Review of Big Eyes (2014) by Dcedmonds — 28 Jan 2015

"Big Eyes" 10 Scale Rating: 7.0 (Good) ...

The Good: Amy Adams is fantastic and while she won a Golden Globe for her performance, she was completely overlooked by the Academy and wasn't even nominated. That's a shame because she at least deserved that much as she shows amazing range in this film morphing from meek pushover, to scared and abused, and finally to strong and independent ... which was highly frowned upon in the era that the film takes place in. Christoph Waltz was uneven, but when he was on he was also great. The supporting cast excels as well with standout performances from Terence Stamp, Danny Huston, Krysten Ritter, and Jason Schwartzman. At times powerful and poignant, Big Eyes is an entertaining tale overall.

The Bad: What prevents the film from truly being great is the film's oddly placed comedic moments. At times, the film almost becomes a full blown comedy, which was an odd decision and felt out of place. Christoph Waltz's Walter Keane was presented as an especially comedic and slapstickish character at times which was a waste of his talent. While the film would shift gears and go back to it's more entertaining dramatic tone, the back and forth was jarring and takes away from the film.