Big Nothing

2007

Big Nothing

Critics Consensus

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TOMATOMETER

Total Count: N/A

61%

Audience Score

User Ratings: 16,506

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Big Nothing Photos

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Movie Info

Director Jean-Baptiste Andrea's wicked, jet-black comic thriller Big Nothing stars Friends mainstay David Schwimmer as Charlie Wood, a onetime American professor now married to a policewoman, Penelope (Natascha McElhone) and living in Oregon. As the story opens, Charlie takes a job as a telephone operator at an Information Technology call support center, but is promptly fired for making offensive comments to a customer. One of Charlie's shadier co-workers, Gus Dickinson (Simon Pegg) wheedles him into his plan to blackmail a priest, Rev. Smalls (Mitchell Mullen) by using "inside" information from the company that demonstrates the minister's obsession with internet porn. Thus begins an endless series of Mametian twists and turns involving double-cross, mistaken identity, forced drownings, poisonings, infidelities and cold-blooded mariticide, as the men attempt to collect on the money but run head-first into one outrageous conflict after another. Alice Eve, Mimi Rogers and Jon Polito co-star; Andrea and William Asher co-authored the script.

Rating:

R
Genre:

Comedy, Mystery & Suspense
Directed By:

Jean-Baptiste Andrea, Jean-Bapiste Andrea
Written By:

Jean-Bapiste Andrea, Jean-Baptiste Andrea, Billy Asher, William Asher
In Theaters:

Jun 12, 2007 wide
On Disc/Streaming:

Jun 12, 2007
Runtime:

85 minutes
Studio:

First Look Home Entertainment

Cast

David Schwimmer
as Charlie

Simon Pegg
as Gus

Alice Eve
as Josie McBroom

Jon Polito
as Agent Hymes

Natascha McElhone
as Penelope Wood

Mimi Rogers
as Mrs. Smalls

Billy Asher
as Dep. Garman

Mitchell Mullen
as Rev. Smalls

Sarah Edmondson
as Isabella

Colin Stinton
as Max

Olivia Peterson
as Emily

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Critic Reviews for Big Nothing

All Critics (3) | Fresh (3)

...one of the most refreshingly mean-spirited comedies to come around in quite some time.

Jan 9, 2008 | Rating: 2.5/4 | Full Review…

David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews
A work of dark comic insanity that never gets away from itself.

Jun 28, 2007 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

David Cornelius
DVDTalk.com
Tense, cruel and hilariously absurd all at once, it may, as its title suggests, not add up to so very much, but it is a deliciously entertaining journey into the night which, at under 90 minutes, never overstays its welcome.

Jun 15, 2007 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

Anton Bitel
musicOMH.com

View All Critic Reviews (3)

Audience Reviews for Big Nothing

Feb 13, 2018

If you make a film called Big Nothing you really have to offer something interesting, otherwise you're just opening up yourself to that really easy joke. For Simon Pegg completionists only.

Gimly M Super Reviewer
Sep 03, 2012

The acting is right, but the script is all wrong. All three actors play off each other well, but the constant shifting of the plot gets zanier and zanier with each passing twist. Being a story about a troubled writer, I would have almost given this film the benefit of the doubt if it had gone with the twist that these crazy turns of events were all part of a story written by David Schwimmer's character. By the time Jon Polito's character gets involved, I was completely done with this film.

Christopher H Super Reviewer
Jan 01, 2012

An interesting premise and promising start, but ultimately the film unravels into a mess. The script mistakes absurd twist after absurd twist as clever, while it's actually cheap and distracting. Laughs are to be had, but are too few and far between the rest of the material which tries desperately to be a witty black comedy, but doesn't make it.

Jeffrey M Super Reviewer
Sep 14, 2011

Well-acted with a driven, entertaining plot and just plain hilarious. I approve

Idrees K Super Reviewer