Stand Tall! feature

"Stand Tall!" is a romantic comedy spin on "giant woman" movies, a popular sci-fi subgenre for 60 years. The difference is that oversized leading lady Colleen Cossitt is a mere 16-foot-1 1/8 and would rather entertain people than attack them. Colleen -- a singing/dancing waitress at a rundown Vegas casino who'd been physically and financially abused by her ex -- uses scientist-customer Keswick Fletcher's experimental Resizer device to enlarge herself 15 percent to 6-foot-2 so she can become a showgirl in a revue. Alas, a mishap instead makes Colleen's entire body (and clothes) three times bigger. She hides from the world in his lab, a converted trucking warehouse. Both fear the change could be fatal (it isn't), and as time goes on they earn each other's trust and fall in love, promising to protect each other.





The casino's eccentric billionaire owner tracks Colleen down and wants to fire her, but instead signs her to a million-dollar deal to headline at his showroom, with Keswick as her manager. After a shaky debut where she stumbles over props and briefly wants to quit, she publicly apologizes the next day and soon becomes beloved by young and old on the Strip. Things are going great for the gentle giant, who successfully repels an ex-showgirl's attempt to woo back Keswick -- but when he discloses he owes a mobster $154,000 for a gambling debt, Colleen fires him and he soon is kidnapped by the mobster's minions.





Colleen has second thoughts about dismissing Keswick, but learns where he's held. The scientist's aide has upgraded the Resizer, which accidentally restores Colleen to her original size. She and the aide join her sister Maureen and best friend Meg in rescuing Keswick. Returning to the lab, Colleen unsuccessfully tries to grow back, but can't. Her ex, the mobster and showgirl rush to the lab and threaten to kill them if Keswick doesn't turn them into giants, but he instead reduces them to one-third scale. Colleen decides to retire from show business, but agrees to stage a farewell show at the casino for charity; before she performs, Keswick proposes and she accepts. As she closes the show with a love song dedicated to him, the shrinking effect wears off and she slowly grows back to triple size. (The villains also re-grow, but are trapped inside a crib and playpen.) Keswick, knowing she's happy being a giant again, tells her he'll keep to his word and marry her. Colleen announces both her return to performing and her engagement to a delighted crowd, as word gets out of her regrowth and Keswick gets an offer for her to star in a Hollywood movie.





"Stand Tall!" provides both good-natured laughs and an unusual romantic couple, As Keswick tells Colleen, "Why settle for normal?"