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More fascinating for its eccentric, appealing characters
than a narrative on the rather sedentary side, Gigantic
coincidentally enough, unfolds around a mattress store.
Primarily sitcomish but with sufficient episodic charm to
keep it afloat, Gigantic never quite falters, courtesy of
the quirky charisma of its characters.***
Paul Dano does his usual stressed out loner thing here
as Brian, an under-enthused salesman at an overpriced Swedish
boutique mattress store located in a contrasting dingy loft.
When gruff, fairly gigantic hypochondriac plutocrat Al Lolly
(John Goodman) shows up to purchase one of those upscale
mattresses to soothe his ailing back, Brian encounters Lolly's
even more peculiar daughter Happy aka Harriet (Zooey Deschanel).
And the two are soon involved in an on-again off-again sorta
romance.***
While Gigantic mainly engages in gabby exchanges to
move the lethargic proceedings along, there are also a number
of humorous but disconnected narrative threads which fragment
an already sluggish story - and which presumably has nothing
to do with those aforementioned inviting mattresses. These
puzzling detours include a really angry homeless man who
keeps beating up Brian for no apparent reason - though who
knows if it has something to do with not owning a mattress;
his dad (Ed Asner) serving up wild hallucinogenic mushrooms
for family dinners; and Brian's longstandiong20obsession
to adopt a Chinese baby and embark on life as a single dad.***
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