Big

Name: Big
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Comedy, Romance, Family
Released: June 3, 1988
Duration: 104 min
Rating: 73
Cast: Elizabeth Perkins, Tom Hanks

1988

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 20 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Universal acclaim based on 196 Ratings

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8.4

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8.4	User Score Universal acclaim based on 196 Ratings

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Big

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Movie Details & Credits

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation | Release Date: June 3, 1988 | PG

Starring: Elizabeth Perkins, Tom Hanks

Summary: At a carnival, young Josh Baskin wishes he was big only to awake the next morning and discover he is! With the help of his friend Billy, Josh lands a job at a toy company. But the more he experiences being an adult, the more Josh longs for the simple joys of childhood. [Twentieth Century Fox]

Director: Penny Marshall

Genre(s): Drama, Fantasy, Comedy, Romance, Family

Rating: PG

Runtime: 104 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Donna Britt

Unpretentious as it is, Big takes you beyond laughter, to where you live. And there's nothing small about that. [3 Jun 1988, p.1D]

James Berardinelli

Although Big is generally lighthearted, it rarely plays for stupid laughs. There are a few of these, but the film avoids sacrificing character integrity for the cheap guffaw. Read full review

Rick Groen

Sure, the premise is identical age-reversal comedies, but this one uses a much higher octane, animating a tired idea with a timeless script, and the result is pop humor at its most appealing - wit and charm spiced with a measured pinch of farce and just the right hint of melancholy. [3 Jun 1988, p.E1]

Keith Phipps

It’s a funny, bittersweet film that opens as a cautionary tale about growing up too fast, but deepens into a movie about the unplumbable gulf between childhood and adulthood, and what it feels like to stand on either side, wishing for a way over. Read full review

Empire Ian Nathan

As a crowd-pleasing comedy it works. But it really could have been so much more. Read full review

Dave Kehr

Big moves with polish and assurance. It's too soon to tell whether Marshall has anything of her own to say, but Big is proof that she can handle the Hollywood machine, and that is no small thing. Read full review

Jonathan Rosenbaum

Once again, the overall premise is milked for some mild titillation involving the hero's sexual innocence, making one wonder if the genre's popularity might involve some deeply sublimated form of kiddie porn--arguably the distilled ideological essence of squeaky-clean Reaganism. Read full review

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User Reviews

FilipeNeto

Apr 27, 2020

There are films made just to entertain, which are not made to be big, but end up being so dear to the public that they resist the passage of time and continue to win over fans. I think this film is one of those.

What is the child who has never felt like being an adult once and for all, inThere are films made just to entertain, which are not made to be big, but end up being so dear to the public that they resist the passage of time and continue to win over fans. I think this film is one of those.

What is the child who has never felt like being an adult once and for all, in order to be able to do everything that is not left behind? Well, that is the basis of this film, where a boy asks a machine for a simple wish: to be big. The popular fair machine, very similar to one of those fair mystics or fortune tellers, grants him the wish and, in fact, the next day, he appears to be at least thirty years old and has to run away from home because his own mother he doesn't recognize him and calls the police.

Okay, I grant that the script is very childish and has lots of holes if we start thinking about it. One of the biggest, and most difficult to miss, is the strange way in which the young man, now unusually grown up, manages to manage his apparent disappearance with his own mother. It just doesn't make sense and it was something that could have been more explored by the script: uprooting, homesickness, family, having to move and being independent without being prepared for it. But the script didn't want to reach that depth and I understand the reasons: it made the movie joke, it gave it more drama and the film, after all, is a comedy. It's all right. It is quite good as it is!

Tom Hanks has, in this film, one of several comedies with which he started his career in cinema, after having made some very successful TV sitcoms of that decade, such as “Family Ties”. He is still quite raw as an actor, but here, in this film, we already have signs of his talent, his charisma, qualities that opened doors for him, after all. He takes the film well, carries it with him until the end and shines, making the audience laugh without losing quality in the most emotional moments of the plot. Beside him, we have a capable cast where we can mention Elizabeth Perkins, Robert Loggia and also the young Jared Rushton. The role of villain, perhaps the least well thought out and most poorly conceived in the film, is up to John Heard.

In addition to a well thought out and developed cast, with creative moments of humor, and a good performance by Hanks and the cast that surrounds him, we can mention a very competent photograph, although within the standards of the time when the film was made, an elegant but discreet soundtrack and a simple and artifical direction work.

Made to entertain, to make you laugh, this family movie is quite fun and very suitable, even today, for a family evening. Personally, I think it is one of the happiest and best-made comedies of the 80s. So much so that, from time to time, it still takes place on the television grid of specialty channels and continues to win over fans, over thirty years after the debut. There is no better prize than this, I think.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

TheDude-

Jun 13, 2015

Big is a fantastic comedy with great dialogue,performances and is a lot of fun to watch the message of the film is also great telling us that growing up is tough so be young while you can.
one of my favorite movies!!

6 of 6 users found this helpful60

gm101

Sep 15, 2011

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I finally got a chance to see this movie recently. While the beginning felt like it was rushed, once Josh becomes an adult, everything is hilarious and sweet from that moment till the beautiful ending.… Expand

0 of 3 users found this helpful03

cameronhalmans

Jan 9, 2019

Big teaches us a very simple lesson. Cherish every part of you’re life, live it in time. Hold onto your youth, because no matter how much you’d like to grow up, you can’t look past all the things you learn and the fun you have as a child. As an adult, keep that same youth in you. Live lifeBig teaches us a very simple lesson. Cherish every part of you’re life, live it in time. Hold onto your youth, because no matter how much you’d like to grow up, you can’t look past all the things you learn and the fun you have as a child. As an adult, keep that same youth in you. Live life with a carefree attitude, you’ll win more people over if you always have that quality inside you. It works in both realms. The time you have as a child comes once, the time you have as an adult comes to those who wait, great things happen in both stages of life. 79/100… Expand

0 of 3 users found this helpful03

amheretojudge

May 15, 2019

Hanks is blabbering out his innocence with sensitive and easily adaptive body language, fall into it, he is big enough to catchy you.

Big Marshall is a lover of old fairy tales. And just like it, it makes you feel warm and cozy, sipping coffee as it rains outside the window SaturdayHanks is blabbering out his innocence with sensitive and easily adaptive body language, fall into it, he is big enough to catchy you.

Big

Marshall is a lover of old fairy tales. And just like it, it makes you feel warm and cozy, sipping coffee as it rains outside the window Saturday evening. The director Penny Marshall is served everything cooked up front in the table, that doesn't mean he isn't investing, it's just that there is very little for him to explore with his arms open. The writers Gary Ross and Anne Spielberg are the real deal. Their simplicity of the concept is so absorbing or "catchy" as kids say nowadays, that they not only to reel the viewers in, but the familiar joyous ride they offer for straight two hours is a sight to behold.

From being linearly sensible to complicated to the core, the elevation of the bar in the arc of these characters signifies the morale clause of how to live or experience your own life. And who'd have thought that, there will be a love twist in this resonating tale. Thought provoking ideas bubble up in this drama- it never was a comedy for me- where you want something wrong to happen even though you are well aware of its wrong-ness.

This is how good the writing is, the seduction knocks on your door and you want to welcome the person standing on the other side of the door, knowing he or she has the wrong address. Tom Hanks, playing a teenager, is keeping the emotions low and yet hyper on the bling-y or macho stuffs from the toy section. Even the job he works on, is so innocently motivated, I mean, of course his questions or ideas pitched on the meetings are a bit simpleton. I know that his relationship with Elizabeth Perkins is supposed to be the highlight of the film and yes, it is, undoubtedly. But the most underrated fatherly equation of him is with his boss and has some of the best moments of the film that actually makes it Big.… Expand

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

grandpajoe6191

Sep 15, 2011

The movie is cheesy and childish; the only thing that holds the movie in one piece is Tom Hanks.

3 of 3 users found this helpful30

Steven1981

Apr 24, 2020

Big was made in 1988 and is a comedy romance, fantasy type film starring Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Perkins, John Heard, Jared Rushton and Jon Lovitz.. Basically Tom Hanks starts off as a school kid in little league and hanging out with his schoolfriend Billy (Jared Rushton) then one night at aBig was made in 1988 and is a comedy romance, fantasy type film starring Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Perkins, John Heard, Jared Rushton and Jon Lovitz.. Basically Tom Hanks starts off as a school kid in little league and hanging out with his schoolfriend Billy (Jared Rushton) then one night at a fairground accompanied by his parents he wonders off for a bit then makes a wish on a Zoltar machine which has a head on it with eyes that glow up and the mouth opens and the Zoltar machine isn't even plugged in when he uses it yet it works which is odd and weird. Anyway he makes a wish on the Zoltar machine to be big then later when all not pans out in the adult world for him he decides to reverse the wish on the Zoltar machine to be a child again yet all the time he experienced adulthood through his wish his poor mum was probably thinking her son was abducted or dead. John Heard is annoying in this film and so is Jared Rushton to a degree and it's full of toys, fun, bouncing on trampolines, funfairs, business deals and meetings, constant conversations, taxi rides, whatever but it's boring and not in the slightest bit interesting. Tom Hanks gives an excellent performance but the bore factor in the movie kills what life he brings to the film and Big feels overlong and tedious at times even though the romance and chemistry between Tom Hanks and Elizabeth Perkins is great. Not a good film.… Expand

0 of 7 users found this helpful07

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