The Big White [Blu-ray]

Blackmail, death, corpses, and lots of snow...
The Big White is a bizarre and quirky thriller featuring a great cast and some fabulous location work. I'm surprised the movie never got a theatrical release it so richly deserved. The movie is fun all the way, although some viewers may find all the dark, murderous and often blood-soaked antics a bit over-the-top.

Robin Williams stars as Paul Barnell, an Alaskan travel agent who's nearing bankruptcy. Paul also has to contend with his wife Margaret, (Holly Hunter) who's suffering from a psychosomatic form of Tourette's syndrome. One night Paul stumbles upon an abandoned corpse in a dumpster he decides to pass it off as the dead body of his missing brother Raymond (Woody Harrelson), so he can collect the insurance money.

However, Paul hasn't reckoned on the attentions of ruthless insurance claims' investigator, Ted (Giovanni Ribisi) who is determined to eke out the truth about Paul's brother. Paul also has to contend with the two bumbling killers (Tim Blake Nelson...

Great Performances In A Picture That Tries Really, Really, Really Hard To Be Both Outrageous And Lovable
Mark Mylod's largest film to date has been "Ali G Indahouse," a sporadically funny (but often silly) Sasha Baron Cohen character picture. For those now on a "Borat" high, you might want to catch up on another Cohen creation. Ali G can be an amusing hip-hop poser, but the film done as a conventional narrative lacks much of "Borat"'s imagination or ingenuity. So, several years later, it's impressive that he has aligned a cast of such magnitude as was assembled for the black comedy "The Big White." We've got Robin Williams, Holly Hunter, Woody Harrelson, Tim Blake Nelson, Giovanni Ribisi, and Alison Lohman in a comedy of murder, kidnapping, insurance fraud, phone psychics, and mental illness. Set in a small Alaskan hamlet, many people would like to compare this film to "Fargo." While the film shares some of the same comic sensibilities and a similar wintry locale, it's kind of like comparing "Casablanca" to "Pretty Woman." Both films may have a certain appeal, but they are...

As the tagline says, "When you need somebody, anybody will do."
I have seen enough Robin Williams films in the past several years where I know the movie night have been made if he had not signed on to do it, but his performance did not really work in the film. However, the Robin Williams that shows up for "The Big White" has managed to strip things down another level, so that he is actually the eye of the hurricane in this 2005 black comedy that lets the rest of the cast go off the deep end. The rest is not great, but pretty good for a black comedy, a genre that has seen more misfires than hits in the last couple of decades.

Williams is Paul Barnell, who runs a travel agency in the frozen wasteland that is Alaska (at least in this film; not because it is true, but because it makes the title of the film work). Paul is strapped for cash and has a wife, Margaret (Holly Hunter), who has problems. She is convinced that she has developed Tourettes, but that would appear to be one thing she does not have. It has been five years since...

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