A young man gets hit by a car, the man who hit him visits in the hospital and then invites him to stay with his family while he gets better. As the two get to know each other, the man hires the young man to write his biography. Random things follow.
Written and directed by Brian Petsos whose only other credits are for 5 short films, this feature has a few good ideas here and there and a premise that could have led to something really fun. Unfortunately, it does not. It’s not boring, but it’s also not exactly entertaining. There is a ton in here and most of it feels unnecessary, something that can work in an absurdist comedy, but this is not so here.
The cast here is the entire appeal of the film. For some it will be to see Oscar Isaac in a different role (as he always does, variety is the key to his work), others will want to see Megan Fox play the hot wife, some will want to see Lucy Hale be dreamy, and some will want to see their beloved Andy Garcia. None of these reasons are bad for watching this, but most of these reasons will lead to disappointment. Yes, they are all fairly good to great in their parts, but as mentioned above, the film doesn’t have enough that connects to be really entertaining. So their performances are interesting, but not quite enough. Also, the lead performance here is by sixth-billed Emory Cohen. His work here comes off aloof and pretty much lost. Which mostly works for the part, but gets old fast. Was this in the script, the direction, or an acting choice? Perhaps a mix of all. Overall, it pushing him far being the likes of Garcia and Isaacs in points of interest in this film.
Also notable in the credits (as listed on IMDB), there are 33 producers of different titles. 33. This many producers is usually something seen on a Kickstarter film that sold the title as a perk. Or on a massive mega-production where tons of money went into it. It’s rarely seen on film that seem more like an independent production that may have been self-produced by the writer director. This interesting tidbit of information aside, the film seems like it may have suffered from the “too many cooks” syndrome many over-produced films have.
Thankfully, the film looks good in terms of cinematography and editing. The work by Daniel Katz and Bryan Gaynor is well-done and helps the film be easier to watch as the long runtime draws on. While it’s not the most interesting of stories, at least the film looks good.
Touted as a “cerebral comedy” on its poster, Big Gold Brick is, well, for lack of a better word, the embodiment of the expression “meh”. It’s neither here nor there, while there are a few smiles to be had, most of the film comes off as either missing the mark or trying too hard, result in a thorough med-range experience. It’s a film with a cast that will make almost anyone want to check it out and halfway through they’ll wonder why they wanted to check it out. It’s one of those films with so much potential and it pretty much all gets wasted. A few good moments here and there do not make up for the rest of the 2 hours and 12 minutes runtime.