Review of Big Eyes (2014) by Ian G — 15 Jan 2015

I can see the attraction that Tim Burton had to this particular material since the Keane artwork bears some resemblance or at least seems to have influences some of his own sketch and artwork and probably felt some kinship to Margaret who was the creator of the work.

And despite the great sheen the film has at times and the solid performance from Amy Adams who is always reliable no matter what she is given to work with, the film overall is uneven and jockeys between being over the top (no thanks to Waltz's over the top performance as the used cars salesman like husband who can't help but lie) and supposed straight across the line hollywood biopic.

The courtroom sequence with the Keanes battling over the rights to the body of work of Margaret was particularly absurd and proves that when outside of a Tarintino film someone needs to real Waltz in with all of his florishes.

Burton might have been better off being an executive on this one and let one of his proteges take the reigns and might have garnered a much better prestige pic for the end of the year.