wes-connors Non-working Hollywood actor Jon Favreau (as John Person) is nearly $28,000 in debt. With no jobs on the horizon, Mr. Favreau accepts an ultra-weird offer from neighborly Bud Cort (as Neely), who wears a neck-brace. Pay attention; that another neighbor, Joey Lauren Adams (as Grace), first appears with a Band-Aid on her neck is a clue. Watch your necks. Favreau's mission is to deliver a locked, blue suitcase to a man called "Cowboy" (Sean Bean) in Baker, California. Reluctantly accepting the offer, Favreau meets all sorts of strange people in the transient town. They all eventually lead Favreau to an even stranger ending...Written and directed by Steve Anderson, "The Big Empty" seems to be a cross between David Lynch's "Twin Peaks" TV series and the "Heaven's Gate" cult of the 1990s. It's better than the former because Mr. Anderson's quirks lead to an ending, of sorts. Lynch's "log lady" never made as much sense; let's hope she found the right fireplace. The Heaven's Gate crowd, remember, committed mass suicide to board a spaceship they thought was somehow attached to the Hale–Bopp comet, which passed by Earth in 1997. Like the folks in this film, they prospective travelers wore brand new sneakers. Their bodies "lifted off" in groups of 15, also...While there are nods and winks to these and other stories, "The Big Empty" is an original work. Anderson appears to be a director to watch. The style and color photography, by Chris Manley, is stronger than the plot. The dozen characters are also more appealing than the story, with sexy Rachael Leigh Cook (as Ruthie) most impressive as a conquest out of Favreau's weight class and age group. Having infectious fun are jealous bf Adam Beach (as Randy), quirky hotel clerk Jon Gries (as L. Ron) and Brent Briscoe (as DAN). And, anyone who thinks they've had enough of Daryl Hannah (as Stella) should take another look at her...The ending song, "Honkytonk Maniac from Mars" by Jason Ringenberg, is very cool.****** The Big Empty (5/16/03) Steve Anderson ~ Jon Favreau, Rachael Leigh Cook, Sean Bean, Daryl Hannah

rbslack1 This is one of those movies you actually HAVE TO watch two or three times to fully appreciate. You'll start noticing little things - like that Grace has a band-aid on her neck at the very beginning. When Neely's doing his sales job on Jon, Jon's clock says it's 11:11pm, yet he needs to be in Baker by 10:00 (?). Grace is in apt 12, across the hall from Jon (so Jon is in room 11). Most (all?) clocks shown, even in the background, throughout the movie show the same time: 11:11. Jon's room number at the Royal Hawiian is 111. Jon's shoe size is 11. Bowling at the end of the movie - lane 11 and he gets an 11th frame. Significance? I haven't figured it out yet!Notice Neely's blue jump suit, and the logo on the jump suit. While Jon is chatting with Dan in the diner, later in the movie, someone walks by outside wearing the same style jump suit. Near the end of the movie, when Jon visits the FBI (Kelsey), watch keenly when Kelsy (Agent Beggs?) opens the file. Right there on top is a document with the same logo as on Neely's jump suit.There's a few other things along these lines, but you get the drift. Watch it once and enjoy it. Watch it again (and again!) with a keen eye and be a bit fascinated. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie on first viewing. It grabs your attention and keeps it. It's pleasantly different from anything you've seen before. All the acting is great, as is the soundtrack. I've recommended it to all my friends, and have gotten positive feedback from all who've seen it. Watch it again!

Neil Welch The two dozen or so people who liked it have given their comments and said not to listen to the critics, who didn't.I say, "Listen to those critics!" I watched it with my daughter's boyfriend. At the end, we looked at each other and went, "Huh?" There are many things wrong with it. None of these things are fatal individually: taken together, doom is inevitable. They include confusing plot, unresolved plot points, lack of exposition, slow story telling, irrelevant subplots, and lack of credibility (which is quite something given the subject matter - imagine how utterly unconvincing a film must be if you start out being prepared to suspend your disbelief about aliens, and you end up thinking the whole film is a bunch of preposterous claptrap).A wonderfully eclectic cast is wasted on this mess. What on earth did they think they were doing? If the pitch reflected the finished article, I can't imagine how anyone was persuaded to put up the money to make it.

guetta10 The movie is built "Coen Brothers like", a mixed-up of "Fargo" with "the Big Lebowsky" and "Barton Fink"... It has the mystery That's so well-known in the Coen Brothers' movies. but still something is missing... maybe it's because of the on-actor-role that the film provides, and making an almost one man show in a movie like this is very hard (allthouh we have seen it in "Barton Fink"). It is an experience for the viewers to know something they know, but in a different way. despite of the fact that the movie is not very smart, you Can't finish watching it without a thousand running through your head. For closing: You really should watch this movie, not just because it's good or because of the beautiful Rachel lee Cook, but because it will show you lines of comparison between this movie and the Coen brothers' movies, and you can really learn from it. It's not a great movie, but I know I couldn't lay my eyes off it.