Big Eyes

Starring: Amy Adams, Christoph Waltz, Danny Huston, Jon Polito, Krysten Ritter, Jason Schwartzman, Terence Stamp, Delaney Raye
Directed by: Tim Burton
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama
2014

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Margaret Keane (Amy Adams) watches as her husband (Christoph Waltz) takes credit for her work, and as her paintings explode into popularity, she laments receiving no credit for her life's work.

Review:

Tim: Going into Big Eyes, I wasn't sure what to expect. It seemed like an interesting biopic about a woman I knew very little about. However, it is directed by Tim Burton, who's squandered any goodwill he's ever had with me by directing too many poor films that focus on being weird and quirky instead of being good. I didn't know how all that would play. Fortunately, Tim Burton plays this one fairly straight, which translates into an effective movie. This movie won't wow you, but the story is a unique, intriguing one. I enjoyed the film.

Many entertaining movies are based on true stories- albeit ones that are so outlandish, it almost feels like fiction. You could lump this film into that category. The film follows Margaret Keane, who paints these big eyed waifs. Her new husband, Walter, takes credit for the paintings. As they skyrocket in popularity, he becomes rich and incredibly famous, although he's living a lie and taking full credit for painting his wife's paintings. The story is so crazy, you'd have a hard time believing it if it wasn't true. I was very interested in the story- how did these two operate as a married couple, knowing this secret they kept from the rest of the world? Why did they do it? How did people eventually find out? It's truly an interesting story and it was learning about it here.

The cast is solid. I might not be a big Amy Adams fan, but she has talent. She brings this sense of naivety and vulnerability to this role. You start to understand how something like this could have happened (and she allowed it to happen) to a talented woman like Margaret. Adams makes you care about her character without making it seem like she's completely innocent. The star of the film has to be Christoph Waltz, who has certainly emerged as a great talent in recent years. He plays Walter beautifully- at times, you almost sympathize with him. Others, you believe he is a megalomaniac with psychopathic tendencies. It's a fascinating character study into how a seemingly rational man could manipulate and lie his way to fame and fortune. It's oftentimes difficult to watch, especially as we learn how deep his betrayal goes. It does make for a compelling, entertaining story.

The supporting cast was good- I liked seeing Kysten Ritter and Danny Huston here. Jason Schwartzman was completely wasted in a minuscule role. Terence Stamp was strong, but just had far too little screen time.

While I enjoyed the movie, I do recognize a few flaws. One of the biggest is that I never felt much of an emotional connection. There's drama, sure, but it's about well off, white artists squabbling about who gets credit for the work. Sure, it's interesting and it makes you contemplate art as a whole- its commercialism, etc. But why do I care? We don't get to know Margaret's daughter enough to really care deeply about how all this impacts her. We feel bad for Margaret, but she certainly benefited from this as well- she might not have had the credit, but she got rich anyway. This movie hit the head but never touched the heart. That prevented it from achieving its full potential.

In the end, I'm glad I saw this movie. I almost missed it, as it fell into that level one or two down from the biggest movies of the year. It wasn't nominated for any Academy Awards, although Amy Adams did nab a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical. That sums up this film- it's not a great movie and will never be included among the great films of 2014. However, it's a solid, entertaining film that is worth seeing even if it doesn't exist among the top echelon of movies.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Big Fish