The Big Picture

THE BIG PICTURE is a breezy satire of the movie business from the mind of writer/director Christopher Guest (BEST IN SHOW, A MIGHTY WIND). It tells the story of Nick Chapman (Kevin Bacon), a young film director who gets put through the Hollywood wringer. Studio executives, agents, and starlets all prey on Nick's naivete and he eventually sells out, neglecting his girlfriend and best friend in the process.

What's interesting about THE BIG PICTURE is its grassroots portrayal of how Nick finally launches his Hollywood career - by starting small, doing his own thing, and involving his friends. Those are basically the tenets of independent film, which boomed in the decade following THE BIG PICTURE.

Nowadays, many of those indie directors - among them Steven Soderbergh, Robert Rodriguez, and Christopher Nolan - are getting hired to do big-budget studio pictures. In fact, Soderbergh's "sex, lies, and videotape" was released the same year as this movie.

Was Nick Chapman's "Pez People" video responsible for the indie film movement? Not likely, but THE BIG PICTURE was certainly an advocate of its principles.

I've watched this many times, and feel that this ranks with the best work of Christopher Guest. Kevin Bacon is outstanding as the idealistic young director Nick Chapman, who falls prey to the jaded Hollywood lifestyle - long before he can afford it personally or financially. Martin Short's role as Nick's agent is hilarious, and other good performances are turned in by Jennifer Jason Leigh, Terri Hatcher, and many others. This is Spinal Tap for the film industry, and well worth a look.

I was in the midst of my own film career when this movie hit the theatres, and I went and saw it with a friend who in actuality turned out to be an actor (he had been assigned to me).

Nick goes through a typical Hollywood story of succumbing to temptation, and leaving behind all he values for what he believes is success, but finds that he never lost what he thought he had, and winds up a better person and film maker for it.

The movie is a kind of skewering of the Hollywood system, but it's all done in jest. The truth is the indy film maker is noted for his skill level and artistic intelligence based upon his work, and then offered assignments based on that grading. Believe it or not most directors do commercials and industrial training videos, not feature films.

It is a delightful film, and I had a gander at it on bluray since I first saw it at the Kabuki in San Francisco all those years ago, and it holds up well. For the first time in ages I found myself cheering and booing at Nick Chapman (Pee-Wee / Hustler dolly), and for some reason found myself very satisfied with the ending of a movie.

The film is essentially one man's story as an aspiring director, and has lots of funny moments, but doesn't show you some of the regular everyday hard work that goes on and off the set, because making movies is a job like anything else.

I don't have too much else to say about it, other than for the first time in years I actually enjoyed a movie without feeling the need to tear it apart on all levels.

A good watch. Give it a whirl on the player.

Thank God for Christopher Guest. Anyone who loved him as Nigel Tufnel in Spinal Tap and has since appreciated his mockumentaries "Waiting for Guffman" and "Best in Show" should take a look back at The Big Picture. As with his other films, the humor is subtle and a bit "inside," but the more you see it, the more you love it. Kevin Bacon and J.T. Walsh are perfect, and Martin Short steals every scene he's in. (Added bonus: the Pez People song at the end, obviously sung by Michael McKean, sounds like Spinal Tap with keyboards instead of guitars. Very funny.)

This film is a wonderful example of how to get a movie made in Hollywood.

Kevin Bacon stars as a hot new director, with a prestigious award to his credit who has one aim, to make his script his way.

What then ensues is a sequence of events that should serve as a warning to people wanting to make their own movie on what to be careful of.

Bacon's script starts as a simple movie of two couples on holiday together, while one half of them is having an affair, thanks to various obstacles it transforms into a trashy affair of beaches, cheerleaders and very little story, called Beachnuts.

While this happens Bacon's personal life is also falling apart thanks to the lures of Teri Hatcher's struggling young actress.

Finally, an extremely low-budget music video puts Bacon back on the map and this time he sticks to his guns.

The message for young movie-makers is, do not lose sight of what you want and be aware of the extreme fickleness of Hollywood, which this demonstrates exceedingly well.