A Fish Story

A man who neglects his family gets a second chance when his soul enters the body of a petty criminal. While this theme offers interesting possibilities, none of them are realized here. Between death and reincarnation, Nick (Sam Roberts) stands around wearing a cheap suit, hiking boots, a bad haircut, and an expression which says, 'I can't understand why Canadian films are so boring.'

'Fish story' takes no chances. It gets nothing really wrong, but nothing is really right, either. It's almost as if the director were aiming at mediocrity. The contrived plot, two dimensional characters, awkward sentimentality, and utter lack of ambiguity are reminiscent of a 1940s radio play.

Fritz Lang's 1934 'Liliom' deals with a related theme and was filmed on a similarly low budget. It's thoroughly wonderful. 'Fish story' is closer to 'The Talking Cat', but without Eric Roberts' warmth and charm.

In 'Fish story's' surprise ending, Eddie (Eddie McClintock) returns to a life of crime. He breaks into the Possum Lodge, where Red's nerdy nephew Harold has constructed a burglar trap made entirely of duck tape. (OK. I made this up, but it would have improved the movie immensely.) Otherwise, the only reason to recommend this film is its soporific value.

If you have lost your father at young age, you will relate to this movie see and feel the deepness of this story. If you have lost any one close, you will feel its deepness. If you have never lost anyone close, you will understand the feelings and the changes of those who have! That movie to shows and shares the message in a beautiful way the reality lived by the ones left behind. The screen shots are wonderful! I saw this movie in a public invitation to discover new creations; the people who assisted this showing were from all ages. I guess they are like me... if it is free why not taking advantage of it! This was a showing in my small town for anyone who wanted to see it. We knew that it is a new movie and that they wanted our feeling about it. My critic above is truthfully, what I have felt, although I have to admit that I am writing this today because of the others in the cinema who expressed their feelings about A Fish Story. I thought I was alone to have those feeling about the movie, but we had some of the actors and producers in the cinema to who we could exchange our feeling and thoughts about the movie. That is when I realized I was not the only one who loved it and felt it. People were just amazed about the movie and shared their true feelings about it to the actors and producers. There was over 150 people in there that shared and loved it. I was stunt!

The basic premise of this movie is pretty darn silly. I caught it on Netflix on a slow Saturday afternoon. The glaring problem that stood out to me is the Mother trusting a complete stranger to sleep over in her cabin and go fishing with her young daughter alone is pretty ludicrous. The little girl is the one bright spot in a movie full of actors that would fit in better in a high school drama club. I found it hard to stay awake and was left wondering wondering how I could have better spent the hour and a half I wasted watching this. I wish success to the young actress and would advise the actor that played the middle son to find a different career choice.

A Fish Story is a beautiful family film with a lot of heart. It's well written, well crafted (there are some really stunning shots), and well acted. Though there's not a lot of action, the movie was never slow.

The only thing that bothered me -- and only in thinking about the movie afterwards, not when I was watching -- was that there appeared to be some content left on the cutting room floor that may have given the film even more texture. For example, there was one scene in which some ancillary characters are introduced. Among them were a father and son duo, and there is clearly conflict in their relationship. That's the last we see of the son, though, and I was left feeling that more was intended (maybe as a parallel to or comment on the main story, a father getting a second chance to deal with unresolved family issues).

My issues with the film were minor, and I'd recommend it to anyone.