BIG (1988)
How dare you accuse us of self-indulgence? You think we would take advantage of the enforced cinema closures and implore you to watch some of our favourite comedies of all time at home? You really believe we want to write four separate love letters to movies that have been around for over 30 years? Well, we’re shocked. Positively shocked. This is solid consumer advice, so eyes down please and enough of your lip! How can we pitch 1984’s Ghostbusters to a 2020 audience who may not have caught it before society evolved for the better? Straight off the bat, some parts are problematic. The four (really three) protagonists are all male, occasionally less socially enlightened despite being scientists and, in Peter Venkman’s (Bill Murray) case, use their position of power to pursue relationships. In fairness, these are quite standard tropes in ‘80s films. What Ghostbusters does deliver, however, are some genuine laughs peppered with smart dialogue, a well-rounded story and special effects, which still resonate today. A ‘going into business’ story, the movie’s over-arching conceit is they are simply working class exterminators plying their trade in what was then a dirty New York City. The fact they are university graduates and the ‘cockroaches’ are from a different dimension only heightens the stakes. Killer performances from Sigourney Weaver, Rick Moranis and the quartet of heroes (Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson) cement this as one of the most fun films ever made.
What can we say about this Tom Hanks behemoth, that you don’t already know? Even if you haven’t seen Big, you could still probably rattle off the plot: a 13-yearold boy is tired of being small, uses a creepy fairground amusement machine to wish to be ‘big’, wakes up a full grown adult, almost instantly becomes a well-paid New York toy executive with a high-powered girlfriend in her thirties, wishes to be young again. The completely timeless tale writes itself. We only mock the ones we love, so as you can see we adore Big. Watch it. Rotten Tomatoes gives it 97%