ThrillMessage There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Lela The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

comichound-48619 I typically do not review movies but the accents in this movie are the worst. I thought I was going to put it on, half ignore it, and write a paper for school. The accents are so bad I wound up watching it out of pure schadenfreude. I was almost crying laughing at how bad it was. No one says, "Lake Pontchartrain," calls everyone "cher," or refers to the city as "the Big Easy" on an even remotely regular basis. The best (worst) party is the failure to use the actual dialect and how Quaid's accent drifts in and out. Why wouldn't they just speak normally?!? Live and Let Die succeeded thirteen years earlier with an English production company.The only reason I will ever watch this again is to share it with friends so we can all laugh at it.

Roedy Green This is a thoroughly charming movie. It is a musical, a police drama, a murder mystery, a romantic comedy, and a story about a man who undergoes a transformation to maturity. It takes place in New Orleans. The movie is steeped in things New Orleans. The strong local colour gives everything an exotic other-worldliness, for the example the stripper bar with the gigantic women, or the voodoo heroin dealer with the gigantic number of offspring, a elderly "wise guy" (Mafiso) in yellow golf togs. Dennis Quaid is such a handsome slick charmer, that you can't help but be charmed. Underneath he is a kind, considerate, likable character, though that is not immediately obvious. Unfortunately, nearly all the actors are affecting their accents. If you are familiar with the accents of the area, they often do not ring true. The accents kick in and out at random. The DVD came with subtitles, which helped quite a bit. The food you can almost taste. The music makes you want to get up and dance. This is an old movie, but it feels like a modern movie made about 1986. It contains a classic joke, that ranks up there with "I'll have what she's having". I laughed and laughed for about 5 minutes. Hint: it involves a man startled while scrounging in a refrigerator. There is something for everyone in this movie.

Spikeopath The Big Easy is directed by Jim McBride and written by Daniel Petrie Jr. It stars Dennis Quaid, Ellen Barkin, John Goodman and Ned Beatty. Music is scored by Brad Fiedel and cinematography by Affonso Beato.Remy McSwain (Quaid) is a slightly corrupt New Orleans cop, who whilst investigating the murder of a mob man, finds himself under scrutiny by assistant district attorney Anne Osborne (Barkin). The waters start to become muddied when the pair begin to have a passionate affair, just as the can opens and worms spill out everywhere.It's an odd film at times, a bit too jovial to be considered proper neo-noir, and Quaid's Southern accent takes some getting used too. It's also nearly derailed in quality as conventionality dominates the last quarter of film.Yet judged on its own thriller terms it entertains well enough whilst also having some neat technical touches to help it along. Petrie's script contains spiky dialogue and a number of bravura sequences light up the otherwise standard crooked cop story.McBride dose good work on this, he opens his film up with a cracker of a camera tracker, and he makes good use of the New Orleans locations. He also has a good sense of prop choices to help the mood, none more so than with a scene involving Mardi Gras costumes, whilst he gets strength for the film by garnering tense and sexy performances out of Quaid and Barkin. Support actors also leave good marks, with Goodman as a cop colleague dominating the screen and Charles Ludlam almost stealing the film as McSwain's dry and near sleazy lawyer. Soundtrack, too, is well thought out, with the Cajun flavours spicing up the sweaty Orleans stew. 7/10

seymourblack-1 "The Big Easy" is a great movie which simply oozes charm and atmosphere from start to finish. Its unique blend of action, romance and humour is complemented brilliantly by the idiosyncrasies of its characters, some irresistible music and the colourful location in which it's set. The whole notion of New Orleans being a place where life is lived at a relaxed pace and where pay-offs are the norm is conveyed in a way which seems totally authentic and interestingly, this culture appears to be equally prevalent in both the criminal and the law enforcement fraternities.Homicide detective Remy McSwain (Dennis Quaid) is conducting an investigation into a series of murders where local mobsters have been the victims when Assistant D.A. Anne Osborne (Ellen Barkin) arrives on the scene to carry out her own investigation into alleged police corruption. There's an instant attraction between the easy going Remy and the straight laced Anne and she's gradually won over by his good natured banter and natural charisma.When the couple go out to dinner, it becomes clear to Anne that it's normal for Remy to be given free dinners by the proprietor of "Tipitina's" and later after Remy is caught accepting a pay-off during a sting operation, it falls to Anne to act as the prosecutor when his case goes to trial. Remy doesn't regard himself as corrupt as everyone in the police department enjoys kickbacks from the "Widows & Orphans Fund" which is financed by money which the police raise from the local shop owners. The prosecution's case then runs into trouble after some unorthodox action by his colleagues ensures that the evidence against Remy is made unusable.The couple's relationship is temporarily derailed when they're on different sides during the trial but later when it becomes necessary to do so; they agree to work together again.Remy and Anne are profoundly different in the sense that she sees what's permissible within the regulations in terms which are very black and white whilst Remy is a pragmatist who is perfectly comfortable operating within the grey areas. On one occasion she says to him "You're supposed to uphold the law but instead you bend it and twist it and sell it"....."Why don't you just face it Remy? You're not one of the good guys anymore". On another occasion Remy says "This is New Orleans darlin'. Folks have a certain way of doing things down here. People like to show their appreciation". During the course of the story, Remy gradually starts to recognise why she sees things the way she does.Dennis Quaid is terrific as a character who like the movie itself is bright and breezy, charming and very good humoured. Ellen Barkin is perfect as the uptight Anne who's completely horrified by some of the practices which she witnesses during the course of her investigation and the supporting cast are also excellent (especially John Goodman, Ned Beatty and Charles Ludlam)."The Big Easy" is pure entertainment and great fun and unsurprisingly was a big commercial success.