YMMV / Big Eyes

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• Alternate Character Interpretation: Walter. Did he set out from the start to rip off Margaret or did he recognize that she was bad at marketing herself and step in for her? Clearly, he became jealous of her artistic talent, but did he start out just trying to help?
• Awesome Music: ''Big Eyes'', from Lana Del Rey, has tragic lyrics that fit the film, rich, textured vocals, and an epic trumpet.
• Fridge Brilliance: Any real-life artist will pick up on Walter's lies about being an artist by how much he procrastinates, waiting for inspiration to strike rather than simply doing it because he's compelled.
• Fridge Horror: It's established that Margaret is in dire straits because she is a single mother without many work skills. Now consider how blithely Walter comments that he up and left his wife to pursue his art career? How did she support herself?
• Hilarious in Hindsight: This would not be the last time Christoph Waltz stars in a film featuring a woman associated with disproportionately large eyes.
• Moment of Awesome:
  • Walter reading the newspaper and finding out that Margaret revealed on public radio that she was the real artist, not him. Though he remains silent, you can see the look of "This Is Gonna Suck" on his face.
  • Walter and Margret being forced to paint before the court to prove who painted the "big eyes." Margaret effortlessly shows up Walter, who never even picks up a pencil, proving once and for all he's not an artist.
• Moral Event Horizon: For most of the movie, Walter is a bit of a sleaze who uses his big lie to support a woman he loves. At least until he tries to light said woman on fire for supposedly soiling his good name.
• Narm Charm: The art critic's unflinching block of the fork Walter attempts to drive into his eye seems uncharacteristically heightened for a movie this grounded, but admit it: you thought that critic is a stone-cold badass.
• Spiritual Successor: To Tim Burton's first biopic Ed Wood, written by the same screenwriters 20 years prior. Both even featured a lead character who's an alcoholic and had overlying themes of Doing It for the Art.
• Values Resonance: Despite taking place in the middle of the 20th century, in a day and age where cyber art theft is a regular occurrence, with thieves Photoshopping out watermarks on work by established artists, taking credit for someone else's art is seen as a much more heinous crime. Chances are, if you're an artist, you'll despise Walter even before he becomes outwardly abusive.

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