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Gigantic, Matt Aselton, 98 mins, (15)

Starring Paul Dano, Zooey Deschanel John Goodman, Edward Asner

Reviewed,Anthony Quinn
Friday 19 June 2009 00:00 BST
Comments

It's kooky, it's quirky, it's dippy, it's trippy, it's loopy, it's screwy – it's indie, and boy, it's annoying. Matt Aselton's directorial debut puts Paul Dano's mattress salesman together with poor little rich girl Zooey Deschanel, though their feelings for one another are dwarfed by the determined (and hugely self-conscious) eccentricity looming around them.

She's called Happy (ugh) and has an overbearing plutocrat father (John Goodman), while he, at 28, has a lifelong ambition to adopt a Chinese baby. Huh? Even if you don't find that alarming, there's a psychotic homeless man, a repulsive and creepy "massage" scene, and familial oversharing that make the movie much harder work than it ought to be. Dano is okay as the pale-faced, recessive lead; Deschanel is in danger of becoming too cute for her own good – the Meg Ryan of the indie brigade.

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