80s Movie Review - Big

Director: Penny Marshall
Genre: Comedy/ Drama/ Romance
Runtime: 104 minutes
Year: 1988
Starring: Tom Hanks, Robert Loggia, Elizabeth Perkins, John Heard, Debra Jo Rupp, Jared Rushton, Jon Lovitz

Description: When a boy wishes to be big at a magic wish machine, he wakes up the next morning and finds himself in an adult body.

Review: It has been done several times: characters that wake up in a different body. “Freaky Friday”, “13 Going on 30”, “Vice Versa”. “Big” is from 1988, but still the best film with this theme. “Big” is original, funny and touching. Because who hasn’t dreamed of being big as a kid?

Josh is a 13-year old teenager from New Jersey. While visiting a carnival, he is too short to go on a cool ride. He feels humiliated. As frustrated as Josh is, he throws a coin in a machine that claims to grant wishes. He wishes to be big. The next morning Josh wakes up in the body of a 30-year old man. Because nobody but his best friend Billy believes him, he decides to go to New York. He finds a simple job at a toy manufacture. Josh gets a promotion and co-worker Susan falls in love with him. Josh realized that being an adult is a lot harder than he thought.

For most people Tom Hanks became famous in the 90s, but in the 80s he showed us his comedic talent. Just look at “Splash”, “Bachelor Party”, “The Burbs” and ”Money Pit”. “Big” was probably his big break, not only because of his humor, also for his sense of drama. And Tom Hanks is constantly believable as a boy trapped in a man’s body.

What makes this such a strong film, besides the script and Tom Hanks’ performance, is that “Big” speaks to both kids and adults. For kids the film is funny and relatable. Adults will realize that you should never lose the kid inside and that adulthood is not easy. “Big” is an ode to childhood.

“Big” is a classic in the comedy genre and is filled with humor. Tom Hanks is without a doubt one of the best and most believable actors in Hollywood (to me THE best) and he proofs that in “Big”.

Rating: 5/ 5