My Giant

My Giant
225px theatrical release poster
Directed by	Michael Lehmann
Produced by	Billy Crystal
Written by	Billy Crystal David Seltzer
Starring	Billy Crystal Gheorghe Mureșan Kathleen Quinlan Joanna Pacuła
Music by	Marc Shaiman
Cinematography	Michael Coulter
Edited by	Stephen Semel
Production company	Castle Rock Entertainment
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release dates	April 10, 1998 (US) February 12, 1999 (UK)
Country	United States
Box office	$8,072,007

My Giant is a 1998 comedy drama film starring Billy Crystal and NBA player Gheorghe Mureșan in his only film appearance, and directed by Michael Lehmann. Crystal also produced and co-wrote the story, which was inspired by professional wrestler André the Giant, whom Crystal had met during the filming of The Princess Bride.

Plot

A huckster named Sammy (Billy Crystal) travels to Romania on business after splitting up with his wife. After a disappointment with his client, he crashes his car and is rescued while unconscious by an enormous Romanian man named Max (Gheorghe Mureșan) who is close to 8 feet tall.

Sammy thinks the rescuer is God, as he can only see Max' giant hands. When Sammy wakes up, he thinks he is in Heaven. But, he is confused to find a statue of Jesus next to his bed, as he was raised Jewish. He then realizes Max has brought him to a monastery, where he was raised after being given up for adoption by his parents because of his height.

Once he wakes up and interacts with Max, he sees potential stardom in him. Sammy attempts to broker his introduction into the movies. In doing so he exploits Max' desire to visit a long-lost paramour, Lilliana (Joanna Pacuła), in Gallup, New Mexico. First, Max obtains the role of a villain in a movie, but he is so drunk that he vomits on the protagonist. However, the scene is included in the movie.

One day, Sammy talks to Steven Seagal about including Max as a villain in one of his movies, convincing him that he needs a different kind of villain. At first Seagal rejects him because there was another actor who would take that role, but he changes his opinion after listening to an extract of a Shakespearean play done by Max.

Suddenly, after some medical exams, Max is diagnosed with heart disease which cannot be treated with a transplant because Max' heart is so big. Sammy decides to find Lilliana, and tries to convince her to meet Max again, but she rejects the invitation. Sammy then convinces his wife to take the role of Lilliana and after some words, Max asks her for a kiss.

Afterwards, Sammy and his wife decide to get back together again, after realizing that they were truly in love and that their son needed them.

Sammy eventually decides to return Max home to Romania. Max refuses to go back, but finally he enters his old house, and meet his parents again, who abandoned him. Sammy ends up watching Max' first filmed scene in a cinema with his family. Max dies shortly after, because of his heart, but changed many people's lives forever.

Cast

• Billy Crystal as Sammy Kamin
• Gheorghe Mureșan as Maximus Zamfirescu
• Kathleen Quinlan as Serena Kamin
• Joanna Pacuła as Liliana Rotaru
• Zane Carney as Nick Kamin
• Dan Castellaneta as Partlow
• Steven Seagal as himself

Reception

Box office

The movie was not a box office success, grossing a little over $8 million domestically, far less than its $20 million budget.

Critical

The movie gained mostly negative reviews, and has a 19% 'rotten' rating on review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes.

External links

• My Giant at IMDb
• My Giant at Rotten Tomatoes
• My Giant at Box Office Mojo