Big
Essentially the only true Masterpiece in the rather checkered career of director Penny Marshall, the film is boosted tremendously by a great heartfelt script and a dynamic performance by Tom Hanks as boy turned grown man Josh Baskin. Marshall appears to have no clue whatsoever how a 12-year old boy is supposed to act (uh, most 12 year old boys do NOT act like little girls and sing to each other Penny), but Hanks still manages to overcome this with natural charm and acting ability, to the point where we actually BUY the performance and laugh and cry with the character as the more time he spends as an adult the more he loses touch with his innocence until he decides he wants to go back. Hanks was certainly deserving of his Oscar nomination here and maybe should have won. As for the rest of the cast, Robert Loggia makes the most of his limited screen time (the Chopsticks scene with Hanks is one of the most iconic of the 80s), John Heard is suitably slimy as a frustrated corporate toad, and Jon Lovitz gets a couple of funny bits as Hanks’ coworker. The real impression here, is Elizabeth Perkins as the career-driven woman who falls for Hanks and gets back in touch with her own spent youth. Possessing maybe the most beautiful set of lips ever, she adeptly shows the ice melting away from her steely persona and gives their love scenes complete credibility. It is also her acting, and not Hanks, that give the final scenes such emotional resonance. On the other hand, the affair is nearly sunk by the little troll Jared Rushton, who gets too much screen time and helps enable some of the biggest plot holes (how this little kid seems to go in and out of the red light district of New York City unattended is hard to swallow), and Marshall pours on the cheap sentiment with an industrial-sized shovel. The first 30 minutes are tough to get through (the job interview scene is an insult to the intelligence of working people everywhere), but the payoffs as the movie goes on get better and better. In the end, a great script and incredible lead performance helps this movie endure as a classic, despite every attempt by the director to sabotage it at every turn…
8/10