Goat on Fire and Smiling Fish

SMILING FISH AND GOAT ON FIRE (2000) *** Derick Martini, Steven Martini, Christa Miller, Amy Hathaway, Bill Henderson, Rosemarie Addeo, Heather Jae Marie, Wesley Thompson. (Dir: Kevin Jordan) Independent filmmaking has always never failed in churning out a pleasant feeling little gem and continues that tradition in this funny and warm-spirited sleeper.

Chris and Tony Remi (played by real-life brothers Derick and Steven Martini) are very close brothers who share their family's house in Los Angeles and their Native American nicknames from their grandmother (Tony is the happy Fish and Chris the moody Goat) while trying to come to terms with their relationships between the women in their lives and themselves.

Tony is an actor who is having trouble maintaining commitment with his high-strung girlfriend Nicole (Marie) while Chris, a responsible accountant, is trying to find out why his gal Alison (Hathaway) is always crying in bed. After both brothers wind up without their ladies for reasons beyond their control they wind up at a Christmas party and the wound-licking Chris winds up chatting with an incredibly beautiful Italian woman named Anna (Addeo) and forgets about Nicole.

Meanwhile Tony has struck up a friendship with their mail carrier, Kathy (Miller from TV's 'The Drew Carey Show') who is a single mother whose daughter Natalie (Thompson) is a budding child actress who bonds with Tony at a shared audition. The three soon become inseparable and Tony realizes just how special they are to him.

To add to the equation, Chris caters to his stand-offish boss' elderly uncle, Clive Winter (Henderson) a retired film soundman who pioneered black cinema with the likes of Paul Robeson and teaches Chris some life lessons in love by telling him about meeting his wife, an assistant director, on the set of a film where they found love at first sight to be an overpowering lifeforce until her sad demise. Clive can see Chris clearly falling head over heels for the exotic Anna and plays matchmaker.

The film works primarily on the natural at ease the real-life brothers imbue for their characters and the easy going pacing by Jordan (who co-wrote with the Martinis; the threesome are best friends in real life) allows character development to glide effortlessly from scene to scene.

The Martinis are ably supported by the giddily charming Miller and the drop dead gorgeous Addeo as their perfect matches that you can't not help rooting for these four to stay together. Henderson also adds some magic as the voice of reason from the heart that doesn't ring false in what could easily have been a too cloying plot device.

A perfect date movie and a near perfect debut by three very talented guys.

It's good sometimes to be reminded we need low budget indie films to tell us warm, genuinely human stories. Despite poor production values wonderful performances shine through here. Most notable is Bill Henderson giving the performance of his life. Mainstream films offer so few strong emotional roles to the elderly (as opposed to pap like The Crew or Space Cowboys) that it's nice to see Bill shine. When I saw the premier screening at Toronto International Film Festival it received 3 standing ovations, one especially for Henderson, who was overwhelmed with joy to receive it.

I look forward to this film coming to town again so I can see it a second time after post-production.

I have seen this movie a few times at several showings. Toronto was huge, Los Angeles rocked, New York was mint! I can't believe the success of this fine film. It's like the little engine that could. I loved Derick and Steven very professional.

Their friend Phillip was hysterical, that part with the santa hat, I was laughing my ass off. I can a big future for all of these fine actors/producers. I am even more excited to see what the future holds in store for these film makers. IT'S A GO SEE SEVERAL TIMES.

I took a chance when I got this one from my local library. And I'm happy I did! This is no masterpiece, but it's still a surprisingly likeable piece of work. I especially liked the Clive's character, played by Bill Henderson. And I fell in love with Rosemarie Addeo! In all, a nice independent film.

Out of 100, I gave it 75. That's good for **½ out of ****.

Seen at home, in Toronto, on April 23rd, 2002.

I heard quite a lot of pre-release buzz for "Smiling Fish and Goat on Fire" so naturally I planned on seeing it as soon as it hit theaters.

I must disagree with most of the other IMDB reviewers, sad to say. The movie did have its funny moments, but I have seen this type of independent romantic comedy soooo many times already. It just isn't as fresh and original as so many people have been hailing it to be.

I think the fact that this movie was made for only $40,000 is admirable. But that doesn't mean that it is a good film. The chemistry between Chris (Derick Martini) and the Italian animal wrangler was lacking. I didn't know what she saw in him, to be honest. The scenes between Chris and his soon-to-be ex-girlfriend Ali were much more intriguing.

The movie might have also been a little more interesting if it explored Tony's (Steven Martini) womanizing a bit further. It would have provided great tension in his growing relationship with the mail-woman. But instead all we get is his instant rapport with her cute, but way-too-precocious, little girl. Steven Martini has a lot of appeal, but there was no conflict in this relationship to keep my attention. ZZZZZzzzzzzz.....

I really hate to be the wet blanket as far as this movie is concerned, but it didn't really live up to my expectations. For a better and fresher independent romantic comedy, I would recommend "The Tao of Steve."