Movie Review: Big Ass Spider (2013)

Greg Grunberg, Clare Kramer, Lombardo Boyar and Ray Wise star in this movie.

Mostly because we managed to get the kids in bed at a reasonable time last night, my wife and I decided to take a break from the "Doctor Who" marathon that has been on TV and watch a movie instead. After a short discussion, we decided to watch the movie "Big Ass Spider!"

This decision did not come without hesitation. While the film was highly rated on Netflix, the fact it was a comedy did make us think twice about it, primarily because films like this in that genre are rarely worth watching. In fact, when we started watching this movie, we weren't sure if we were going to be entertained or were going to regret our decision. As it turns out, it was a fantastic movie.

The thing I liked about this movie was, even though it was light-hearted (hence the "comedy" description), it also made a halfway decent action/horror film because that spider was surprisingly creepy. My wife was gripping her blanket pretty tightly during the earlier scenes in the hospital, when the spider was still smaller. And, even though it did grow to ridiculous levels by the end of the movie, it still managed to give us the creepy crawlies. That is a definite improvement over some other "spiders" we've seen in other movies.

Normally, I'm not a fan of movies with an overly simplistic plot. However, that actually managed to work for this particular movie because it allowed the spider to cause some destruction and kept the film fast-paced. The latter is really important when it comes to a movie like this because it makes it difficult to second guess some of the extreme plot points that always accompany a movie like this (such as the formula for fruits and vegetables that accidentally created the spider). And, as a result of that, we were able to enjoy it without feeling the need to analyze it.

I know the title of this movie will likely turn some people off of it because it almost did that for us. However, it is a surprisingly good film that, while still funny, manages to be a little scary and very entertaining from start to finish. I do recommend taking the time to watch it as a result.

My Grade: A