| As the film opens, Margaret Ulbrich (Amy Adams) is packing quickly, preparing to flee her husband and taking her daughter with her. She ends up in San Francisco.
We don't learn anything about that failed marriage but we do meet her next husband fairly quickly. She is trying to earn some money sketching kids whilst displaying her paintings and drawings, which oddly enough are all of kids with large eyes. At the next display there's another artist displaying street scenes, and his name is Walter Keane (Christoph Waltz).
He seems charming, in an overwhelming sort of way, and in double quick time, frightened by the possibility of a challenge for the custody of her daughter Jane, she agrees to marry her. Her best friend isn't impressed but Margaret seems pretty comfortable.
It is soon obvious that her paintings, rather than his, are attracting quite a bit of public interest. Initially due to a misunderstanding, Walter passes them off as his own and the couple start to make big money from the big-eyed kids.
It all starts to unravel as quiet Margaret is forced to play second fiddle to dominating Walter, and there are stormy times ahead. She doesn't like her paintings being taken from her.
This is a true story and Margaret Keane is still around. Amy Adams is excellent as always (with blonde Monroe-style hair) but the film is somewhat unbalanced by Waltz whose over-the-top style was suitable for Inglorious Basterds and Django Unchained but is a bit too much here (even though the part does call for a slick salesman type). On the back of his performance, the picture sometimes veers into comedy or horror territory.
It's a decent enough story though heaven knows why anyone bought the paintings.
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