Agree with style of direction comment to a great extent - the movie probably would have been aided by a more hand's-on style...
Note in re the Maclean respelling: since lowland Scots regard Highlanders as the equivalent of rednecks (hence Dad's dismay), I think Paul's action was just another rebellious act.
Seems to me the movie has several things going on.
The Scottish heritage of independence, individual achievement, rejection of privilege, self-restraint, hard work, importance of family, and education are all well-illustrated. This is the sociological theme. Since many of those traditions and values coincide with "American" values (especially at the time), this theme might not be clearly discernable by viewers - especially younger ones or those who don't know history very well. One point of the movie is to show these values and how they play out in the Maclean family. Someone above made reference to the "He was beautiful" remark as though it referred to Paul's physical beauty. I believe that interpretation is not totally correct - Paul's father is also saying that Paul embodied many qualities which were, to his father, of worth: Paul was independent, he asked for no help, he worked hard, and he loved his family. It was just a bonus that he was also Brad Pitt ;-)
Scottish Presbyterians are - as was their founder, John Knox - "common" people. Their beliefs rely much on Calvin (predestination) and, with this, the idea that it God has offered salvation because of His loving nature. God is Love because God has granted salvation; nobody is good enough to earn salvation - it is neither a right nor a privilege. To them, sin, unlike crime, which involves the breaking of human law, is a condition of the heart or an expression of that condition where one is estranged from God and fails to trust in God. This is the religious theme, and another point of the movie is to show how a deeply religious family with its roots in Scottish Presbyterianism operates. I believe it explains a lot about why Paul was not rejected for being, in some of his actions, a sinner. As noted above, he is treated like the prodigal son. In fact, this might be another point of "He was beautiful" because, given their faith, Paul might not even be seen as much more of a sinner than any other mortal.
Human contrariness is a psychological theme. Although it might be true that, whenever there are two brothers, one is a conformist and the other a rebel, I don't buy it as a general rule. There are two difficult brothers in the movie: Paul and Neal, and Neal has a sister and a brother. More to the point is that both these black (or in Neal's case, burnt red) sheep are loved by their families, even praised, both need help, and neither one will accept it. One point the movie has is to show how maddening it is to love someone who seems to be in trouble, but who rejects help. Norman's (and the rest of his family's) eventual resolution of the problem - as someone noted above - "you can still love them," reflects and joins the other themes, although it might seem frustratingly passive and possibly co-dependent to some viewers...in fact, my thought is that people who find this movie "pointless" are expressing their dissatisfaction with its resolution.
As for fly-fishing, while I've no doubt it was a real activity engaged in by all male Macneals, its primary use in the book and the movie, as with the river, is metaphorical. I wouldn't worry about its technical presentation over-much. I found the metaphor most clearly illustrated by the fact that Paul risked his life to catch the Biggest Trout, right before he was beaten to death.
Respectfully submitted :-)
An atheist and humanist
"The truth is out there - the lies are in your head." - Terry Pratchett
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