will have you exiting the theater with a smile.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Russell Smith
A gleefully overplotted crime yarn that channels in sanitized form the perverse subtropical-noir sensibilities of Carl Hiassen.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
It's the kind of movie you can't quite recommend because it is all windup and not much of a pitch, yet you can't bring yourself to dislike it.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach
A comedy that doesn't work if you think about it too much. Cut it some slack, however, and you just might have a good time.
Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
With all its misfires, though, and with a Strangelovian twist that's a dud, Big Trouble remains a reasonably pleasant way to spend an hour and a half and still get change.
New York Post Jonathan Foreman
There are some decent jokes along the way. And none of the performances is bad. But they are limited by the script, which allows each character only one comic note.
Read Full Review >The New York Times A.O. Scott
The cast manages to maintain its dignity while sweat and dirt go flying around.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
A feature that suffers from the rarity of its wit yet benefits from the briskness of its pace.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
The folks at Disney's Touchstone Pictures would have been wiser, however, just to have forgotten all about this hyperactive farce.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Robert K. Elder
Sonnenfeld mishandles the broad part of the comedic formula, preferring repetition to thematic development.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Nick Rutigliano
Cute intentions and shaggy comedy only get you so far when the world is falling down around you.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
It's a letdown from the man who brought us "Men in Black" and "Addams Family Values."
Read Full Review >Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir
Such a feebleminded, good-natured comedy that it actually makes you laugh with that timeless gag of somebody pretending to cough while calling someone else a bad name.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
It's a tribute to the film's goofy, inconsequential charm that it's still possible to laugh as someone sneaks a bomb past airport security.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
A pleasant diversion, a lightly amusing criminal comedy with a plot so complicated even the people in it can't quite believe what's happening.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan
It's something we might mildly enjoy on an airplane (well, not anymore) or on a lazy Sunday TV day when nothing else is on, but in theaters, it's a clunker.
Read Full Review >Variety Joe Leydon
A genially amusing ensemble farce that doesn't quite achieve enough momentum for liftoff.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Renee Graham
Juggles so many stories and characters, nothing ever develops into more than a rough sketch.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
It's not the bomb on the plane that scuttles this film: It's the mugging, ham-fisted direction and total absence of comic timing.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
A mediocre movie that will be wiped from its stars' résumés with head-spinning speed.
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
What remains discomforting is their sheer failure to be funny.
Read Full Review >New Times (L.A.) Robert Wilonsky
Feels like an in-joke, a party where everyone on the screen's having a better time than anyone in the theater, and they all couldn't care less. And that's just no fun at all.
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
The big problem with Big Trouble, despite a fine cast and director (Sonnenfeld made "Get Shorty" and "Men in Black"), is that the damn thing isn't funny.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 6.8 (out of 10) based on 9 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Pat C. gave it a5:
Generally unpolished and harmless comedy. But watch for Siobhan Fallon Hogan, delicious as the airline ticket agent.
Linda A. gave it a9:
This movie gets better every time we watch it as there are so many characters (several of them fast talking) and great lines that it was hard to appreciate them all at one time. My husband and I have watched this DVD many times and we just crack up! We really appreciate how American pop culture is integrated into the movie -- Martha, the Discovery Channel, etc. We highly recommend this film for any adults who need a night of laughter.
Craig E. gave it a 7:
I think the American critics need to take that stick out of your arse as i found this amusing. Not all Films have to be blockbusters, this film had me laughing in parts expecialy the cops "standing there with their d**ks in their hands."
Jeremy gave it a 7:
A movie for us South Floridians, and a mostly hillarious one at that.
Alastair P. gave it an 8:
A wonderful romp with a large and excellent cast. Laughed a lot. Rarity--it was as good as the book.
Paul D. gave it a 3:
Good cast wasted in sophomoric, uneven comedy. A few funny moments don't make up for the far-fetched, cartoonish script and clunky direction.
Mary Alice R. gave it an 8:
Did a lot of wonderful, healthy laughing out loud in this movie, and it put me in a good mood for days.
