The Big White is a dark comedy caper set in a wintry climate, quite similar to last fall's release The Ice Harvest. Though it's unclear which came to fruition first, both share a number of similar traits, although The Big White might be a more mainstream alternative because it adds a smidge more goofiness to the proceedings. In any case, The Big White succeeds where other films have failed, in keeping its more jovial and more grim signs in a delicate balance -- and, since a film with this sort of star power is being so unceremoniously relegated to Straight-to-DVD Land, comes across as a hidden gem worth seeking out.

Paul Barnell (Robin Williams) is an Alaskan travel agent who dreams of a better life. Between his Tourette's-suffering wife (Holly Hunter) and regular utilities, Paul finds himself with more bills to pay than with money to pay them off. But after discovering a corpse stuffed in a dumpster by his office, Paul hatches a sure-fire scheme: steal the body, pose it as his missing brother Raymond, and collect on the million dollar  insurance policy.

All goes according to plan, until claims investigator Ted (Giovanni Ribisi) enters the picture. Just as determined to escape Alaska, with his girlfriend (Alison Lohman) in tow, as Paul is, Ted smells something fishy about the whole deal and sets out to expose Paul as a fraud. On top of all that, two mob thugs (W. Earl Brown and Tim Blake Nelson) show up wanting the guy they killed back, sending Paul into a scramble to put an end to all these dirty dealings -- which grow more complex when the real Raymond (Woody Harrelson) breezes back into town.

The Big White gives off a vibe reminiscent of a Coen Brothers film, especially with its story of various parties involved in all matters of shady business finding their plans ironically foiled in one form or another. But instead of ripping off the formula and trotting out the usual assortment of characters you'd normally see in a movie like this, the makers of The Big White stay true to their characters, blessing each one with their own specific quirk that adds a little more spark and energy to the film.

This movie is a terrific little marriage of the crime comedy genre with the idea of Murphy's Law: what begins with one little scam snowballs into a complicated mess of bodies, payoffs, and kidnappings, involving more strange participants as everything expands. Robin Williams delivers a turn that's firmly in the middle spectrum of the roles he's played, far from the over-the-top goofiness of Popeye but nowhere near as dark as One Hour Photo. He does fine work as a nice guy who just wants some cash to pay the bills, maybe take a little vacation and get away from the desolation of his current life -- only all of his attempts to do so keep decreasing the amount he'll get out of the insurance settlement, if he gets it at all. A movie like this really depends on the likability of the figure at the center of all the shenanigans, and lucky for us, Williams is skillful enough to come across as sympathetic while being a convincing enough shyster.

The supporting actors, however, are something more of a mixed bag. Ribisi, an actor whose films I've enjoyed as a whole more than I've enjoyed him in them, serves up a maniacal performance as Ted, the insurance agent who takes his quest to get the heck out of Dodge (or, in this case, Alaska) to even more desperate lengths than Paul. Brown and Nelson are hilarious as the two mob goons who take Paul's wife hostage, only to get carried away with who gets to use the bathroom first and cooking delicious meals. On the other hand, Hunter's spirited acting seems hindered by the filmmakers' indecision about how to view her character. Is she really slipping into insanity or just doing it to get attention? The talented Ms. Lohman gets saddled with a thin part that doesn't figure into the plot much, and Harrelson's irritating performance causes his character to feel like an 11th hour addition to make the plot even more chaotic.

Although The Big White stays on track for most of the time, there are a few occasions in which the subplots appear a bit tiring and not worth pursuing, unnecessarily padding out the running time and having a small but noticeable effect on the movie's pacing as a whole.

I'm still puzzled concerning why The Big White didn't receive more exposure. Ninety-nine percent of the time, straight-to-DVD releases aren't worth the discs they're encoded on, but this one's an exception to the rule. The Big White is a highly enjoyable film, a modest little dark comedy with more entertainment and cleverness in a couple of scenes than a lot of major releases include in their entirety.

MY RATING: *** (out of ****)

(Released by Echo Bridge Home Entertainment and rated "R" for language including sexual references and some violence. )