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Gigantic

5/10

Stars: Paul Dano, Zooey Deschanel, John Goodman, Ed Asner, Jane Alexander, Sean Dugan, Zach Galiafanakis

Director: Matt Aselton

A self-consciously quirky 'calling card' film about 28-year-old Brian (Little Miss Sunshine's Dano) who sells high-end mattresses from what looks like a brick-built warehouse, and is trying to adopt a Chinese orphan baby - something he has always wanted to do.

Attacked by a homeless man (The Hangover's Galifianakis) on his way to work, Brian sells a mattress to Big Al (Goodman), a magnate with a chronic bad back - whose daughter, Happy Lolly (yes really), played by Deschanel, arrives to sign the documents, and later asks Brian if he would like sex in her father's car. Those who have seen Ms Deschanel will know that this is a no-brainer.

Well, Brian goes hunting with his octogenarian father (Asner) in far-off woods, where the homeless man re-emerges and takes pot shots at them. The guy certainly does get around. Back in New York, Brian takes Happy for a midnight semi-nude swim at a research centre run by a friend who watches rats swimming (not in the pool) for a living. Meanwhile Happy isn't well, happy, about the impending Chinese child...

All this is occasionally funny and only slightly annoying, though it's a story that doesn't progress, but largely stays where it is. Deschanel seems to be cornering the market in kookiness once bossed by Maggie Gyllenhaal.

David Quinlan

USA 2008. UK Distributor: The Works. Technicolor.
99 minutes. Not widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 2, Violence/Horror 1, Drugs 0, Swearing 2.

Review date: 13 Jun 2009