Big Trouble

Cassevetes took this job as a favour to Falk and also to clear the title of his house before his death (rumoured). It bears no real resemblance to his more well known films other than perhaps a tendency to favour long takes over short ones. Falk and Arkin were a proven commodity, and they are about as funny as the material allows them to be. There are a few inspired offbeat gags, but this comedic take on a Double Indemnity style scenario struggles to find a consistent tone

I expected this to be worse. While mostly unremarkable, it has a few good moments, and the surprise wild nonsense of a climax was fun. Big Trouble feels mostly at odds with the rest of Cassavetes' output, being a fairly average mainstream comedy.

Big trouble: 7 // 8 // 8 // 6 // 6 // 5 // 7

Cassavetes' final movie is, unexpectedly, a thoroughly unfunny comedy about an elaborate insurance fraud. It's ably shot and features a very respectable cast, but it wasn't written by Cassavetes (obviously), it's really humdrum and stale, and eventually goes off in such a pointless direction that it lost my interest completely.