By Julia Shih
Daily Arts Writer
Most of the promotional material for the movie "Gone Fishing" includes the little catchphrase, "even the fish are laughing!" After watching this wretched movie, I doubt that even fish would have such bad senses of humor to feel compelled to laugh at this piece of trash.
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Gone Fishing
1/2 star |
But just before Thanksgiving, they win an essay contest that provides them with a vacation package to the beautiful Florida Everglades. Off they go in search of adventure, leaving smashed buildings, damaged boats and burn victims in their destructive wake.
Soon they meet the cunning and cold-blooded killer, Dekker Massey (Nick Brimble), and entangle themselves in the con artist's plot to retrieve $2.5 million in stolen cash and jewelry. Gus and Joe attempt to foil Massey's plans in order to collect the hefty reward, but not before they squeeze in some high-quality fishing.
"Gone Fishing" is as lame as they come. It seems to have been created solely to see how much inept stupidity could be crammed into a film while trying to pass it off as a real movie. Someone should tell the filmmakers that people aren't stupid. We sometimes laugh at the likes of Pee Wee Herman, and a few of us might even think Chris Farley's "Black Sheep" was decent, but we know crap when we see it.
Glover and Pesci take annoying and moronic acting to a new level. Though director Christopher Cain wanted the two characters to be a bit brainless, the actors need to seriously tone down the stupidity. Their bungling throughout the movie appears completely forced, as it is usually a desperate attempt to create laughs. Furthermore, the senseless gibberish between the two is often unintelligible; the only word that can be clearly understood is "fishing."
Pesci, whose best comedic role was in "My Cousin Vinny," is overwhelmingly whiny and irritating. His character grates on your nerves, begging you to walk out of the movie. When his character is struck by lightning, audiences will probably applaud, as this event provides a few moments of silence from Pesci. No doubt, Joe Pesci proves that he might be fun to watch ... if he had been an actor working in the silent-film era.
Danny Glover's acclaimed skill as an actor goes completely wasted in this movie. He exhibits no talent (or intelligence) in his role of the good-natured lemming to Pesci's character, supplying a few "yeah"s here and there, in response to Pesci's ramblings.
The film's only laugh comes during the pseudo-exhilarating chase scene near its end. The stunt men standing in for Glover and Pesci are poor substitutes for the actors, causing audiences to laugh painfully, again, at how horrible this film is.
Nothing about "Gone Fishing" even whispers quality. The film's premise is weak, the plot development is nonexistent, and there is not one likable character throughout the film. This is one movie that will make you never want to set foot in a movie theater again. Your best bet would be to skip "Gone Fishing," and pretend it doesn't exist.
Joe Pesci and Danny Glover laugh like idiots in the asinine "Gone Fishing."