February 17, 2005 - Bigger Than the Sky stars Marcus Thomas as Peter Rooker, a bona fide dull loser. At the beginning of the film, Rooker sits on his couch, which is inexplicably outside of his house. He is waiting for his sister to come over so that she can comfort him about his girlfriend, who just dumped him. Rooker knows why she left. His life is boring. Dull job, dull car, even a dull house. Although he's up for a promotion at his dull job, he takes little comfort, knowing he needs to make a change in his life, or at least start taking some risks.

He passes by a local community theater a few times, briefly eyeing an audition notice for a production of Cyrano. Finally, he stops in and tries out for a part. Although his audition is terrible, the director, Edwina (Clare Higgins) decides to give him a chance, hoping to find an honest performance. As Rooker struggles to overcome his lack of acting skills, he befriends a whole new group of eccentric theater-types. There's Michael Degan (John Corbett), the highly skilled actor who has forgone his promising career to remain in Portland theater; Grace Hargrove (Amy Smart) is Degan's occasional love interest and an inspiration to Rooker; Ken Zorbell (Sean Astin) is a pretentious actor from a rival theater company; Mrs. Keene and her sister Earline (both played by Patty Duke) and eccentric theater legend Kippy (Allan Corduner).

During my high school years, I had a good friend who was one of those "theater" types, and over time I met his other friends from the theater and occasionally hung in their crowd. If I can say one thing for Bigger Than the Sky, it's that it certainly reminded me of those times and of the types of people I knew back then. In that respect, BTTS is at least an accurate depiction of the bizarre idiosyncrasies of the "theater" crowd. If you've never been in that crowd or been associated with it, this portrayal may seem hard to identify with or embellished. It is not.

On another positive note, BTTS is a sweet story at heart. It's well-meaning and relatively harmless. For a short period of time, I was involved with and sympathetic to Rooker's journey. The characters of Grace, Michael, Edwina, Kippy, Mrs. Keene, Earlene and Ken are colorful and entertaining. Unfortunately, it's not their movie. It's Rooker's. Truth be told, he is pretty darn boring, and when his character has to carry a scene, what starts out as slightly cute in the beginning becomes more on the side of irritating about 20 minutes into the film. Thomas' performance is flat and one-dimensional. It's understandable that he's supposed to be playing a bad actor, but this doesn't explain why his off-stage performance on the screen is just as awkward and sluggish.

	-Neverland Films Corbett (left) and Thomas (right) in Bigger Than the Sky

As the story carries on, a few side-stories develop, such as Kippy's cancer, the strained relationship between Grace and Michael and Edwina's battle to avoid putting a long nose on Cyrano. Each one of these stories is far more engaging then Rooker's plight. This is partially because of his character and partially because the rest of the cast are just more engaging actors. By the third act, the film becomes a snore.

Director Al Corley tries to keep things moving along, but his love of theater clearly gets in the way of making a good film. He's so fascinated with the theatrical world that he seems to think everyone will fall under its spell just as he has. Instead, he has alienated the majority of viewers and dwindled his audience to those who are on the "inside" of this world.

Films that are on the middle ground and make a good effort are often the hardest to review. With a film like Bigger Than the Sky, I see what they were going for and, in many ways, it is a noble attempt. With the glut of terrible and unoriginal films, you have to at least give Corley credit for trying something a little different. Still, originality does not always breed success. BTTS is recommended for the theater crowd, who will probably enjoy the inside look at their world. I can't say whether they'll like the film overall more than I did, but for the rest of us, I can't see a reason to see this film.

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