Fat Vera

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Movie
German title Fat Vera
Original title Larger Than Life
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1996
length 93 minutes
Age rating FSK without Al.
Rod
Director Howard Franklin
script Roy Blount junior
production Pen Densham ,
Richard Barton Lewis ,
John Watson
music Miles Goodman
camera Elliot Davis
cut Sidney Levin
occupation

The fat Vera (Original title: Larger Than Life ) is a comedy film from 1996 with Bill Murray in the lead role. Directed by Howard Franklin and written by Roy Blount junior .

action

Jack Corcoran from New York City is a motivational speaker and author of the book "Get over it" (German: Get over it). He mainly earns his living by giving speeches at company events. He learned from his mother that his father died before he was born while trying to save someone from drowning.

On the day of his engagement, Jack receives a telegram from an attorney telling him that he is the administrator of his recently deceased father and that Jack should contact him about a "fairly substantial inheritance". Jack's mother then admits that Jack's father had not died 40 years ago, as she claims, but that she had left him because she believed him to be irresponsible and did not want him to be a bad influence on her son.

When Jack visits the estate administrator, he learns that his father was a circus clown. He receives a suitcase with clown utensils. In addition, the lawyer mentions that it is still about a sum of 35,000 US dollars; Jack just had to sign the papers. After signing, however, he learns that this sum is a debt that the lawyer charges him for maintenance and property damage caused by the "inheritance". The genome itself turns out to be a female elephant named "Vera". Her father had named her that after Jack's mother. From a last letter from his father, Jack learns that he should call a certain "Blockhead" if he doesn't know what to do next. From his mother he learns that it is Vernon Sawitzky, who used to perform in the circus under the stage name "Human Blockhead".

Jack wants to get rid of the lady elephant as soon as possible. In order to pay off the debt, he tries to sell Vera. The zookeeper Mo offers him US $ 30,000 if he brings the elephant to the airport in San Diego , California , from where a herd of elephants is to be flown to Sri Lanka .

That's why Jack travels across the USA with the elephant, first in the train, then in trucks. He visits Vernon in Kansas City and his all over body tattooed wife Luluna. Both knew his father and performed with him in the circus. Luluna was even engaged to Jack's father at times. Vernon shows Jack what tricks Vera can do. Vera only did a trick with Jack's father and nobody else: she lifts both front legs and just stands on her back legs. Vera was the only elephant in the world who could only walk on its hind legs.

Jack receives an offer from Los Angeles tamer Terry Bonura , who wants to pay $ 40,000 for Vera. Mo cannot increase her offer and says it would be better for Vera if she could live in freedom in Sri Lanka. The speaker and the elephant are taken away by the over-the-top truck driver Tip Tucker, to whom Jack pretended on the phone that his client had canceled his original assignment. When the man finds out that he has been betrayed, he abandons Jack and Vera on the way.

To get to their destination, Jack and Vera also cross a desert area in New Mexico . During the night it begins to rain and both are picked up by a law enforcement officer who takes them to a place threatened by flooding. The villagers are desperate to save their church and are bracing themselves against the walls, which cannot withstand the water pressure. Jack manages to get Vera to do her special trick: She stands on both of her back legs and braces herself against the walls. This saves the church from collapsing.

For Vera, the savior of the church, a monument to the "elephant miracle" is to be created in the village; for this she would have to stand for several days. But Jack doesn't have time for that because he wants to deliver Vera to Terry. Jack is given cowboy clothes from the local museum in the village, and with the help of friends and acquaintances of the villagers, Jack and Vera finally find their way to Terry. This turns out to be an ice-cold business woman who does not shy away from making animals compliant with stun guns . Through her, Jack learns that Mo’s budget for her project has now been exhausted and that she can no longer pay him the 30,000 US dollars. Nevertheless, Jack makes his way to Mo, since he is now of the opinion that it is best for Vera. After overcoming a few obstacles, Vera finally gets on the plane to Sri Lanka.

Shortly before the end credits, the viewer learns the further development of the story in text form: Jack and Mo traveled to Sri Lanka to watch the birth of Vera's first baby, which is how they both found each other. His book "Get over it" was no longer reprinted, but his travelogue "On the road with Vera" (German: Unterwegs mit Vera) is a bestseller. Jack's former fiancée married his agent Walter, and Jack's mother organized their lives.

backgrounds

  • The film grossed around $ 8.3 million in US cinemas. Around 24,000 cinema viewers were counted in Germany.
  • The film shows short excerpts from motivational speaker Anthony Robbins .
  • Jack's father's first name is initially not mentioned in the film, but the inscription on his tombstone is briefly faded in: " Kirby Corcoran, 1930 - 1996 ".
  • In the film there is a reference to the western Der Teufelshauptmann (original title "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon"), and the well-known theme melody from the western The Magnificent Seven is played.

Reviews

Roger Ebert described the comedy in the Chicago Sun-Times on November 1, 1996 as disappointing. He praised the beginning of the film and the portrayal of Bill Murray as a motivational speaker. He also wrote that there are colorful characters in Road Movies , including those of Vernon and Luluna whom Ebert praised as "bright spots in the cloudy script" .

The lexicon of international films wrote, "After a bitter satire on dubious motivational seminars, only gossip and old-fashioned gags follow" . The "little child-prepared story" lacked above all "the poetry of an evolving relationship between humans and animals" . The comedy would "neither do justice to a young nor an adult audience" .

The German Film and Media Evaluation FBW in Wiesbaden awarded the film the title valuable.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Box office / business for Larger Than Life, accessed December 31, 2007
  2. ^ Film review by Roger Ebert, accessed December 31, 2007
  3. ↑ Die dicke Vera in the Lexicon of International FilmsTemplate: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used , accessed on December 31, 2007