Henry's Top 100: #06 - Big Fish

Wanna see me cry?


Then put this movie in the DVD player... Look, Big Fish is not a masterpiece. I do think it's the best think Tim Burton has ever done but that isn't saying much (I guess Beetlejuice is his next best). But Big Fish just wrecks me.

Ruins me.

I cried at Bambi, and Old Yeller, and apparently (though I don't remember it) at the remake of The Blob (I thought the Blob was the good guy so I was sad when the humans killed him). But between the ages of 5-18 I didn't really cry at movies. Then I went to Big Fish with Sam and my cousin Alex. We were all crying at the end. All three of us.

Then, a few weeks later, I went with my Uncle Craig and my father. Again, we were all tear-filled babies.

Then I watched it at college with a girl, I thought she'd like it, and I was reduced to tears yet again, as was she.

The last time I watched it, on Blu-Ray thanks to a Christmas gift from my awesome parents, you can guess what happened...

The reason it gets "dusty" whenever I see Big Fish is it is about getting to know, understand, and care for you parents. This movie probably doesn't work if you never knew your father. I acknowledge that. But for anyone who did have a relationship, of any kind, with their dad...this movie will make you resemble Scott Tenorman after he ate his parents (a weeping mess [if you don't get the reference, shame on you, and go watch the "Scott Tenorman Must Die" episode of South Park right now. It's on itunes]).

And Big Fish really hits a note with me because my family is a group of story-tellers. My parents read to my sister and I when we were young. As a family, we all love to entertain by telling stories, exaggerating when needed, and retelling them with different embellishments given who our audience is. So the central character and dilemma of Big Fish really hit home for me.

The movie contains Ewan McGregor's best acting job outside of Trainspotting, a lot of really fun and fresh moments, a beautiful Alison Lohman, the first performance I ever saw from Marion Cotillard (In an important role actually), and, in the end, performances from Albert Finney and Billy Crudup that buy them a lifetime pass from me.

And there are, again, moments in this movie that are just magic. McGregor pushing away flower pedals to reach Lohman, Carl, Cotillard talking with Finney, Buddy Holly's Everyday, etc.

But in the end, the reason this movie is number 6 and not number 96, is the last scene. I just can't watch it without breaking down. I can't. I'm gonna post it here, I shouldn't as some of you might watch it when you should really go watch the entire film instead, but it is my "best scene" so I will do it. But yeah this scene...it's like Onions for me. Tears every time.