Plot
The lives of several Miami denizens, from ad agents to gunrunners to street thugs to law enforcement to school-children, intersect with humorous and dangerous results.

Release Year: 2002

Rating: 6.3/10 (13,058 voted)

Critic's Score: 47/100

Director: Barry Sonnenfeld

Stars: Tim Allen, Rene Russo, Stanley Tucci

Storyline
A chain of events starts with the arrival of a mysterious suitcase in Miami. Arthur Herk, a corrupt business owner, wants to get his hands on the case. At the same time, two hit men want him whacked. Tired of his constant fixation on drinking and television, Herk's wife Anna and daughter Jenny decide to find new love interests in divorced dad Eliot Arnold and his son Matt. To add more complication, two thieves decide to steal the case and lead a Miami police team and two FBI agents on a wild goose chase that ends inside the Miami airport terminal.

Writers: Dave Barry, Robert Ramsey

Cast:
Tim Allen - Eliot Arnold
Rene Russo - Anna Herk
Stanley Tucci - Arthur Herk
Tom Sizemore - Snake Dupree
Johnny Knoxville - Eddie Leadbetter
Dennis Farina - Henry Desalvo
Jack Kehler - Leonard Ferroni
Janeane Garofalo - Police Officer Monica Romero
Patrick Warburton - Police Officer Walter Kramitz
Ben Foster - Matt Arnold
Zooey Deschanel - Jenny Herk
Heavy D - FBI Agent Pat Greer (as Dwight 'Heavy D' Myers)
Omar Epps - FBI Agent Alan Seitz
Jason Lee - Puggy
Sofía Vergara - Nina

Taglines: They have forty-five minutes to save the world. They need forty-six.

Release Date: 5 April 2002

Filming Locations: Miami, Florida, USA

Box Office Details

Budget: $40,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend: $3,545,204 (USA) (7 April 2002) (1961 Screens)

Gross: $7,262,288 (USA) (16 June 2002)

Runtime: 85 min  | Turkey: 74 min (TV version)

Trivia:
Was supposed to be released in late 2001, but was postponed following the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 because of terrorist plotlines in the film.

Goofs:
Continuity: At the airport at the end of the movie, Eliot and Matt are talking. Matt puts his right arm out and rests it on Eliot's shoulder. When the camera changes angles, Matt's arm is back at his side in less than a split second.

Quotes:
Henry Desalvo: There goes the warranty... and there goes the Iron Chef.

A Fun, Frenetic Farce That Didn't Deserve To Be A Bomb!

Rating: 8/10

When my husband and I heard that Barry Sonnenfeld was going to direct the film version of Dave Barry's first novel, we were pretty excited. Both men have a similarly nutty knockabout comic sensibility with a touch of the surreal, and this wacky farce about a motley crew of Miami citizens embroiled in a race to recover an atomic bomb seemed like the perfect vehicle for them to pool their talents on. Well, it was! Hubby and I had a grand time -- but alas, we seemed to be among the very few moviegoers who even gave the flick a chance! I guess it didn't help that BIG TROUBLE's originally-scheduled December 2001 release was delayed due to worries that a plot involving smuggling an A-bomb through laissez-faire airport security would seem more disturbing than funny after the horrific events of 9/11/2001. Maybe most audiences are still too spooked right now to appreciate the satiric possibilities in Sonnenfeld & Co.'s cynically funny, Billy Wilder-esque treatment of these elements -- but I hope that down the line, folks will give BIG TROUBLE a chance, because really, it's like what might have resulted if Billy Wilder had ever had an opportunity to direct The Marx Brothers. We were laughing throughout! The ensemble cast is superb, from Patrick Warburton and Janeane Garofalo as members of Miami's Finest, to Tom Sizemore and Johnny Knoxville as dunderheaded crooks, to Tim Allen and Rene Russo's chemistry as single (well, unhappily married in Russo's case) parents who get drawn into the shenanigans when their respective teenage kids Ben Foster and Zooey Deschanel (both delightful -- I wouldn't be surprised if these two became big stars someday!) accidentally foil a hit on Stanley Tucci (hilariously obnoxious as Russo's dreadful second husband) by Jack Kehler and Dennis Farina (spoofing his earlier role in Sonnenfeld's GET SHORTY adaptation). Everybody gets a moment to shine, even Jason Lee as a hippy-dippy drifter and Sofia Vergara (who looks remarkably like a Latina Denise Richards) as Tucci's put-upon maid. C'mon, give this unfairly underappreciated gem a chance when it hits home video!

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