Big Man Japan
Metascore
62 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 13 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 13
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 13
  3. Negative: 1 out of 13
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  1. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    88
    Very funny in an insidious way.
  2. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: J.R. Jones
    80
    Hysterically funny CGI fight sequences, which pit the chubby superhero against a series of creatures so bizarre they'd keep Hieronymus Bosch awake at night.
  3. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marjorie Baumgarten
    67
    The effects are reasonably well-created, though hardly transparent. The last 15 minutes of the film spins out into unimaginable realms. Fans of this kind of stuff will leave smitten; those accompanying them to the theatre will have a pretty good time too.
  4. New York Post
    Reviewed by: V.A. Musetto
    50
    At nearly two hours, Big Man Japan is clever (in a sick sort of way) but overlong. It needs judicious editing -- more mockumentary, fewer superhero antics.
  5. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Andrew O'Hehir
    40
    Matsumoto isn't the first Japanese director to go all meta on the superhero tradition (consider also Takashi Miike's 2004 "Zebraman"), but this work of improbable lunacy may well max out the genre.
  6. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Joe Neumaier
    40
    When a movie is this strange, it's gotta count for something.
  7. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Nathan Lee
    80
    The most impressive special effect here is Mr. Matsumoto's hilariously restrained performance, a tour de force of comedic concision in a movie bloated by increasingly surreal developments.
  8. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: G. Allen Johnson
    25
    But the film written, directed and starring stand-up comic Hitoshi Matsumoto has, like most superheroes, a tragic flaw: It isn't funny.
  9. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Scott Mendelson
    70
    Awfully funny, with surprisingly potent social commentary just underneath the quirkiness.
  10. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Aaron Hillis
    90
    I hurt myself laughing at this amazingly inventive mockumentary, and because it's so good, I refuse to give away much more than an insistent recommendation.
  11. Variety
    Reviewed by: Russell Edwards
    90
    Decidedly odd, even by Japanese standards, this mockumentary about an electrically charged, skyscraper-high superhero saddled with misfortune, bad press and even worse TV ratings is tears-down-the-face funny and a genuine, jaw-dropping oddity.
  12. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Michael Ordona
    70
    The film has slow sections that test the viewer's patience. But it also touches on themes of family, heroism and nationalism, and the finale, which has plenty of surprises and rewarding references for fans of the genre, is worth the wait.
  13. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Nick Pinkerton
    40
    Between such shots of inspiration, Matsumoto’s mock-doc framework seems a lazy stock device, interviews playing more dead than deadpan and failing to exceed an over-familiar comic-pathetic attitude toward the lives of functionaries.

User Reviews

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User Score
5.5 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 11 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 8
  3. Negative: 2 out of 8
  1. BlazedCritic
    4
    The type of movie only Japanese could make. It starts like a parody of an artsy type documentary about odd man with a terrible sense of fashion, and then it goes completely bonkers (and I consider myself as a hard-to-surprise viewer) as a kaiju-movie parody. Although a certainly unique combination, it only results in a couple of 'WTF did I just see' kind of laughs and a shrug of being underwhelmed.… Full Review »
  2. BillyJoeBob
    10
    It really is that funny and sad and bizarre favorite of the year.
  3. jonC
    10
    Very trippy indeed. watch it when you're high.
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