Larger Than Life

1996 "He's got 5 days to go coast-to-coast. (There's just one BIG problem.)"
5.6| 1h33m| PG| en| More Info
Released: 01 November 1996 Released
Producted By: United Artists
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

Motivational Speaker Jack Corcoran is determined to get his career off the ground, but the biggest gigs he can get are the ones nobody wants. Then one day, he receives a telegram that his circus clown father has passed away, and has left a "huge" inheritance. When he gets there, he finds that his inheritance has come in the form of an elephant that was his father's pride and joy in circus acts. His main intention is to sell the pachyderm off. Jack must choose between loud and rude zookeeper Mo or attractive animal show owner Terry. As the two treks through the country Jack and the elephant develop a bond, and it changes his approach on life for the better.

Genre

Comedy

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Director

Howard Franklin

Production Companies

United Artists

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Larger Than Life Audience Reviews

Noutions Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .
Ceticultsot Beautiful, moving film.
Glimmerubro It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.
TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.
Amy Adler Jack Corcoran (Bill Murray) is a small-time motivational speaker whose manager (Jeremy Piven) is trying to get him bigger gigs. Mr. C's mantra and book is called Get Over It, as Jack personally had a broken childhood that proved difficult. You see, his father drowned when Jack was a boy and his mother (Anita Gillette) raised him as a single parent. Now, however, Jack is an aspiring Anthony Robbins with a beautiful fiancée. Hold the phone! A lawyer contacts Jack by letter to tell him his father recently passed away and left him an inheritance. WHat ? ? Mom admits she lied to Jack because his father, Kirby, was too irresponsible to hold down a job, so she left him and invented the tragic tale of his demise. But, hey, maybe money can heal so Jack travels to the east coast to visit the lawyer. After some tricky moves by this attorney, Jack signs a contract. But, Holy Dumbo Batman, Jack has just inherited a circus elephant named Vera. It seems papa's last job was with the circus and his great act included a trained elephant. What the heck is Jack going to do with a pachyderm? Yet, he must take possession of Vera immediately. After spending the night in a junkyard with Vera, Jack finds out that a zookeeper in Los Angeles would like Vera very much, as she is returning some elephants to their natural habitat. Thus, the cross country trip of trips begins. From raiding a whole salad bar for the elephant's meals to riding in cattle car, Jack and Vera try to make it to the west coast in time. Will they? This darling film is an instant classic. Murray has rarely been better than this ordinary Joe thrust into extraordinary circumstances. Piven, Gillette, Janeane Garafolo, and all the other cast members are fine, too. As for the elephant Vera, what a charmer with loads of talent. She makes everyone WISH they had such an inheritance come their way. With a broad, attractive look at the various regions of the USA, as the viewer follows the duo's trip, the scenery is a pleasure, too. Please get this great movie for you and your loved ones in the very near future. Its a first choice for the whole family, young and old.
zardoz-13 "Quick Change" director Howard Franklin and comedian Bill Murray have literally got a white elephant on their hands in the highly forgettable juvenile critter comedy "Larger than Life," co-starring Matthew McConaughey, Janeane Garofalo, Pat Hingle, Jeremy Piven, and Linda Fiorentino. Murray plays a motivational speaker who finds himself saddled with Velma, a female elephant that belonged to his recently deceased circus clown father whom he never met. When mom and pop went their separate ways, mom got Murray and pop kept the pachyderm. Now, pop's attorney (Harve Presnell of "Fargo") wants $35-thousand to cover the damages that Tarzan's best friend has chomped up while he waited on our hero to claim his inheritance.The only way that Jack Corcoran (Bill Murray of "Ghostbusters") can get off the tusk is to take the animal across country to a zoo, specifically to Mo (Janeane Garofalo) who is willing to buy Velma as part of a breeding experiment in India. This is Jack's first option. The second option, he learns, is a sexy animal trainer who is prepared to up the ante for Velma. The dilemma that Jack faces is who to sell the beast to, either the sympathetic but homely zoo keeper (Garofalo had a similar role in "The Truth about Cats and Dogs") or temptress animal trainer Terry Bonura (Linda Fiorentino), who uses electric prods to make her beasties behave.Getting the elephant there comprises the bulk of Roy Blount, Jr's lackluster, lead-footed plot. You could grow as old and wrinkled as an elephant waiting for an original laugh here. Jack and Velma travel by train, truck, and on foot, but they encounter trouble around every bend. Along the way, Jack tricks a paranoid, speed-freak truckers, Tip Tucker (Matthew McConaughey of "Dazed and Confused") into giving them a lift. When Tip learns that Jack has duped him, he raises a posse of state troopers who follow in hot pursuit, Jack blunders off the interstate and heads into the desert. Velma and he save an antique Spanish church from a flood. The grateful villagers idolize the elephant and helps Jack finish his cross-country jaunt. Film purists will have reason to complain. At one point, Jck dons the outfits that John Wayne wore in John Ford's 1949 classic "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" to elude Tucker. The filmmakers back up this costume change as Jack sticks to the back trails with Elmer Bernstein's classic "Magnificent Seven" theme. Talk about mixing movie metaphors! If you cannot figure out the ending, perhaps you should treat yourself to this shoddy farce that stretches its unlikely partners premises far beyond the breaking point. Either Bill Murray desperately want to produce a flop movie for tax purposes or he needed to return as a regular to NBC-TV's "Saturday Night Live."
Jackson Booth-Millard I have always liked Bill Murray in films like Lost in Translation, and the trailer for this film looked really good, but the result was very disappointing. Basically Murray plays Jack Corcorin who has recently found out that his father died, and he is expected to hear his will. He finds out that his father was a clown, because he left a large shoe, his squeaky nose, and his main inheritance, an elephant! The only way that Jack can get rid of this elephant is to travel 4000 miles in four days and give him to a safe zoo for $30,000. Also starring Pat Hingle as Vernon. There are small tiny moments of humour, such as a truck's front bending forward, and Murray screaming, but overall, it's pointless. Pretty poor!
Tari_Nolatari I beg you not to see this movie! This is the worst movie I have ever seen in my life. Bill Murray + an elephant + no script (was there a script? I can't remember because I was too busy crying in pain at this terrible excuse for a movie) = the worst time of your life.Don't pay to see this movie - don't even watch it for free at a friend/relatives house. If anyone suggests that you should watch it at some point in your life, shoot them and run. Run as fast as you can and don't look back. I didn't even see this movie by choice - I went with a group of friends for someone's birthday when I was 12. I curse that day and the time that this movie took away from me. This is a kid's movie but any self-respecting smart child would not want to see this inflammatory pile of elephant droppings.