Big Trouble MPAA Rating: PG-13 Entertainment: +3 Content: -3

Originally schedule for release in September, this film was sidelined by concern for social sensitivities after events in New York. Tim Allen stars in this off-beat, slapstick comedy based on humorist Dave Barrys novel. Leading an all-star cast that includes Rene Russo, Dennis Farina, Janeane Garofalo, Patrick Warburton, Tom Sizemore, and Omar Epps, Allen plays Eliot Arnold, a divorced, former newspaper columnist. His son Matt (Ben Foster) thinks Eliot is a loser. When Matt and his best friend visit the house of schoolmate Jenny (Zooey Deschanel) in the middle of the night, to play a prank, they inadvertently foil a mob hit on her father (Stanley Tucci). Her fathers illegal behavior includes buying a stolen nuclear bomb. A possible romance between Matt and Jenny and Eliot and Jennys mother (Russo) gets sidetracked when they all become involved in a mad race to retrieve the bomb. Comical obstacles come in pairs as two FBI agents, two small-time thugs, two local police, and two mob hit men also want the bomb. Several story lines converge in this fast-paced, quirky comedy. This unlikely story has far too many, outrageous coincidences, which make BIG TROUBLE little fun, but young adults may latch onto this silly, far-fetched plot.

Aside from a prayerful Hispanic housemaid, who beats off the advances of her sleazy, adulterous boss, and a hippie Jesus look-alike who quotes Genesis, there are few redeeming elements in this film. The maids boss insists on sucking her toes despite her protests. Even though hes married, a police officer (Warburton) asks his partner for sex. Tim Allen also has a non-sexual, but romantic interlude with a married woman. Surrounding these adulterous moments is a dialogue filled with a wide variety of obscenities, profanities and crude terms. Violence is frequent in this film, but the acts are not overly graphic or gory. Brief male rear nudity is seen, along with several exposures of women in skimpy attire. Combine the objectionable elements with only a mildly funny and improbable script, and BIG TROUBLE comes up short on acceptable behavior.

Preview Reviewer: John Barber
Distributor: Touchstone Pictures (Disney), 500 S. Buena Vista St., Burbank, CA 91521