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List Price: $14.94 | | Label: Sony Pictures
Salesrank: 2407
Released: April 7, 1998 |
| Our Price: $6.00 |
| Used Price: $4.00 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
THE STORY OF TWO ITALIAN BROTHERS WHOSE SUPERB RESTAURANT IS ON THE VERGE OF BANKRUPTCY. THEIR ONLY CHANCE IS TO RISK EVERYTHING THEY OWN ON ONE BIG NIGHT THAT WILL MAKE OR BREAK THEM.
Description of Big Night:
Critics tripped all over their big feet to praise Big Night, and in doing so performed a grave disservice to this fine little film. They fooled audiences into believing it was a "super movie" instead of a home movie buoyed by friends and family. Consequently, many viewers were disappointed. Big Night is an intimate look at the immigrant struggle to attain the American Dream, set in New Jersey in the 1950s. Its disproportionate success gave co-directors Stanley Tucci and Campbell Scott, who also star in the picture, the green light to follow up with a smug, unsuccessful second venture called The Imposters. Tucci wrote Big Night with his cousin Joseph Tropiano, and they based the story on the experience of growing up in a large, proud Italian family. The brothers in Big Night--chef Primo (Tony Shalhoub) and businessman Secondo (Tucci)--have come to New Jersey to open a bistro named The Paradise that serves the finest in traditional, authentic Italian cuisine. Their every move is foiled by rival restaurant Pascal's, which serves mile-high servings of spaghetti and meatballs and flasks of bad Chianti at exorbitant prices. Primo is disgusted by the fact that Americans want cheap pasta instead of risotto, so Secondo hatches a plan to boost business: rumor has it bandleader Louis Prima is travelling through and will dine at The Paradise that very night. Secondo gambles to bring the finest dinner ever cooked--at the risk of losing his shirt and being reduced to exile to the old country with his tail between his legs. Big Night is a film that will easily invite comparisons to other "food" fare like Babette's Feast and Eat Drink Man Woman but, though Tucci insists his story is "about the struggle between art and commerce and the risk of staying true to yourself," the media refused to let it stay a small, comparative work. The movie, and the buzz around it, became a parable for the essence of the film itself: art vs. commerce. --Paula Nechak
Big Night Reviews:
Good movie 
2009-10-20 - I have not had time to watch this movie again - a favorite of mine. But the DVD arrived quickly and appears to be in excellent condition.
Big Night movie
2009-10-17 - I haven't watched this video yet because I bought it as a gift - but when i did see it years ago it was great and I'm hoping the recipients will think the same thing!
Many Problems Here 
2009-10-14 - Will appeal primarily to devotees of ethnic/family films--in this case two brothers who have arrived in this country from Italy to open a restaurant that is failing. The problems here are length (too long), silly characters (sort of Peter Sellers-ish) and various uncertainties of plot and motivation. In other words, after enduring a couple of difficult viewing hours, "I'm still not really sure why that guy did what he did."
LET'S JUST EAT !!!
2009-05-15 - I love FOOD MOVIES in general and I own some of them, this is my most recent discovery and I enjoyed it a lot.
This is not the typical "food" movie that probably we are used to watch.
Honestly I didn't liked Marc Anthony or whoever the hell he is . . .
I don't really care for him at all, this movie would've been even better without him.
On My Best 10 list
2009-02-24 - I first saw this film when it was first released, over ten years ago. I have watched it several times since, and it keeps getting better every time. It is so sparse, and yet so full. So much is left unsaid, and yet deeply felt. It is the portrayal of this relationship between two brothers of completely different temperament, but who deeply care about each other, and united by a dream that binds them, which is most moving. The very last scene, when they commune around the simplest and most symbolic of foods, with not a word (but a wonderful soundtrack of noises that heighten the silence) is a masterpiece of understatement.
Big Night is, and will remain, one of the ten and probably five best movies I have ever seen.
Y.
