BIG EDEN d: Thomas Bezucha

Big Eden (2001)
Direction and screenplay: Thomas Bezucha
Cast: Arye Gross, Eric Schweig, Tim DeKay, Louise Fletcher, Nan Martin, George Coe
 

 

Having perhaps watched way too many Frank Capra films while growing up, first-time writer-director Thomas Bezucha has come up with a drippy romantic fable — one bathed not in corn chowder but in maple syrup: Big Eden. In this overlong romantic comedy, every damn person in the small, picturesque Montana community of the title is kind-hearted, open-minded, politically correct, and utterly unreal. Worse yet, they are all, to one degree or another, matchmakers — and of a special kind. The whole community wants what is best for the two local gay men, Henry (Arye Gross), the prodigal [...]