MovieChat Forums > I'm Reed Fish (2006) Discussion > Could have been much better.

Could have been much better.

posted 16 years ago by Goofy_Elfman
3 replies | jump to latest

I won't judge it too harshly, mainly because it's the first film the director's made and the first produced screenplay the writer made. But I think that the story development is what nearly ruins the film.

I'm Reed Fish was chugging along nicely with some fine acting and excellent touches enhancing the characters and their environment. Right as we're shown a piece of the underlying tension between Reed and Kate's marriage, we have this projector malfunction. I think this could have been pulled off in a much better way. Instead of having this sequence at the beginning, they could have digitally added a few reel effects, like a slight skip or burn in the upper right hand corner. Just little hints that this was actually a film. It would have made sense in context, what with DJ Qualls looking at the camera. Little things like that could have given the audience that feeling, a sort of "Duh! That's why that happened earlier on!" Put the twist at the end, where it should be. I'd much rather fall in love with a story, then find out it was staged than find out midway through and watch the rest with a slight, but very real, pang of disbelief. Or, better yet, they should have gotten rid of the entire thing.

There are other parts of the film that could have been worked on. Reed and Kate's engagement should have been introduced early on in the film. Introducing the old flame first makes their engagement seem secondary. Also, the last half of the film didn't have any of the interestingness that everything before the projector dilemma had. The two dramatic scenes, the breaking of the engagement and the Reed/Jill/Kate argument could have been done better. I did like the breaking of the engagement, but it felt slightly dry. I think more emotions should have been brought up, at least on Bledel's side. And with the Reed/Jill/Kate argument it seemed slightly forced. I'd blame the direction for having them all blow up like that, because it just didn't seem to work with how the characters were going on before that point.

Anyway, this is long, so I'll wrap it up. I thought the film had its great moments. Jay Baruchel was adorable, as was Schuyler Fisk who's grown as an actress and a singer. Alexis was cute and managed to bring a degree of dignity to Kate, who could have ended up shrewish. I also thought Victor Rasuk was charming. It's a cute film, and I think a decent first picture for the crew involved. 5/10.

"BEES?!"

[–] fiyeroswitch 16 years ago

I originally saw this movie because of my borderline obsession with Schuyler Fisk, and I thought she was a very strong force in the movie. She's very lovely and has a great singing voice. I thought Jay Baruchel was loveably awkward and sweet, and contrary to most actors his age, he didn't slip into the overacting territory. I can't neccesarily say the same thing about Alexis Bledel. I love her on Gilmore Girls and in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants films, but I couldn't bring myself to like her in this film. I thought she was a bit annoying and overbearing, and that she said her lines a little too forcefully.

The script had is bright and bleak moments. The beginning and the meat of the story were engrossing. There were a few laugh-out-loud moments and clever lines ("I shouldn't have yelled at you like that. Or threw that hamburger at you.") as well as tender moments. The ending seemed a bit too played out and slightly pretentious. Other people have commented that the movie took itself too seriously at times, and I have to agree. While I enjoyed watching the film, it was far from a perfect picture. Then again, that might be part of its charm, the fact that it was a bit rough around the edges. I give it a 7/10.

I cannot speak well enough to be unintelligible. -Jane Austen

[–] evd81 15 years ago

I think the criticism of Alexis Bledel is a bit unfair, simply because I thought that the dialogue was dreadful - especially early on.

It tried to be funny a lot of the time, but wasn't at all.

Anyways, I agree that Schuyler Fisk was really good. But the movie was a bit dumb at times, and everyone suffered because of that.

[–] chibilute 15 years ago

Pretentious is a bit of a... well, okay, it's a huge stretch for a film like this. This isn't Kiarostami or anything, and the "movie within a movie" is very innocent and almost playful.

Two of the most interesting things to me in this movie was when the "movie" stopped near the beginning, and when Reed decided to return the wedding gifts. The latter could've went way further, it would've been funny and something that hasn't been done before.

Instead of being a regular movie where the audience is supposed to wonder who the main character falls in love with or ends up with at the end, it cuts to the characters in a theater and we see both female characters either not happy with him or with another guy. So we know that he doesn't end up with either, and we wonder what could possibly happen or what he ends up doing to make these people feel this way.

Of course, there's still how it ends after the movie within a movie finishes, but I feel that it does give it a certain freshness for a time.