Just before sitting down to watch the sometimes-hilarious, sometimes-just-plain-weird comedy Big Trouble, I was surprised to learn that it's a John Cassavetes film—in fact, it was his last—and after viewing it, I still find it hard to believe. Vastly different from the rest of the films in Cassavetes' canon, Big Trouble is a slight, slapstick-washed farce that provides some laughs but in the end is merely a messy trifle.

Leonard Hoffman (Alan Arkin) is a distraught insurance salesman desperately trying to find a way to send his triplet sons Yale. In a plot twist straight out of Double Indemnity, Leonard finds himself suddenly in shady league with Blanche Rickey (Beverly D'Angelo), whose robust husband Steve (Peter Falk) has a layer of fat around his heart that will kill him in six weeks. Nervous Leonard and bombshell Blanche devise a scheme to grab $5 million in an insurance swindle following Steve's untimely accidental death from falling out of a train. It doesn't take a film noir expert to know that Steve is secretly in on the deal, and once we understand the truth, the film turns into a chaos of weirdness that suggests the writer wasn't sure how to end the film.

The first half of the film is admittedly compelling in a madcap way. Arkin is a genius of comic timing and nervous tics. He and Falk have a wonderful chemistry that's complemented well by hip-swaying D'Angelo. And the three share one of the absolute funniest scenes I've ever seen. You'll know the one—it involves sardine liquor. But as the film proceeds, it becomes strangely chaotic and shrill. By the time terrorists make their way into Leonard's workplace, the film has lost the audience that was laughing at the start.

Columbia Tri-Star presents Big Trouble in an aged-looking anamorphic-widescreen transfer of the film's original 1.85:1 theatrical presentation. Detail is generally good but sporadic, in some scenes looking surprisingly sharp and in others looking muddy. Colors are not particularly vibrant, but they appear accurate. Blacks are shallow. I noticed an abundance of flaws and splotches. But the image is undone mostly by significant grain and mosquito noise, which lend the film a drab appearance. Outdoor scenes fare the best, becoming sharper and clearer, taking years off the picture's age. I also noticed tiny, barely noticeable edge halos. The transfer seems to improve as the movie goes on.

The disc's mono presentation is suitable to the material. Dialog seems accurate if a bit hollow. Bill Conti's score comes across with surprising punch.

All you get are Theatrical Trailers for The Cheap Detective, I Spy, and Murder by Death.

Big Trouble is worth a rental, if only for that sardine liquor scene. The DVD presentation is respectable, if not spectacular.