Big Bad Love

Arliss Howard wrote, directed and convinced his wife Debra Winger to co-star with him in this alternately frustrating and fascinating drama about creativity, dreams, friendship and estranged love. Howard stars as Leon Barlow, an alcoholic redneck writer with one foot in the gutter and both hands pounding colorful prose from his Royal typewriter. He gets enough rejection slips to wallpaper his house while struggling in relationships with his ex-wife and kids in a greasy hushpuppy drama that becomes tedious at times while drifting in and out of fantasy. The peculiar cast includes Paul Le Mat as Leon’s best friend and former war buddy, Angie Dickinson as his mother, Rosanna Arquette and Michael Parks. Based on the short stories of Mississippi scribe Larry Brown and shaded with a muddy blues soundtrack.