Big (1988)
Back in the late 1980s, when it came to birthday parties, it became a thing to go over to the birthday boy/girl’s house to watch a film, and then play games, eat junk, probably throw up. I remember watching Flight of the Navigator at Jon’s, and Bigfoot and the Henderson’s at Yvette’s. For my 11th birthday in 1989, I showed Big. The year before, it was the Indiana Jones film with the heart ripping out scene. But 1989 was the year of Big. And as we were a bunch of 11-year-olds, the scene where Tom Hanks feels a boob, had a few pauses and rewinds. Weird to think that we were only a couple of years younger than Tom Hanks’ character was. Or at least, the person inside him, so to speak.
So, Joshua Baskin (Hanks) has a crush on a girl in his neighbourhood. He sees her at a carnival, tried to impress her by going onto a roller coaster, but discovers he’s not tall enough, and she goes off with somebody who can drive instead. He wanders off, finds a creepy Zoltar machine that promises to grant wishes, and makes a wish to become “big.”
He wakes up the next day and discovers his wish has come true. He tries to convince his mum what has happened. She’s having none of it. However, he does convince his best friend Billy that he’s entered extreme puberty overnight and has aged 17 years. His friend Billy encourages him to go to New York to track down other Zoltar machines. They have no luck while visiting local arcades, but are directed to an office. Yes, apparently, there was an office in New York which can tell you where arcade machines are going to pop up. I reckon people turned up to say, “Excuse me ma’am. I’m looking for Irem’s Kung Fu Master. Can you tell me where it is? Also Bubble Bobble.” Anyway, they visit this office, but as computer databases were much slower back then, their answer would take about 6 weeks. See, if they used SQL and phpMyAdmin like what my website does, they’d find the answer in seconds. Amateurs. While waiting for information about the whereabouts of arcade machines, and having convinced his mum that he's been temporarily kidnapped, for no logical reason, Josh needs to survive by himself in the Big Apple.
Of course, as people need money to survive, Josh needs to find work. Even with a completely made-up social security number, he manages to get a job at a toy company. And, because he’s a young boy in an older person’s body, he understands toys better than the boys on the board. After bumping into his boss in a toy store, showing genuine interest in the products there, and partaking in the famous and joyous dual-foot piano scene, he gets promoted from working in “computers” (apparently, that’s a job role - maybe he should have gone to work for the Office for Arcade Machines and offered to create a database for them) to Vice President of Product Development. This is much to the chagrin of existing staff like Paul (John Heard), who doesn’t understand where Josh has come from and how he manages to impress so easily. But, it does impress Susan (Elizabeth Perkins). Inevitably, her attraction to him becomes a romance.
Josh finds himself torn between the responsibilities of adulthood and the joys of romance, versus the family and friends he left behind and an uncompleted childhood. He knows he needs to leave one of his lives behind, and when the Zoltar machine is finally located, he gets his opportunity to make his decision.
This is a very funny film. I remember loving it as a child, partly because it was watched as part of an event, but also when I rewatched it for this project. Some scenes and lines really did make me laugh, specifically Josh turning up for the dinner party (I wonder how many '80s films feature dinner parties – I might have to do a blog entry just on dinner parties in '80s films), Susan going to his apartment for a “sleepover”. Tom Hanks is perfect for the role as 30-year-old Josh, and is so believable as a kid in an adult body. I can’t imagine the film working without him. Apparently, Robert de Niro was the first choice to play Joshua, but I’m just not sure how it would have worked. De Niro is obviously amazing, and is great at comedy (he features in Midnight Run, another film from this year), but Big would have been a very different film if he starred in it.
There is of course the romance story. Susan’s in her late twenties, Josh is 13. It’s implied that they sleep together. She doesn’t know his real age, and in a way, he isn’t actually 13 when he is “big”, but something still feels a little off, especially as she just accepts it when she finally realises. But that’s probably just current me thinking “that’s not right.” 11-year-old me probably thought, “Cool! Let’s rewind the boob touching scene just one more time.”
Ok, so there may be one or two plot holes. Apparently Josh’s mum doesn’t really seem to care too much that her son’s gone missing. There is no police search, and while in New York, Josh doesn’t even bother disguising his name. And although Josh is able to convince his friend Billy that he’s his 13-year-old friend in a 30-year-old body, nobody ever thinks to try convincing his mum of the same. Mind you, it wouldn’t have made the film particularly interesting if she did.
But, ultimately it’s a fantasy film - eternally watchable, charming and magical. Oh, and you might also be able to spot the Out Run arcade machine in the background of the film. I had that game on my Sega Master System for my 11th birthday too. Yes, it was a good birthday. Big and Out Run in one day!