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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great film!, September 24, 2007
I stumbled on to this on my Netflix "instant play" feature as something to watch. The Netflix rating system told me I'd like it, and they were right! So much so that I'll probably buy it soon.
The coming of age love story watches the goings-on of Reed Fish, a "literal" big fish in a small town who has a daily radio show he inherited from his dad. The slam dunk in this movie is Schuyler Fisk's performance and music. She's incredibly engaging. Her music is wonderful. Jay Baruchel, as the title character Reed, and Alexis Bledel, as his fiancée, do an excellent job.
Some reviewers trash this film for various perceived ills, but they are completely missing the humour and the point. Reed Fish is a big fish, pun intended, in this little town, and spends his days solving problems for his listeners and otherwise operating as a pillar of his community despite his youth - it's meant to be a little weird, I think. There are many moments where the movie laughs at itself for all these "flaws", which I'm sure were engineered in in part to mimic reality. Do yourself a favor - suspend your reality for a moment and enjoy it for what it is - a delightfully engaging, charming romantic comedy.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
You're on the FISH!, January 17, 2008
Welcome to Mud Meadows. And Reed Fish (Jay Baruchel) is the Voice of Mud Meadows. He inherited the job from his Dad. Mud Meadows is one of those tiny towns where the biggest controversy is grooming the town hedges and the big story is the return of the zorse (zebra+horse).
Since taking over the Voice job from his Dad, Reed's become the town's Mr. Fixit. He knows who to call and what to say to get the small-town government working for its citizenry.
He's marrying Kate (Alexis Bledel), the darling of Mud Flats, a girl who's 'almost like family' already. Her Dad's big excitement is smoking an illegal cigar. And she expects Reed to get excited about wedding color schemes, food, etc.
It's just too perfect--something or someone--has to upset the apple cart. That would be Jill (Schuyler Fisk), his ex-girlfriend from HS, who went away to college. She's a pragmatic girl who believes happy endings only happen in movies.
What ensues is chaotic and funny. Reed has to learn how he defines his life--rather than the town, etc.
Of particular note is the soundtrack. Fisk sings a couple of songs and has a very nice voice.
My only serious gripe with this funny indie film is the DVD is dark enough that I had to fiddle with the contrast fairly radically to get it to look right. It was worth the trouble.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
charming indie comedy, January 2, 2008
Reed Fish (Jay Baruchel) hosts a radio call-in show whose audience is as loyal in spirit as it is infinitesimal in size. His listener-ship is comprised exclusively of the citizens of Mud Meadows, a small town discreetly nestled in the pine-encrusted mountains of Southern California (the movie was filmed in the scenic Big Bear area). Although he's come to be known as "The Voice of Mud Meadows" for keeping the town folk apprised on issues of concern to the local community, Fish really isn't all that happy with his life. He actually feels hemmed in by the restrictions of small town life and is beginning to have second thoughts about his impending marriage to a childhood friend, Kate (Alexis Bledel), whom he may be marrying more out of a sense of duty and obligation than out of genuine love or passion. His life gets even more complicated when Jill (Schuyler Fisk), a girl he once had a crush on, returns to Mud Meadows for the summer, stirring up old feelings in him and making him question even more the level of his commitment to Kate.
Based on a semi-autobiographical story by none other than Reed Fish himself, "I'm Reed Fish" is an utterly beguiling indie comedy, overflowing with sweet sentiment, rueful humor and outstanding performances by Baruchel, Fisk, Bledel, Victor Rasuk, Katey Sagal and Chris Parnell, well known from his work on "Saturday Night Live." Not only are the characters themselves immensely charming and likable but their responses to the situations they find themselves in are believable and touching as well. "I`m Reed Fish," written by Fish and directed by Zackary Adler, is smart about the complexities of romantic relationships, and the movie is filled with any number of beautiful and lovely moments, the most transcendent being the one in which Jill (Fisk) literally lights up the screen with her musical performance at a local pub. As a writer, Fish is scrupulously fair to the characters he`s created, avoiding the obvious temptation to paint Kate, in particular, as a fool or a harridan just so he can enhance Jill's virtues in the viewer's eyes. This equanimity makes the protagonist's romantic dilemma all that much more compelling and empathetic for the audience caught up in the story.
As lagniappe, the writer has placed the story in an offbeat film-within-a-film framework that gives the movie an extra added kick at the end.
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