Fish Don't Blink

This movie was sooooo bad I turned it off after 15 minutes!

Tries to be quirky and cute, but is just extremely annoying. Horrible acting. Terrible writing. Inept direction. Lea Thompson's performance is embarrassingly bad. Richard Grieco can't act at all. The jaunty piano score is irritating as hell. Looks like it had a budget of about $5. It would be more entertaining if one were to watch paint dry.

Look no further ! This one is little and it is fun. The cast ... all of them ... do their jobs well. Some will look familiar to most viewers and some not so much. Nothing very much happens and a lot happens .. it's that kind of a film.

I noticed that other reviews have complained that the plot isn't! Well it IS ! There are twists and turns that cannot be expected along with some stuff that you just KNOW is coming BUT it is fun.

For a while it seemed to be on just about every week or so on one of the over-the-air channels with all of the medical and sue-'em ads and then it disappeared. Now it turns up occasionally and if you want to spend a couple of hours with a NICE bunch of people ... l@@k for it and give it a try ... you might just LIKE it, Mikey !

I was hooked after a few minutes of watching. I did not watch from the beginning but was channel surfing the TV. I tuned into the film and saw Clara talking to a fish and her brother trying to arrange for her institutionalization for being mentally impaired. Although this plot seems to want to play out predictably, it develops because Clara's brother Jimmy has issues of his own that seem to overshadow those of his sister. Those who drop into the diner that these siblings inhabit and service have issues of their own that require resolution but only seem to compound the complexity of plot surrounding the siblings. The audience and the characters cannot anticipate what will happen next. The character's personalities are predictable but they act unpredictably because they are forced into situations where they have to make desperate decisions. The plot, characters and dialog are believable and realistic which makes the film an enjoyable character study in human nature even though the plot may be totally fictional. Because of the continuity of the character development and realistic dialog and plot, I give the film an excellent rating and recommendation.

"Fish Don't Blink" is the story of a brother and his younger sister (30 year-old Jimmy-Wil Wheaton and Clara-Lea Thompson) who run a diner in the desert named the Nautilus. The film is almost a remake of 1993's "Benny and Joon"; as Clara is a bit simple-minded/dysfunctional and Pete is agonizing over having her institutionalized. He is also restless to move somewhere more exciting and get on with his life.

The character with the most screen time is Charlie, a huge catfish they keep in a glass tank inside the diner. Clara has frequent conversations with Charlie and some sort of ESP that allows her to eavesdrop on other people thoughts and distant conversations.

The Johnny Depp "Benny and Joon" character is named Pete (Richard Grieco) and he ends up at the diner with Francis (Tonie Perensky) when their car breaks down. Francis is being chased by two gangsters, she witnessed a murder in Las Vegas and hopes to hide out in Mexico.

John Duncan plays Harry James, a small-time used car dealer and real estate agent. Duncan will remind you of Mr. Haney from "Green Acres".

"Fish Don't Blink" will appeal to fans of offbeat comedy as long as they are not looking for something original. The sequencing is a bit off which undermines any attempt to build up some suspense, although these failings will help you appreciate the impact of good editing the next time you see some.

The performances are a mixed bag, Grieco and Duncan are solid, Wheaton is a bit weak and Perensky is awful. While I have never been a Lea Thompson fan, Director Chuck DeBus gets a fantastic performance from her, probably her best ever. While inspired by Mary Stuart Masterson's Joon, Clara is more fun and Thompson brings some great comic moments to the film. Who would have imagined that she was capable of this level of performance,

The script is the product of multiple writers and is extremely uneven (big surprise). Perhaps there was only one talented writer, who wrote all the stuff for Duncan and Thompson then turned over the script to the marginal guys.

Thompson's performance can't entirely carry the film, but she and Duncan are entertaining enough to make it worth watching.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.