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If You Like Depressing Movies...
Dream With Fishes
By Ingmar Bergman's Depressed Cousin
juggler@worldnet.att.net
If you can sit through one of David Arquette’s 1-800-CALL-ATT commercials
without flipping the channel in disgust or if you liked him in Scream,
Scream 2, or the "My God, Can You Believe I’m Married To
Courtney Cox" issue of People magazine, then you will like him in
Dream With The Fishes. He plays "Terry," the same type of
weirdo that he always does. This character is just more depressed.
Brad Hunt plays a terminally ill drug addict (Nick) that wants
to have one final hedonistic hurrah before dying. Hunt starts the
movie very stiff and he’s not even dead yet. It doesn’t seem as
though he knows the character very well, but by the third reel he
has settled in and prepares for death, a sentiment you may share
for the first half hour. Although Hunt & Arquette do a good job
of playing their respective characters, they have as much chemistry
together as the cast of FX’s "The X Show." As the movie begins,
Terry is going to commit suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate
Bridge. Nick asks if he can watch, then tricks him out of it. Terry
looks to get even, but ends up agreeing to help Nick go on one last
binge if Nick promises to kill him at the end. Let the buddy/road
movie begin.
Along the way, we meet Nick’s tattoo artist girlfriend, Liz, excellently
played by Kathryn Erbe and his crazy, ex-stripper Aunt played by
gravelly-voiced Cathy Moriarty. We also get to meet his estranged,
dysfunctional father who can only communicate with Nick through
a game of knuckle-punching. They rob a bank, engage in a little
voyeurism and drop LSD at a carnival. If that isn’t enough to get
you to rent this movie, I have just two words for you: NUDE BOWLING.
This is not a perfect movie. Aesthetically, the color was pretty
bad, as was the lighting. At times, the story wanders and the direction
is aimless. However, there is enough in this movie to warrant a
renting (NUDE BOWLING). What I like most about this movie (besides
NUDE BOWLING) is that it isn’t overly dramatic. It doesn’t try to
make you cry buckets and it doesn’t make you think these two people
are heroes who deserve our pity. What it does offer is a look at
three of my favorite topics: Death, Dying and Suicide. Enjoy.
NEXT ISSUE: A look at the feel-good antics of Woody
Allen’s Interiors.
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