Big Ideas

In my comings and goings I meet with a lot of people, a significant number in the media and entertainment sector. Never have I come across a single person who has seen this film, maybe it was on TV the same night as the Academy Awards?

Filmed in 1991 as a Telemovie, it received limited theatrical release in the US and parts of Europe. What it DIDN'T achieve was to make money! A candidate for the "why did they bother" category of film-making, BIG IDEAS was pretty much sunk by its own plotline.

An intrepid young entrepreneur (aren't they all intrepid??) is forced to take on the Bureaucracy in what can only be described as an ecological detective hunt? Hmmm, that's different! Far from badly made though and the cast is universally good. Mike Smith's direction is adept and no complaints with Garry Hardman's music score?

It's the 'ecological' overtones which tend to deflect viewer interest. A word which immediately brings to mind another embarrassing flopperoo, ON DANGEROUS GROUND.

Should be able to find a copy on video somewhere, don't know about DVD!

This movie was surprisingly good, in an under-stated way. During the first half, it seemed like it lacked momentum and frankly, was kind of depressing, because we see bad things happening to good people. Once Sam the retired engineer shows up, things start to gel and we see good things happening. I think the movie could have been more even by Jimmy's mom working on (struggling with) her reading skills during the first half of the movie and for Jimmy to show more enthusiasm for either his inventiveness, the environment, or both. The way it was filmed, he seemed "half-in and half-out". The introduction of Sam was a necessary addition to dig this movie out of a morose rut. It may not have been the environmental Tour De Force of a On Deadly Ground or Erin Brokovich, bu the acting by all was very, very good and Big Ideas is well worth a watch. It teaches that results do not often come immediately.