Big (1988)

 

Big

It is not a secret that “Big” is a long-time family favourite in our home. Both my wife and I love it, we acquired the DVD early in our marriage and we have watched it a gazillion times over the years. I am therefore totally biased here and will be completely unresponsive to critique.

“Big” is a play on the What-would-you-do-if-your-wish-came-true theme. In this case it is as simple a child wishing he was big as in not a child anymore. Josh Baskin (David Moscow) is a 13-year-old boy, living a normal suburban life with his family and best friend Billy (Jared Rushton). At the town fair, Josh wants to impress a girl but is rejected at the ride for being too short. Humiliated, Josh makes a with at a Zoltar machine that he was big and his wish is granted. The next morning, Josh is an adult (Tom Hanks) with all the complications that entails.

Josh’ mother (Mercedes Ruehl) freaks out and does not recognize Josh. Billy takes some convincing, but comes around and together they decide Josh should hang out in the city (New York) until they can find a Zoltan machine to turn Josh back to child size. When this appears to require some time and they are short on cash, Josh will also need a job. He finds one as a computer operator at a toy company. It is a universal truth that young people are more tech savvy than adults and nobody understands toys like a child so Josh is a fish in the water. Before long Josh is VP of product development with his own office and secretary.

One of the truly amazing things about “Big” is how believable Tom Hanks is as the 13-year-old Josh in an adult body. His facial expressions, body language and way of talking is exactly like David Moscow’s and what we see is really a young teenager trying to get along in an adult world. It is heartbreaking to see him curl and cry up on the mattress in the seedy hotel he is staying at. When he enters the big toy store Macmillan owns, he is in a child’s heaven and starts playing with everything, forgetting he is supposed to be an adult. Even when Macmillan himself (Robert Loggia) shows up, it is difficult to get back into the role of a grown up and, discovering the walking piano, he forgets it altogether and needs to play. This is the iconic scene everybody knows from the movie, two adults jumping around on the keys. This entire part of the movie is filled with these child-encounters-the-adult-world events. Josh at the company party, Josh’ new loft apartment, which is more like a playground, Josh attending business meetings and playing paddle with a man who sees him as an enemy.

The longer Josh stays in this world, the more he grows up and the real turning point is his first sexual encounter with the mercenary Susan Lawrence (Elizabeth Perkins). This is also the part many people have a problem with. Susan acts in good faith. To her, Josh is a bona fide adult with a boyish charm, the entire opposite of her former boyfriend. We know that Josh has started thinking of girls, so entering this world is a magic dream, but also one he is entirely unequipped to deal with. We know Susan is having an affair with an underage boy, but she does not. When she eventually realises this, she does act accordingly, she is no paedophile. To me, this is also what saves it. To none of the involved there is an intent of doing something creepy.

Josh is being sucked into the adult world and it takes a wake-up call or two to realize what it is he is missing out on and to know he must get back. Being an adult for a few months was quite an experience but he will get there soon enough.

This is an endearing movie, partly because of the way it is told, but mainly through Tom Hank’s entirely convincing performance, one he was nominated for at the Academy Awards. Early in the development, adult Josh was supposed to have been performed by Robert de Niro. That would have been a very different movie, and I am happy it ended up with Tom Hanks. This is a movie that works at all age levels, and each age group will see something else in it. Yet, the relationship between Susan and Josh, key as it is to the story, has seriously threatened the reputation of “Big”. I understand where that position is coming from, but I do not share it. It is a (scary) part of the adult experience, and it is dealt with with sensitivity. There is not evil intent, and it convinces Josh this is all too early for him. Yet, there is no way this could have been made today.