DVD Review: Big Nothing

Most of the time it holds true that straight to video movies are usually pretty bad. Straight to video movies usually consist of schlocky B-movie actors running around doing C-movie acting. But more often than not a good foreign film will not debut in American theaters at all; instead it will be resigned to a slow death with a straight to DVD release.

Big Nothing, a British film, made by a French director, with a primarily American cast is such a movie. It was released in December of 2006 in Britain and made its way to American audiences in August of 2007. This movie stars David Schwimmer (from Friend's fame), Simon Pegg (from Hot Fuzz) and Alice Eve (minor work in the UK).

The plot of the film is a little farfetched to say the least. Charlie (played by David Schwimmer) is a PhD. who recently lost his teaching job. Because of some strange medical problems Charlie is unable to hold a respectable job. He spends his days working on his novel, reading Stephen Hawking's books and reciting useless tidbits of information. His wife, a deputy for the local police department, is an understanding woman who supports her husband and child. Charlie tired of his family having to make due with second best takes a job at a local computer tech call center answering phones, because hey what else is a PhD qualified to do.

Once at Cintech (the computer tech call center) Charlie meets Gus (Simon Pegg) a gum chewing, southern accented wisenheimer who quickly and accidently gets Charlie fired. Feeling bad or just looking out for his own best interest Gus tells Charlie of his plan to collect on a $100,000 paycheck by blackmailing a reverend who likes to peruse pornographic websites. Gus promises to split the blackmail money with Charlie 50/50 all Charlie has to do is be Gus' alibi. Charlie agrees but not before Gus' questionably aged girlfriend overhears the plan for the blackmail and decides that she wants a piece of the action.

From here the movie goes completely south. I don't want to completely spoil this film for you but let's just say this: just about every one double crosses everyone else. People are murdered and turn up miraculously alive a few scenes later and Mimi Rodgers turns out one of her worst performances yet. And of course everything that can go wrong does go wrong.

DVD Extras: There are almost no extras. You can watch interviews with the cast members and the original trailer that was shown across the United Kingdom.

Why you should see this movie: Simon Pegg is always funny and David Schwimmer actually does a good job of not being Ross.

Why you shouldn't: The laughs are minimal and the plot is completely implausible.