User reviews

I've been to Baker. I swear the characters in the movie could easily be based on the real residents of this desolate town. Made me a little uncomfortable just thinking about being stranded there. Things could happen there that no one would ever know or care about.

If you are confused when watching this then it's working. Don't try to figure it out and just enjoy the ride. Well acted. Uncle Rico was awesome! Great cast of characters. Frazier was an unexpected pleasure. This movie is more about the acting and the characters than anything else. We all have to make choices everyday and usually make the wrong ones. Make the choice to give this movie a chance.

Keep your bags packed but don't open them unless you are ready to go on this trip.

"The Big Empty" is not only the title of this movie, it's also an apt description of it. Telling of a struggling actor who runs an errand to a desert town in California for some paranormal weirdo only to become embroiled in a bunch of nonsense which goes no where, this lame comedy is packed with some quality acting talent from the B-list and little else. Cost cutting is evident everywhere and the novelty in this quirkfest's screenplay wears thin at the mid-point only to sink into oblivion as the end draws near. Not worth the price of a DVD rental this darkish comedy with sci-fi overtones is best saved for broadcast where it will be in the company of its kindred. (C)

This could be an excellent little suspense yarn with a touch of sci-fi in the brew, and in many respects it is. But (the DVD version of) the film is only 92 minutes long, and there were at least three scenes chopped down that needed to contribute important information to the continuity. Leaving them in completely would have added no more than a few minutes to an already short story, but as stripped, there are three situations left unexplained, along with a comment from Cowboy that clarifies what he is up to and defines his role.

What does a cowboy do? He rides the range in search of cattle, and when he has a herd, he delivers them to the slaughter house where they end up as hamburgers. A similar story was given many years ago in a Twilight Zone or Outer Limits show, about space aliens inviting humans to go away with them to a paradise in the sky. The humans were given a book to decipher, which the aliens claimed would reveal their ultimate intent, but the humans couldn't figure it out. Hundreds of them had already left, and more were waiting in line, before someone finally translated the title. It was a "cook book"! In other words, as in this story, the promise of a glittering future among the aliens turned out to have a darker side.

As anyone can see from the DVD version, the important three shortened scenes establish key points in the plot. They are called "Going for a ride," "Get in the room," and "Git along little doggie," the latter of which concerns a rather chilling remark by Cowboy. These three scenes should not have been truncated, because they are central to the story. The edited out parts only amount to an extra few minutes, but they add clarity to three situations that otherwise leave one wondering what was missing. Otherwise a good story.

Stuck in a mediocre life, John Person persist with his dream of acting. Hanging on the hope of a call back from an audition, John is suddenly interrupted by his neighbour Neely. Neely asks for John's help in delivering a blue suitcase to a man called the Cowboy. The delivery point is the small desert town of Baker. Once there, John meets the strange locals; hotel manager Elron, bar maid Stella, the mysterious Ruthie. Complications arise when FBI agent Banks starts investigating John and his matters in Baker.

The Big Empty is a quirky debut for director/writer Steve Anderson. The Big Empty is a mash up of ideas and concepts; aliens and abductions, bowling, the mystery of the suitcase, meeting new people in the likeliest places, freeing once self from life's pit, a self discovery to your inner life and desires. To Anderson's credit, he stops this mash up from a complete muddle and strings it all together convincingly. Yet he has taken on to much all at once. The esoteric story, the kooky characters of the town are of centered to his canvas. He has so many ideas, but placing so many have hindered the film.

A positive and a negative of The Big Empty is its overly ambiguous tone. Questions are thrown at you, hints to their answer are slowly dug up, but so many questions are left unanswered. It's very opened ended, leaving room for much interpretation. Anderson wants you to think and uncover your own answers, which is pleasant to see from a film maker, audiences are too comfortable to have the answers given.

Acting all round is solid. Jon Favreau is strong if it not near his best. Daryl Hannah is great is as Stella. Kelsey Grammar occasionally hits over the top as Agent Banks. Rachael Leigh Cook is an absolute stand out as head strong and free spirit Ruthie. Sean Bean is also quite a stand out as the mysterious Cowboy.

While The Big Empty may not grasp everyones attention or be a wholly stunning film, it shows much talent in Anderson's skill as a film maker. A very solid debut.

Before Jon Favreau became a big time Hollywood director (Zathura, Iron Man 1&2) he acted in small movies with names that hint at what the movie is about like this one. Favreau plays this wannabe actor who can't get work and gets a sidejob to bring a blue suitcase to cowboy Bob in the desert. There are some quirky characters he meets along the way, some vague suggestions of UFO and alien abductions and whatnot and plenty of nothing happening. Apparently big name actors were jumping up and down to get their faces in the picture coz Daryl Hannah, Rachael Leigh Cook, Kelsey Grammar and Sean Bean have small cameo-like roles. It's not all bad per se but there are a million movies like this out there: low budget empty pretentious nonsense. See it if you still want to. But surely you have better thing to do.

First time director Steve Anderson cobbled together a movie that makes little sense and frustrates more than it entertains. Meant to be the wacky story of an average Joe - Jon Favreau's John Person - trapped in an off-kilter small town of weird folks, The Big Empty is a confusing tale of a boring actor who needs to pay some bills.

The Big Empty has some interesting characters and situations but the problem is the main character, Person. Faced with the bizarre or dangerous, most people would react with fight or flight. What does Person do? Not much of anything; for the most part he seems non-plussed. So we are left with off-beat characters interacting with someone who doesn't respond to their odd or violent behavior.

Add to this the poorly defined central female roles of Rachael Leigh Cook and Joey Lauren Adams. Cook's teenage Ruthie changes her personality part way through the film like she's actually a pair of good/evil twins, and Adams' Grace is devoid of anything beyond a cute smile.

The fun that The Big Empty does bring to the screen comes from sexy bartender Daryl Hannah, screenwriter/cop Kelsey Grammar, loony neighbor Bud Cort, and nosy motel manager Joe Gries.

An independent film made on what I suspect was a very low budget. It really ought to be held up to all independent film makers as a model. It show clearly what you can do with very limited resources. That is, what you can do if you are talented and determined.

It's well written, well directed, well shot, and well edited. And it all adds up to a damned well-made movie that is also wonderfully entertaining. When it comes out on DVD, make yourself a big bowl of popcorn, pop it into your machine, then sit back and enjoy it. Remember how much fun watching real movies not made by committees used to be? Well, you can still have that kind of fun. Watch 'The Big Empty.'

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

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.

I've just read a slew of reviews of this film. People really hate this movie and to be honest, I don't understand why. In The Big Empty, Jon Favreau plays an out of work actor who is hired/blackmailed by his landlord/neighbor (Bud Cort, aka Harold, of Harold and Maude) to deliver a briefcase to a Cowboy in the wastelands of Central California.

He is reluctant, but has nothing better to do. He heads out, leaving Joey Lauren Adams in a neighboring apartment without any shoes. As he wanders through a stark, Bakersfieldian landscape seeking solace, and a violent Englishman in full-agg-hetero cowboy regalia, he is accosted by eldritch horrors, unspeakable fornications, vicious chainsaw wielding savages, and Frasier's Kelsey Grammar. Eventually, the weirdness stacks up until his disturbingly over-sized head is viciously exploded and his torso becomes a giant bowling ball. ...wait, that's not right. It's close though. This movie IS quirky and original. Don't let the naysayers fool you with their saying of nay. In this fine piece of cinema we encounter many elements that we've seen before, but they are cobbled together into a funny and cruel shoeful of surrealist whackiness. I laughed and was temporarily dumbstuck by the shear unpredictability of it all. The cast does a fine job, and should be given waffles and fine international syrups. If you're the type of person who is afraid of movies that you can't figure out in the first five minutes (or at all), go back to the DaVinci Code. You are not ready. --S.Casey Faulkner

John (Jon Favreau),a failing out of work actor, hesitantly agrees to transport a mysterious blue suitcase, contents unknown, into the remote desert and deliver it to a mysterious person only known as Cowboy in order to wipe his tremendous debt that he's in. By taking the job he doesn't realize that he's in far the weirdest events n his life (including but not limited to, a femme fatale, her crazy jealous boyfriend, Kelsey Grammar as a FBI guy investigating a beheading, and more) in this quirky little subtle comedy that's reminiscent of David Lynch's "Twin Peaks" with a bit of "X-files" thrown in, but not as dark as the former, nor as complex and involved as the latter. Any film that Jon Favreau seems to star in I enjoy (well except for a small handful that I actively detest, but none because of him) and while this film is not as great as his other dark comedies that he's starred in (Very Bad Things and Made), it's still perfectly serviceable, with fine performances and is a pretty good first time effort by Director Steve Anderson. Even if it loses some steam towards the end (and I still can't divorce Kelsey Grammar with his "Frasier" character, no matter how hard I try)

My Grade: B

I am a Rachael Leigh Cook fan, but man does this film blow! A marginally sympathetic out-of-work actor played by a miscast Jon Favreau hires himself out to deliver a mysterious suitcase to someone in Baker, California. Of course, nothing goes as planned, and before long Favreau runs into a parade of eccentric characters who seem to have stepped out of every bad American indie film from the past ten years. Cook looks fetching, but has little to do other than to get tied up and berated by her jealous boyfriend (Adam Beach in a thankless and nonsensical role). There's a lot of strange goings-on, but since we couldn't care less about any of these inane people, the confused and derivative plot (see REPO MAN and U-TURN) leads us to nowhere but a big fat empty (theater, hopefully).

I'm not entirely sure what this film was about. The ending is so ambiguous, that I can't tell whether I liked it or not.

I was digging the film for the first 3/4 of the movie, but somewhere in the third act, it became extremely confusing and all the good will that had built up in the wonderful character performances (Favreau, Cook, Grammer, etc) gets lost in the weird hokey-pokey that occurs. I stop caring for these interesting characters because their story is superceded by some new-age stuff that I couldn't even comprehend.

Also, there are elements of the storyline that either take too long to resolve (who's the cowboy? what's in the bag?) or just are never resolved at all (some of the characters are built up, but then just sort of disappear).

Overall, I enjoyed this film, but the ending was a mess. Maybe I'm just not understanding it, but I think they intentionally made it ambiguous. In which case, I'd say that's its biggest flaw.

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.

Before writing the interesting "The River Murders" script, Steve Anderson wrote & directed 2003's well-cast, small-time-crime styled drama "The Big Empty" in which struggling actor Jon Favreau (always good) accepts (against the judgment of bff Joey Lauren Adams (terrific)) a quick-pay-off task delivering a suitcase to sinister Sean Bean at Jon Gries' desert motel next to Daryl Hannah & Rachel Leigh Cook's bar. But events don't run smooth (partly cos of the pretty ladies involved) - there's murder, the FBI (Kelsey Grammer) get involved, talk of alien abduction even creeps in... AND Patti Smith cameos. It's good enjoyable stuff, and a solid debut from Anderson.

Basically I got the impression that this movie wasn't fully realized. Not by anyone. Not the director who was also the writer, not by the producers, not by anyone. No seemed to know where this movie was going. Which is a real shame because it could have been great. But as I watched the movie I couldn't help thinking that where the writer/director wanted to go seemed to changed every time he sat down to write and by the end of writing the movie, he had worked himself into a corner.

I do have to say that the best part of the entire movie is the mysterious Cowboy (played by the handsome, talented, and underrated Sean Bean) and his best scene in the movie is when he makes his first appearance.

Honestly Bean was the only real reason why I remained interest in the movie because parts of the movie dragged, or just felt like it was trying too hard to be something it wasn't. Jon Favreau is good, Kelsey Grammar is wasted as I felt his character really didn't add anything to the story, and Daryl Hannah is good but again, feels wasted. I would say watch it for Sean Bean, but he really isn't in the movie enough, which is a real shame.

This is a nice film, a sort of "stationary road movie". As such it is something for fans of the genre: something for those who believe that in a film - as in a journey - the way is the goal. It is not something for people who expect closure from a film.

The film presents the "hero" (and the viewer) with a nice bunch of "crazy locals". And it throws in some nods to, and mockeries of, alien and conspiracy themed films.

There's not much else to say about this film. The list of cast-members is impressive, and their performances are brilliant - or "stellar", as one should rather say in this case.

I had seen this flick quite a few years ago but nothing looked familiar until the last 15 or 20 minutes. I dont know if that is good or bad.

It had a lot of different angles that may have been able to come to a logical conclusion however, this ended up being nothing. It just flittered away to nothingness which is unfortunate because it could have been a contenda!

Kelsey Grammar was a surprise to see. They must have paid him a fortune to appear in this drek.

Steve Buschemi would have been really good in this with his crazy look and crazy way of speaking. That would have lifted up a bit.

Anyway, I would have to say don't waste your time. Re-watch Ironman.

After seeing The Cat In The Hat, The Big Empty helped me remember what great movie making is ALL about. A terrific film, from the trailer all the way to the end credits. Dark humor, Big Laughs, Mystery, Suspense, what more could you ask for in a film?

Harpo had the Hollywood fringes figured out 30 years ago: the only thing we ever see of most aspiring actors is their commercial spot on the screen. That's exactly what life is like for Jon Favreau's character John Person. But unlike Harpo's "Movie Star", Person knows he's not going to walk the walk of fame anytime soon. To make ends meet, he lets his nutty neighbor talk him into a supposedly low-profile, yet suspiciously well-paid courier job. Person heads for Baker, California, to drop off a mysterious blue suitcase, leaving his girlfriend Grace (Joey Lauren Adams) behind in LA. As the plot thickens, Grace follows him to the desert to save the day. Or what's left of it: a clandestine coalition of crazy cowboys and blue-clad aliens taking shape. But ain't it good to have Joey Lauren Adams back, even in a small part? Despite a few indie credits, she's been painfully absent from the big screen since her defining moment as lesbian comic book artist Alyssa Jones in "Chasing Amy". Her squeaky voice is so cute I'd keep her as a pet if I could. But that's against the law I guess, even in California. Guest appearance by Gary Farmer, of "Dead Man" fame, as Indian Bob.