Big Trouble (2002)
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A high school game of 'Killer' leads to a chaotic series of events involving hitmen, escaped convicts, and a suitcase nuclear bomb in Miami.
The story
In Miami, a high school student named Matt Arnold sneaks up on his classmate Jenny Herk to 'kill' her with a squirt gun as part of a game. Simultaneously, professional hitmen arrive at the same house to assassinate Jenny's stepfather, Arthur Herk, over his corporate embezzlement. The resulting chaos draws the attention of local police officers. Amidst the confusion, Matt's father, Eliot, meets Jenny's mother, Anna, and feels an immediate attraction. Meanwhile, a housemaid falls for a homeless man, and a group of escaped convicts kidnaps Arthur and others, unknowingly taking a suitcase containing a nuclear bomb.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
During a high school game of 'Killer,' Matt Arnold sneaks up on Jenny Herk with a squirt gun, coinciding with a real hit on her stepfather, Arthur Herk. Police officers Monica Romero and Walter Kramitz respond to the disturbance. Matt's father, Eliot, meets Jenny's mother, Anna, and they feel an immediate attraction. The housemaid Nina falls for a homeless man named Puggy. Escaped convicts Snake and Eddie kidnap Arthur and Puggy, stealing a suitcase they believe contains rockets but is actually a nuclear bomb. When Matt and Jenny flee to a mall, a security guard opens fire. The convicts take the group to the airport, where the bomb's 45-minute timer is triggered. FBI agents track the bomb to a plane. Eliot sneaks onto the plane and manages to hurl the bomb out of the rear door, where it explodes in the ocean after Snake clings to it. Eliot is rewarded with presidential cowboy boots and a hat. In the aftermath, Anna and Eliot marry, Walter becomes a male stripper, and the hitmen claim the job was the lowest point of their careers.
- First release year
- 2002
- Runtime (minutes)
- 85
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Barry Sonnenfeld
- Writers
- Robert Ramsey · screenplay; Matthew Stone · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Tim Allen · Eliot Arnold; Rene Russo · Anna Herk; Stanley Tucci · Arthur Herk; Ben Foster · Matt Arnold; Zooey Deschanel · Jenny Herk; Tom Sizemore · "Snake" Dupree; Johnny Knoxville · Eddie Leadbetter; Dennis Farina · Henry DeSalvo
- Genres
- black comedy; crime; comedy
- Themes
- Chaos; Absurdity; Family Dynamics
- Tone and mood
- Black Comedy; Frantic; Slapstick
- Premise and plot tags
- Ensemble Farce; Nuclear Threat; Comedy of Errors
- Source material / true-story basis
- novel Big Trouble by Dave Barry
- Reception
- The film was a box-office bomb and received mixed critical reception, being generally ignored by audiences.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 48% · review count: 111; Metacritic · score: 47% · review count: 32; CinemaScore · score: C+ · scale: A+ to F
- Production trivia
- The film was delayed due to the September 11 attacks.; The hitmen's plane was surrounded by fans of Florida Gators as a running joke.; The film was originally scheduled for release on September 21, 2001.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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