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Brian Weathersby (Paul Dano) works at a wearhouse mattress business selling high-end beds to a limited clientle. In-between awaiting patrons to come in he puts in calls to an adoption agency in the hopes of fulfilling his lifelong dream of adopting a Chinese baby. He’s only 28 and, yes, the dream is lifelong. After eccentric businessman, Al Lolly (John Goodman) finds the perfect bed for the bad back that forces him to ride in the back of his car like a hearse, he sends in his daughter to complete the transaction. She is Harriet (Zooey Deschanel), or Happy, as she likes to be called. While Brian charges it up, Happy falls asleep on one of their beds and he patiently allows her to complete her nap.

Happy is certainly cut from the same cloth as her dad, Al, and at the same time a complete opposite. Where dad says whatever is on his mind at any given moment (including the admition, shown in visual terms, that he once redirected and coughed up a tumor), Happy is a bit more guarded with her words. But when she speaks it’s a doozy such as when she asks if Brian would like to have sex with her out of the blue. Brian knows he’s in unchartered waters here but can’t help being drawn to her. Wouldn’t you if sex with someone who looked like Zooey Deschanel was that simple? Brian’s psychology for female companionship may stem from the close relationship he has with his two brothers and his dad (Ed Asner), who is just as frank as Happy’s pappy and takes their state of mind even further with mushroom-laden trips to the family cabin.

Gigantic works within a scene-by-scene framework that may test the patience of even those accepting the advanced quirkiness of its first act. After a half-hour of setting up the unusual courtship of Brian and Happy, it switches gears to give us 15 minutes in the woods with the Weathersbys where it appears that the homeless guy who attacked Brian on his way to work in the first scene is now taking shots at him as if he was M. Emmet Walsh in The Jerk. Oh yeah, did I forget to mention him? The presence of Zach Galifianakis as the deranged bum should be the first clue that this was going to be more than just another hobo cameo. If it’s a payoff you’re looking for to this reoccurring appearance though, it may come at a pie shop afterwards as you discuss what the hell that was all about. Gigantic skirts around potential inner chemistry explanations for both Brian and Happy and there’s something welcome about the film not devolving into a third-act pity party, but its all just as likely to baffle those desperately wanting to allow this romance in.

All these thoughts were racing through my mind during the intermittent pauses between the characters, but in no way would I deny that I was enjoying them all. Dano makes an interesting romantic protagonist, knowing just when to play along with the surrounding eccentricity and when to speak out against it. This is, for certain, the best turn given by John Goodman in a non-Coens capacity and probably his funniest work (Monsters, Inc. notwithstanding) since The Big Lebowski. It’s also great to see Ed Asner given a juicy role as a warmup to his own Pixar lead in this summer’s Up. Asner’s character fills in the gaps left by Goodman’s Al, who all but disappears after the first hour. Jane Alexander also has a nice scene towards the end to help ground the film’s scattershot emotions. This is the type of role that Zooey Deschanel can almost do in her sleep by now. While some studio pictures such as Yes Man, Failure To Launch and the head-scratching turn in M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening have tried to capitalize on her unique affability, its been indie pics like David Gordon Green’s All The Real Girls, The Good Girl and perhaps her best work to date in the forthcoming 500 Days of Summer that have really fit her like a glove and Gigantic is no exception. She has a way of just standing across from actors that make us realize we don’t want to take our eyes off of her in fear we’ll miss a line reading or a reaction that at worst makes us grin and at best has us smitten.

Gigantic doesn’t quite fit into the consistent pattern of romantic elegance displayed in some of my more recent favorites from the festival circuit like Good Dick or the still unreleased Universal Signs, but its charms shine through and its laughs carry us through some of the more questionable passages. I think of all the ideas and potential calamaties that Aselton and Nagata come up with, only one of them has any sort of clear conclusion. Gigantic is a film though about that uneasy realization that the dreams of youth, whether it be true love or being a daddy, must continue on or wilt away in the face of the blunt truth of adulthood’s limbo. Or is it just another quirky indie romantic comedy desperately trying to live up to its label? For a film that only flirts with the idea of closure it may be best to just keep an open mind and enjoy the company of some fine actors playing funny characters trying to find the same answers that all of us are.

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originally posted: 04/02/09 11:03:13
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