Spoiler Alert: This summary and review contains spoilers.
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Overview
As usual, Christopher Waltz steals the movie as his fellow actors try to keep up.
Review (with Spoilers) – Below
Characters & Story
After a divorce, Margaret (Amy Adams) found solace in her paintings featuring children who looked like her daughter Jane (Madeleine Arthur/ Delaney Raye). However, one day a charming man named Walter (Christopher Waltz) comes into her life and takes over. He becomes her husband, eventually her only friend, and steals the one thing Margaret ever had to her name, besides her daughter: her art. Leading to her fight to get confidence in herself, her work, and her fight to reclaim her work.
Praise
To be completely honest, Waltz eclipses everything and everyone in the film. No one matches him, no one calms him down, he is just full throttle funny, charming, and really just amazes you throughout the film. To the point that, if you were unfamiliar with Waltz’s work, you could understand the hype to a point.
Criticism
However, when it comes to everyone else, after a few hours since seeing the movie, they become forgettable in comparison. Take Adams for example. Her being this restrained Midwest girl makes it so, in the presence of Waltz, she becomes small and almost like a mouse in the paws of a cat. And while she is very likable in the role, mostly because of how plain and naïve she comes off, even as she mounts to fight Waltz, she never takes away from his thunder or becomes someone you genuinely wish to cheer for. If only because it may mean you would be stuck with her.
Overall: TV Viewing
The issue with Big Eyes is that Waltz goes unrestrained to the point the film seems like a comedy based on a true story. Leading to Adams becoming lost in the mix and, with no strong supporting characters, I would argue Waltz carried the film and makes it so only he leaves truly deserving praise and accolades. Now, as for why this is labeled TV Viewing? Well, it is because you never really find reasons to get emotionally connected to any of the characters. And while Waltz is good in the film, I kept thinking to myself he was auditioning to be an eccentric Bond villain throughout the movie. Making me wonder how the real Walter Keane acted for Waltz was such a caricature that it is hard to believe he was basing his performance on an actual person.
Things to Note
To me, unless Emily Blunt is utterly horrible in Into the Woods, I would argue Amy Adams is perhaps the weakest pick in the Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy, category. Making it so, like Julianne Moore, if she wins it is because it is overdue vs. for the actual film she is nominate for.
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