'Big Eyes' doesn't probe allure of the art
Tim Burton鈥檚 鈥淏ig Eyes鈥� isn鈥檛 nearly as creepy as most of his other聽movies, which I suppose is a good thing, although that also means it鈥檚 a聽
bit bland. It centers on those, well, creepy Keane paintings that seemed聽to be everywhere in the 鈥�60s featuring children with immense, saucerlike聽eyes. The movie, scripted by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski聽(who also wrote 鈥�Ed Wood鈥� for Burton), is about the fraught marriage聽between Margaret Keane (Amy Adams), the real painter of those聽phenomenally successful kitsch collectibles, and Walter Keane (Christoph聽Waltz), a poseur who pressured his wife into lying that he was the actual聽artist.聽
Adams is very good at the difficult art of making passive characters聽interesting 鈥� a gift that stands her in good stead here. When Margaret聽finally rises to the occasion and, out of pride or spite or a combination,聽challenges Walter in court, you feel like cheering. Waltz overdoes the con artist鈥檚 bonhomie; it鈥檚 difficult to see how Margaret, even with all her聽recessiveness, could have been cowed for so long. We鈥檙e left with an聽enigma that is insufficiently probed: How does art this banal nevertheless聽capture us? Grade:聽B- (Rated PG-13 for thematic elements and brief strong language.)
