More than two decades after directing the iconic cult classic The Room, idiosyncratic auteur Tommy Wiseau returns to the director’s chair with Big Shark. Was it worth the wait? Yes. Will it have the replay value and longevity his previous film enjoys? Probably not. For fans of Grade Z shark flicks though, this will undoubtedly make for a perfect movie night.
Tommy and his two best friends are firefighters. When Tommy is out fishing, he sees a big shark, but no one believes him. Soon after, the shark swims through the streets of New Orleans eating people. Tommy and company are then tasked with bringing the beast down.
Sounds simple enough, but Tommy is seemingly more concerned with the friendship between the three leads than he is with the shark attacks. That makes sense since The Room is essentially about friendship and loss. Those themes run through Big Shark too. So much so that people expecting a typical shark movie may be left rather perplexed.
Since this is Tommy Wiseau we’re talking about here, nothing about Big Shark is typical. In fact, you’d be disappointed if it was. The biggest surprise is that it’s essentially a hangout movie. Tommy spends lots of screen time drinking with his firefighter buddies and doting on his girlfriend. These interactions usually lead to the funniest and not memorable moments. The way he says “Sophia” over and over again is amusing and the inexplicable song “Cowboys Don’t Cry” will be stuck in your head for days.
There are portions of the movie that are frustrating. There are whole scenes where dialogue is repeated almost verbatim from the previous scene. I don’t know if Tommy was trying to hammer home plot points (which wasn’t necessary, I assure you) or what. It just causes the momentum to stall out. The way the characters react to the shark attacks is odd too. One minute they freak out and the next they carry on like nothing happened.
This could be seen as nitpicking, but it shows that with some tighter editing this could’ve been a classic. When the movie hits the sweet spot and delivers on its promise (which is basically The Room Meets a SYFY Channel Shark movie), the results are appropriately ridiculous and funny. I also have to commend Wiseau for using restraint and not having his character say “Oh. Hi, Shark.”
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