Review of Big Eyes (2014) by Kyle W — 02 Jan 2015

"Big Eyes" finds Tim Burton (finally) re-exploring his sunnier side, a territory which he mined beautifully years ago in "Big Fish." And while this isn't near as solid or emotionally-involving as that endeavor, it's still largely engaging if only because of the absurdity of its story.

Essentially, Amy Adams is a painter of big-eyed waifs. She marries Christoph Waltz, who passes the paintings off as his own to huge success. Husband is crazy, wife feels trapped, things unravel, etc. etc.

etc. The kicker is, of course, that this is entirely based on a true story. This alone makes it work fine as a biopic or slice of history, but in between plot developments the film becomes sloppy and often lifeless, a trait shared with the performance of the critical role of Adams' daughter.

Without this key component to care about, the stakes of the story are, sadly, a bit squandered. Adams' effectively-subdued performance does well to elevate the material, but the high quality of her performance makes one wish she had been given some meatier material.

Most of the meat is given to Waltz, who eats everyone's dinner eighty times over the course of the film, largely to a high entertainment value. The two work well together, and the film (while largely inconsistent) does wind up being kind of enjoyable and thought-provoking in its own weird way.