Film Review: Big Eyes

MR. & MRS. KEANE

Amongst all his tedious directorial trademarks, one thing Tim Burton has always been able to capture quite well is the misery and isolation of white-picket-fence suburban America. For the first time, in Big Eyes, he explores this not as part of a supernatural or gothic tale, but in his telling of a realistic- in fact, true- story.

Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz star as Margaret and Walter Keane, a married couple at the centre of the one of the biggest art scandals of the 20th century. Margaret, in theory a prisoner in her home, painted all of the successful “Big-Eyed Children” works, whilst her talentless husband took public credit for all the work. The first two acts of Burton’s criminally overlong film are utterly uninteresting and lack any entertainment value whatsoever. Waltz gives a career worst performance as Walter, gurning and reciting dialogue like a child doing a bad Christoph Waltz impersonation. Adams- a superb actor- gets very, very little to do. In confusingly unnecessary “comedy” supporting roles (and appearing in no more than three short scenes each) are Jason Schwartzman, Danny Huston, Terrence Stamp and Krysten Ritter.

Big Eyes has no idea what sort of film it wants to be. Burton seems to be attempting a dark comedy, but since he hasn’t made a funny film since Beetlejuice, he struggles greatly. The lack of dramatic tension and the shockingly bad acting certainly doesn’t help either. The only redeeming moment comes in the final act, when a bizarre, stranger-than-fiction courtroom scene is played out decently by Adams and Waltz and brings about 5 laughs to the film. Burton thinks he’s being meta by making a film about supposedly “bad” art when his films have been criticised for lack of depth. He’s not being meta- he’s just pointing out what a bad filmmaker he is.