GONE FISHIN'
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1997 James Berardinelli
RATING (0 TO 10): 3.0 Alternative Scale: *1/2 out of ****
United States, 1997 U.S. Release Date: 5/30/97 (wide) Running Length: 1:34 MPAA Classification: PG (Mild profanity, innuendo) Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Cast: Danny Glover, Joe Pesci, Rosanna Arquette, Lynn Whitfield, Nick Brimble, Willie Nelson, Carol Kane Director: Christopher Cain Producers: Roger Birnbaum, Julie Bergman Sender Screenplay: Jill Mazursky Cody & Jeffrey Abrams Cinematography: Dean Samler Music: Randy Edelman U.S. Distributor: Hollywood Pictures
It's DUMB AND DUMBER meets LETHAL WEAPON sans Mel Gibson. Can any premise be more doomed from the start? Actually, the saddest thing about this unfunny, misguided motion picture is watching two performers I admire -- Joe Pesci and Danny Glover -- stumble their way through such obviously inferior material. I suppose it's worth remembering that Glover and Pesci meshed well in two LETHAL WEAPON movies, albeit primarily because the characters were cleverly written. Here, although the two actors display a certain "buddy" chemistry, that's a fragile thing to build a movie on.
As the title implies, GONE FISHIN' is about two men who go fishing. They're Gus (Glover) and Joe (Pesci), a couple of North Jersey guys who win a contest to spend a November week angling in the Florida Everglades. So, hitching their rowboat to the back of Joe's '68 Plymouth Barracuda, they head south. Things start to go awry somewhere in the Carolinas when a slick con man, Dekker Massey (Nick Brimble), makes off with Joe's car, leaving the two men stranded. Fortunately, they get a lift from Rita and Angie (Rosanna Arquette and Lynn Whitfield), a couple of women who are passing through on their way to Florida. It turns out that Rita's mother was one of Dekker's many victims, and the daughter is out to recover the money he stole. Poor Gus and Joe become embroiled in a situation involving guns, stolen jewels, and a treasure map when all they really want to do is find a secluded spot and cast their lines.
I can't help thinking that if this movie had allowed us to spend ninety minutes with Gus and Joe sitting in a rowboat, catching fish, and talking, it would have been infinitely better than what's on screen. Even Pesci, a decent comic actor, can't cull humor from mirthless material. For the most part, GONE FISHIN' seems uncertain how to get laughs. Its PG rating robs it of the opportunity to use the kind of flatulence jokes that turned DUMB AND DUMBER into a hit, so it settles for making Gus and Joe act like little kids. That approach is a failure, but no one, not director Christopher Cain nor screenwriters Jill Mazursky Cody and Jeffrey Abrams, seems to recognize this.
With so few comic bits that actually succeed, GONE FISHIN' quickly turns into a dull and meandering affair, drifting from one cliche to the next. All of the expected staples are present: runaway boats, high- speed chases, predictable one-liners, and a bunch of equally trite contrivances. All the while, we're looking for a single bright spot -- one solitary thing to make us chuckle so that the $4.50 matinee price doesn't seem like a complete waste of money.
If you look hard enough, you'll find it. One sequence with a sleazy boat salesman is well-written, nicely acted, and ably directed. It's funny, and, surprisingly enough, reasonably smart. It also only lasts about three minutes, and, after that, GONE FISHIN' plunges back into the murky depths from which it briefly emerged. By the time we get to the animatronic alligators, it's all-too-easy to forget that this movie contained a worthwhile moment or two. When it comes to GONE FISHIN', it's best to stay home.
- James Berardinelli e-mail: berardin@bc.cybernex.net ReelViews web site: http://www.cybernex.net/~berardin
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