When actors have the innate charm and quirk of Zooey Deschanel (“All The Real Girls”) and Paul Dano (“There Will Be Blood”), you can always hope for the best, or at least something a few notches above despondent twee. Hopes are quickly dashed in writer-director Matt Aselton’s peculiar, chatty and yes, twee, “Gigantic.” Brian (Dano), the youngest of three sons to older parents, sells high-end Swedish mattresses. He dreams of adopting a baby from China. Happy (Deschanel) ambles in one day and falls asleep on one of the display units. Dashes of failed surrealism (Aselton apparently cites Buñuel as an influence) and sparks of eccentric performance from the likes of Ed Asner, Jane Alexander and Zach Galifianakis (as a homeless man who stalks and attacks Brian) provide a modicum of diversion. John Goodman, as Harriet’s father, “Al Lolly,” is more huge than gigantic. Deschanel’s abrupt reading of “Do you have any interest in having sex with me?” leads to another question: do we have any interest in seeing her have sex with Paul Dano, or at least as this enfeebled wisp of twerp? No. 98m. (Ray Pride)
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When actors have the innate charm and quirk of Zooey Deschanel (“All The Real Girls”) and Paul Dano (“There Will Be Blood”), you can always hope for the best, or at least something a few notches above despondent twee. Hopes are quickly dashed in writer-director Matt Aselton’s peculiar, chatty and yes, twee, “Gigantic.” Brian (Dano), the youngest of three sons to older parents, sells high-end Swedish mattresses. He dreams of adopting a baby from China. Happy (Deschanel) ambles in one day and falls asleep on one of the display units. Dashes of failed surrealism (Aselton apparently cites Buñuel as an influence) and sparks of eccentric performance from the likes of Ed Asner, Jane Alexander and Zach Galifianakis (as a homeless man who stalks and attacks Brian) provide a modicum of diversion. John Goodman, as Harriet’s father, “Al Lolly,” is more huge than gigantic. Deschanel’s abrupt reading of “Do you have any interest in having sex with me?” leads to another question: do we have any interest in seeing her have sex with Paul Dano, or at least as this enfeebled wisp of twerp? No. 98m. (Ray Pride)
