My Giant ** (1999, Billy Crystal, Kathleen Quinlan, Gheorghe Muresan) – Classic Movie Review 1591

This warm-hearted but surprisingly tepid, oversweet comedy with Billy Crystal and NBA basketball star Gheorghe Muresan as his giant can boast only sporadic moments of fun. For this, blame a feeble, low-laugh, sentimentally inclined screenplay by David Seltzer from a story by him and Crystal.

It paid the price at the box-office. Director Michael Lehmann’s 1999 movie was a flop, taking only $8million in the US. Nevertheless, the always-likeable Crystal still manages to seem effortlessly amusing as down-on-his-luck Hollywood movie agent ‘Sammy’ Kamin, who goes to Romania to check out his only client, who then promptly fires him. Sammy’s car flips into a pond but a giant pair of hands saves him from drowning.

Thus ‘Sammy’ (the 5′ 7″ Crystal) finds the gigantic 71/2ft Max (Muresan) living in Romania and soon decides to bring him to America to make him a money-maker in the movies. But first ‘Sammy’ gets Max a small role in a Romanian movie that earns his plane fare to Las Vegas, where ‘Sammy’ convinces Steven Seagal (in a cameo as himself) to include Max in his latest action movie.

It should be a much better movie, but it helps a lot that Crystal’s warm comedy skills and the film’s obvious good nature cover over many of the movie’s cracks.

Crystal was inspired to write the story for this film after having worked with André the Giant in The Princess Bride (1987).

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© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1591

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