anvils in eden
Tuesday, June 19, 2001

Why do people think westerners are quirky, wholesome, quirky, tolerant, and quirky? From whence did we acquire this reputation? Inquiring minds would really like to know.

First, I must say: I actually liked Big Eden. I have to say this up front because it's really not going to look like that. But honestly, I did.

Big Eden is the story of Henry Hart (played by Arye Gross) and his return to Montana, where he was raised by his grandfather, Sam Hart (George Coe) -- they never state what happened to his parents; all you know is that they died when he was very young. Henry moved to New York City to become an artist, and, in fact, became a quite successful one. He's on the verge of opening a new show when he gets word that his grandfather has had a stroke, and over the objections of his friend and agent Mary Margaret (Veanne Cox), he returns to Montana to take care of Grandfather Sam because, as he puts it, "I don't want to be an orphan!"

Henry arrives in Montana, and the story then takes a gentle left turn into never-neverland. He's met by his old friend and former teacher, Grace Cornwell (Louise Fletcher), who takes him directly to see his grandfather, who is doing well enough for a man who's just had a stroke. She then takes him back to the cabin where he was raised by Sam, telling him along the way that Dean Stewart (Tim DeKay), his best friend from high school on whom he has always been fixated, has come back to town after his divorce, living with his two sons. Henry went through ten years of psychoanalysis to get over Dean, and now he's back. Oh, dear.

Henry then makes arrangements with the Widow Thayer (Nan Martin) to make meals for them and bring them up, as Henry doesn't cook, and Sam can't. He then goes to the general store to make arrangement for supplies, meeting the near-pathologically shy Pike (Eric Schweig), who, it turns out, is pathologically shy because he is smitten by Henry. (It comes out later that they went to high school together; it's not entirely clear whether or not Pike was smitten with him at the time. If he was, that would explain the shyness even better, and make for a nice little reflected plot.)

Of course, Dean and Henry meet up at church, greet each other, and Henry tries to keep his distance as best he can; difficult, when the man was, after all, his best friend. In the meantime, the Widow Thayer decides that Henry must be fixed up with one of the eligible women in town and dragoons him into going to a lunch that, rather predictably, doesn't go entirely as she planned.

This is the point at which the first anvil is lobbed into the mix. For some reason, being entirely uninterested in women in a rather stressful situation, only a few days after he's gotten back to town, signals to the Widow Thayer and all of the other women in town that Henry is gay. Somehow, this information percolates through, and it soon becomes quite obvious that everyone in town knows that Henry is gay. For some reason that totally escapes logic, he assumes that his grandfather is not among those in the know.

In the meantime, Pike and company discover that the Widow Thayer is a fearsome bad cook; she just can't get a hang of this low-salt, low-fat diet that Sam needs. Pike, who serves as the delivery boy for the Widow Thayer's dinners, in an excess of inarticulate infatuation and good neighborliness, decides to learn to cook incredibly elaborate foods. However, he doesn't tell them that he's doing this (nor does he tell the Widow Thayer, who nonetheless finds out but keeps the secret).

Somehow, it transpires that, against all odds, Henry and Dean may, in fact, find happiness together. You never understand how or why; they just seem to be headed that way. And then, abruptly, they don't. And although you're closer to understanding why, Henry's reaction seems, to say the least, overstated. And following that comes a fusillade of anvils that is truly awesome in its lack of subtlety and surprising repetition. The first anvil, to be sure, is just indirect enough and comes at a bad enough time that Henry can be excused for missing it. There is absolutely no excuse for his missing or misunderstanding the second anvil. (You think for a moment that, yes, he's got a clue, but no, he didn't.) The third anvil (a repeat of the second, actually) comes in a form he can't possibly miss, but it's also not entirely sure that he'll do anything about it. To be sure, this is a romantic comedy, so you know that he will, in fact, do what he should; it's the one piece of misdirection in which the writer and director indulge.

The difficulty with Big Eden is that it is by turns both underwritten and overwritten. We never understand why Dean decides to get closer to Henry, or why he decides to pull back; we never see enough of the character to understand that. The plot structure also rests on Henry's truly awesome denseness. As previously stated, it never once occurs to him that if the entire town knows he's gay, his grandfather will, as well. (That particular bit of denseness is also entirely unnecessary; the rest of the plot wouldn't change if he said, "Hey, Sam, you know I'm gay, right? Just checking." As far as I can tell, that bit of denseness is necessarily only to produce a bit of extra anguish near the end, and it is, in fact, so close to the end that there's no chance to do anything with it.) The only thing that makes the barrage of plot anvils at the end even bearable is that they're aimed at Henry, and not at the viewer; after all, we already know everything that Henry is wilfully misunderstanding.

And yet, and yet ... the tone of Big Eden is wonderfully sweet and light and romantic. Arye Gross does a good job making Henry likable and believable, denseness and all. Eric Schweig does a wonderful job with Pike. The supporting cast is very good, and the cinematography is truly magnificent. (Then again, it's hard to screw up with Montana.) If you want to see a very sweet, fun gay romantic comedy, Big Eden is worth the trip.

Just watch out for the anvils, and you'll be fine.

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