Movie Review: Big (1988)

Written by Gary Ross and Anne Spielberg, sister to Steven, Big is one of those comedies about aging that doesn’t really seem to age.  It’s one of those rare films that kids can enjoy as much as adults.  A light truffle of a movie that still somehow manages to touch on something poignant about humanity.  One of those comedies that doesn’t take itself too seriously, but is all the more effective for it.

The film is what would be described as a high concept comedy.  It charts the course of Josh Baskin, a charming yet undersized kid living in the suburbs of New York with his mother, played by Mercedes Ruehl.  When the 13 year old Josh’s attempts to woo the affections of a classmate result only in him being passed over in favor of a slightly older and slighter taller boy, the distraught Josh makes a wish at a mysterious carnival game to make him bigger.  Much to his surprise, the following morning, the 13 year old Josh has suddenly sprouted into a fully grown Tom Hanks.  Well, physically, at least.  But mentally, his mind remains the province of a thirteen year old boy.

That much of the story you probably already know.  But what follows is an honest portrayal of a universal truth of humanity.  When we’re young, we always wish we were older.  But, when we grow up, much of our time is spent hopelessly trying to hold onto our youth.  The grass is always greener on the other side.  The trick in life is to grow old without “growing old.”  Easier said than done.

Tom Hanks is one of my favorite actors.  It’s often said that Hanks is his generation’s Jimmy Stewart.  And that is an apt comparison.  But with films like Forrest Gump, Saving Private Ryan, and Sleepless in Seattle just to name a few, it’s safe to say that his is one of the most iconic faces ever to grace the silver screen.

Of course, when I first saw the film in 1988, to me he was still that guy from Bosom Buddies.  Sure, he’d made Splash and The Man With One Red Shoe, but my initial impression of him was as the guy who dressed up in women’s clothing so he could afford the rent for his apartment.  If that setup for a TV show sounds a little crazy… well, it was the 80s.  What can I say?  Splash was a big hit, but, to me, Big is really the film where I started thinking of Hanks as a movie star.  And even though the film was made over three decades ago, the very quintessential Hanks of it all was as evident then as it is now.

Tom Hanks, like Jimmy Stewart, is an everyman on screen.  Whether his character is a WWII captain or an AIDS patient struggling to survive, he has a quality about him that allows the audience to sink into his shoes.  I think purity might be the wrong word.  But there’s a fundamental decency he brings to a part that makes you want to root for him.  Consider the failure of a film like The Bonfire of The Vanities and one of the main reasons for that film’s demise, among many, being that it’s simply hard for an audience to look at Tom Hanks and see a bad person.  There’s almost a childlike innocence to him.  It’s funny, because as I was watching this film, it dawned on me that only six years later he’d be slipping into possibly the most iconic role of his career as Forrest Gump.  A man who’s childlike innocence is at the very core of how he views the world.  In Big, he got to literally be the eyes of a 13 year boy trapped in an adult body.

Ironically, at the time, I also thought of director Penny Marshall mostly for her work on television.  But not as a director.  Instead I knew her as one half of the titular characters in Laverne & Shirley.  I guess she and Tom Hanks must have gotten along as they would both pair again in another of her greatest hits, A League of Their Own.

In Big, what the two of them found was a story that perfectly illustrated one of the cruelties of getting older.  It’s not just the horror show that happens as our bodies begin to age.  It’s not the responsibilities of jobs and taxes.  What we tend to lose most as we get older is our ability to simply play.  And, worst of all, this playfulness tends to slip away in the darkness of night, when we aren’t even looking.

One of my high school classmates was the daughter of Billy Crystal.  As such, he gave the commencement address at my graduation.  I don’t remember a lot of speeches I heard in high school.  But I remember his.  In the speech, he told a story about being a child and first seeing a man land on the moon.  He discusses the kind of wonder and joy that engendered in him as a child.  Then, he compared that feeling to subsequent feelings as more and more space missions went into outer space.  Over time, the amazing began to feel simply ordinary.  Those things that made us speechless were now routine.  He chastised us to remember one simple concept as we grew older.  Maintain your sense of wonder.  Never grow so old that you cease to be amazed at all the wonder life can bring.

A child comes by this skill naturally.  Everything a child sees is likely the first time he or she has ever seen it.  They can pick up a toy and only see possibilities.  Whereas, a grown adult, might only look at a toy for its marketing potential and as a source of advancement for their career.

Josh Baskin’s ability to tap into his childlike joy is natural.  He is, despite all appearances, still a child.  And it is this ability to maintain his innocence that first brings him to the attention of the owner of a major toy manufacturer, MacMillan, played by veteran actor Robert Loggia. When he looks at Josh, he sees someone still able to connect to the childlike impulse.  This makes him an ideal employee for a toy company.  But this also taps into MacMillan’s own desire to maintain his youth.  And ultimately this leads to one of the most famous scenes in movie history as Josh and MacMillan dance on human sized piano keys to the tune of Heart and Soul.

Whereas MacMillan is anxious to maintain his connection to childhood, Susan, played by Elizabeth Perkins, has to be coaxed into the idea.  A hard charging executive at the toy company, she puts her career over all else.  Money and position have taken the place of fun and enjoyment.  In short, she’s a typical adult.  But, while her initial interest in Josh is purely professional, it soon becomes clear that what Susan might really need, instead of a promotion, is to relax and learn to enjoy life again.  Forget about corporate advancement just for a moment and simply jump up and down on a trampoline.  Fall in love.  Even though, she actually falling in love with a 13 year old, but, to be fair, she had now way of knowing this as the 13 year old is in the body of a 30 year old.  The less you think about it, the better.  Susan embodies the main theme of the film.  Don’t be in such a hurry to grow up.

Jared Rushton, who plays Josh’s still 13 year old best friend Billy, also deserves some credit here.  The abilities of child actors can vary greatly.  But he brings a memorable uniqueness to Billy.  After seeing this movie as a kid, there was no shortage of boys my age pretending to have silly putty fights in the breakroom at school.  And, clearly, part of the joy of me watching this film, as an adult is flashing back to all the things I used to play with as a kid in the days long before the internet and social media were a thing.  Like PC games.  And countless toys that transformed into other toys.

Big continues to be infinitely watchable because it displays that most basic of human truths.  We don’t have a choice about getting older.  But we do have a choice about getting old.