FILM REVIEW : Barbarian Brothers Back in ‘Think Big’

Those identical twin bodybuilders Peter and David Paul, who call themselves the Barbarian Brothers, are back in “Think Big” (citywide), a movie as slight as they are bulky. Fortunately, it is as amiable as they are.

The Barbarians are cast as a pair of good-natured giants, truck-driver brothers, who will receive the money they need for their final payment on their gleaming 18-wheeler once they deliver barrels of toxic waste from a small town in Montana to Long Beach. The toxic wastes are from TechStar, a remote think tank run by a greedy Martin Mull, who holds a clutch of young geniuses as virtual prisoners. Trying to escape is a pretty 16-year-old, Holly (Ari Meyers), who has invented a remote-control device capable of switching off any electronic switch within its proximity.

In short order, we’re into a typical chase comedy with Holly latching on to the kindly Barbarians and not only Mull and huge henchman Richard Kiel in hot pursuit but also David Carradine’s sly redneck repo man, eager to get his hands on the truck.

There’s not much here for post-adolescent audiences--the rating is a rather severe PG-13--but feature debuting director Jon Turteltaub (who also had a hand in the script) has a good sense of pace and a nice way with actors. Under his direction the entire cast, including the Barbarian Brothers themselves, are relaxed and amusing, and Mull and especially Carradine work up some funny characterizations.