Big Man Japan

Effing Hilarious
Saw this at Facets in Chicago last night, and it was amazing. It's one of those movies that I want to show to all my friends.

Fair warning, DON'T WATCH THE US TRAILER. They should fire whoever was responsible for that. This is a CGI action movie the same way "This is Spinal Tap" is a 90-minute live recorded performance by U2. That is to say, it's not. 90% of Big Man Japan is shot in a documentary style and it has a hilarious "slow burn" style of humor that is just not evident from the trailer. If you're expecting slapstick and big monster fights, you'll get some of that but it's not what the movie is all about. It's very Christopher-Guest-ish, so think "Waiting for Guffman" or "Best in Show" (or again, "This is Spinal Tap").

I probably laughed harder at the ending to this movie than I did at anything all year, and I feel sorry for the people who didn't "get" it. Do yourselves a favor and watch some old tokusatsu like Ultraman or Spectreman before you see this...

Beware the Big Man Japan!
If you aren't fairly familiar with modern Japanese comedy then you are probably going to miss a lot of what "Big Man Japan" has to offer. For example, "Downtown" is not a name that is going to mean much to most Americans, but they are a phenomenal comedy-duo that are incredibly influential and whose style dominates much of modern Japanese comedy. Think Monty Python's Flying Circus, The Second City Theatre, or Saturday Night Live.

"Big Man Japan" (Japanese title "Dai-Nipponjin" or "Giant Japanese Person") is "Downtown" member Matsumoto Hitoshi's big screen debut as both a staring actor and a director. Much of the humor is in his trademark style, and he brought along plenty of famous friends for cameos, although noticeably missing is his "Downtown" partner...

I laughed a lot, and don't even know the references; worth seeing if just for the hilarious fight scenes
As other reviewers here have stated, this is largely a satire on certain genres of Japanese film, and it helps to know those references. But even as one who's seen a pretty small amount of Japanese film (except Kurosawa, a true genius), I still found it slyly funny during the many slow character-driven parts, and incredibly stupidly hilarious during the fight scenes.

Even if you get bored with the satire of the superhero's daily life (it is indeed very dry wit and meant for those with enough intellect to not demand a new fight every two minues), simply fast forward to the half dozen fight scenes, which are among the most insanely goofy visual weirdness I've ever seen, and I've seen plenty. They mock the monster genre while simultaneously glorying in the splendid silliness of the whole concept. Plus, the monsters are some of the weirdest creatures you will ever see. Just looking at them is funny, but watching them fight the bored superhero is a whole new type of laugh...

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