The Big Empty
(Artisan Region 1 DVD)
(2003)
review by Head Cheeze

When Steve Anderson was writing the screenplay for The Big Empty, he figured this would be a film he'd shoot himself, along with some actor/friends, on the weekends. He set guidelines within his script that nothing, not a single prop, would be featured lest he either owned it or could borrow it from a friend. He also set a large chunk of the film in the Mojave desert (the titular Big Empty) where permits wouldn't be needed, and assured himself that his first movie could be shot on the cheap. As luck would have it, Anderson's script fell into the right hands, and studio financing soon followed, but Anderson didn't deviate from the original plan. Save for an impressive cast of character actors and indie stars (as well as the luxury of shooting on film), Anderson's The Big Empty is very much an example of guerilla filmmaking ingenuity, and a brilliantly entertaining one at that.

John Person (Favreau) is offered $25 thousand dollars to deliver a locked blue suitcase to the desert town of Baker, California. John, a struggling actor in a mountain of debt, must get the suitcase to the enigmatic trucker, Cowboy (Bean), but knows little else, other than that Neely, his neighbour who hired him for this task, is an odd little U.F.O. conspiracy nut. John figures it's easy money, regardless of the circumstances, and heads off to Baker. When he arrives, he's greeted by an assembly of small town types who make the denizens of Twin Peaks look like models of normalcy, including the seductive Ruthie (Cooke), her hot bartending mom Stella (Hannah), and Ruthie's psychopathic ex-boyfriend, Randy (Adam Beach). While John waits for Cowboy, he is soon caught up in a twisted love triangle, a murder investigation, and a bizarre alien abduction conspiracy!

The Big Empty is one of those films that comes along out of nowhere and really floored me. It's an offbeat, funny, and thoroughly absorbing film. I've made the obligatory Twin Peaks comparison already, but it is that sort of picture in that it doesn't make a whole helluva lot of sense, yet it's so much fun to watch that you forgive it if it doesn't exactly explain itself thoroughly. The beauty of this film, and many film's like it, is what happens after the credits roll. It's one of those "water cooler" flicks that will have viewers debating plot points and the mysteries long after digesting the film. Much like the beloved Donnie Darko, The Big Empty is a movie that leaves you with more questions than answers, but tidies things up just enough to satisfy.

The DVD from Artisan features a great assortment of extras, including a director commentary, making-of short, extended, alternate and deleted scenes, gag reel, trailers, and more.