The Big Empty (DVD)
Written and Directed by: Steve Anderson
Starring: Jon Favreau, Joey Lauren Adams, Rachael Leigh Cook, Daryl Hannah, Sean Bean, Kelsey Grammar

After the runaway success of their clever low budget cult comedy Swingers in 1996, Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau had Hollywood producers eating out of the palm of their hands. They had broken into the film industry in a big way and they were well on their way to stardom, landing roles in such movies as Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World, The Cell, Old School, and Starsky & Hutch. Well at least one of them did anyways. Poor Jon Favreau seems to have gotten the short end of the stick on this deal, as he has struggled to find bit parts in bigger productions while Vince Vaughn continues to get more and more exposure as time goes on. To his credit, Favreau did direct the Will Ferrell vehicle Elf and scored an enjoyable role in Daredevil, but for the most part Favreau is still resigned to working the indie circuit — which is not necessarily a bad thing. But other than the unofficial sequel to Swingers (Made, again co-starring Vaughn) and his TV show “Dinner For 5″ on IFC, his output even on this front has been rather slow as of late.

When I heard about The Big Empty, it caught my interest because it sounded like Favreau’s long overdue next film, and a chance for him to prove himself as a writer, director and actor without Vince Vaughn at his side. The thing is, I didn’t realize until after watching the movie that he didn’t actually write or direct it at all, he only stars in it. The movie is the brainchild of first-time director Steve Anderson, which is a little hard to believe — not because of the outstanding quality of the film, but because of the industry clout required to so many big name actors on a small indie flick. I mean, with Kelsey Grammar, Sean Bean, Daryl Hannah, Rachel Leigh Cook, and Joey Lauren Adams, we’re talking about a movie with more familiar faces than some big summer blockbusters have. Anderson even had to cut an entire character from the film played by Danny Trejo… who does this guy think he is? I don’t know how he did it, but Steve Anderson should be glad he was able to attract this kind of talent for his film. Without such an interesting cast this movie would have gotten little to no attention, and probably wouldn’t have been worth watching either.

As it is, it’s still a pretty low key film that’s hard to find even now that it’s out on DVD. Perhaps this is because the concept is so vague and difficult to describe without giving away anything. Allow me to try and summarize: John Person is a struggling actor who is propositioned by a strange, nervous man in his apartment building to do a simple job in exchange for a large sum of money. All he has to do is take a blue suitcase to Baker, California and deliver it to a man named “Cowboy”. When he arrives in Baker however, weird things start happening to him. Not really like Twilight Zone-weird, just sort of… odd weird… at first. He meets a hostile young man who is worked up about his girl troubles, a hotel clerk who delivers him breakfast in bed without being asked, and a flirtatious young girl who, according to the locals, simply walked in from the desert one day. He has trouble meeting up with this Cowboy character but keeps hearing from others that he is in town. After that, well things just go plain wacky.

As you can probably tell, Anderson seems to be going for an X-Files-esque/David Lynch story here, and for a first-time director he’s taking a risk because such a thing is very difficult to pull off without seeming contrived or hokey. To his credit, it does retain a feeling of believability all the way through, although this is also thanks in part to Jon Favreau’s own likeable persona and the aura of realism he projects in all his roles. The movie builds up a number of little mysteries along the way to the point where the fate of the film all rests on a climactic revelation at the end. Whether or not Anderson delivers such a pay off is probably a matter of opinion. The ending is left pretty wide open for interpretation, and personally I felt like it was a case of lazy storytelling. The story was told well enough along the way, but I doubt Anderson himself even had a complete picture worked out in his head and that just doesn’t cut it for me.

Also, despite the big names involved, The Big Empty still feels like a low budget indie production. You can tell it was written with certain limitations in mind, focusing on dialogue and suspense rather than action and special effects, and also keeping the number of locations to a minimum and making them convenient for shooting. Often low budget movies make up for their shortcomings with their D.I.Y. charm, but The Big Empty seemed to be aiming for something more and comes off feeling… well… empty.

I don’t think the movie was completely worthless as there are some fun performances here. Sean Bean as the mysterious Cowboy completely draws you in, and Kelsey Grammar (who I tend to dislike) as the fast-talking F.B.I. Agent Banks has some of the best lines in the movie. Jon Gries and Bud Cort also create some quirky and memorable characters that deliver a few laughs, and Favreau alongside them shows he can be one of the best comedic straight guys around.

Maybe The Big Empty will end up finding a cult following on DVD, similar to other mindbenders like Donnie Darko, but something tells me there isn’t enough substance behind this movie to merit that kind of worship. Still, if you like Twin Peaks or the X-Files then there might be something here for you. The DVD also contains a fair amount of extras including director’s commentary, deleted scenes, “Making Of” featurette and a gag reel, so for hardcore fans there is plenty more to delve into. Personally, I’m not interested enough to dig much further than the movie itself. — Sean