Gone Fishin'

Well, this is pretty much your basic slapstick goof ball comedy. You have two fairly dim-witted people who aren't too keen on their surroundings and the havoc they wreak around them, and they get into a bunch if jiffies along the way. There, that was pretty much the lay down of the general story.

Now, the performances of Pesci and Glover, are as usual, right on. They both did a good job with their roles, and the chemistry between the two worked marvelous.

There are lots of situations throughout the movie that makes you cringe your toes in awkwardness, but the movie only managed to get a couple of laughs out in me. Lots of pulling on the smiles, but not really the type of comedy that makes you cringe over and laugh so hard you have tears trickling down your cheeks.

The supporting roles were nicely filled out as well, though many of the characters in the movie were somewhat quirky.

The movie is fairly wholesome to watch and good for an entertaining evening, but I say it is hardly the type of movie you return to again a second time, unless you are a die-hard Glover or Pesci fan.

Joe Pesci and Danny Glover, who most likely ran over ideas for this film while shooting "Lethal Weapon" 2, 3 or 4, are the stars of "Gone Fishin'", a very disappointing movie.

I am very fond of Joe Pesci's past performances. "Goodfellas," "Casino (a.k.a. 'Goodfellas 2')," "Raging Bull," and even "Home Alone". Danny Glover is excellent in all four "Lethal Weapon" films, as well as "Predator 2," even though the film wasn't great.

So, seeing how bad "Gone Fishin'" was, I feel the two guys were just filming this to have fun, sort of like the Rat Pack with the original "Ocean's Eleven."

1.5/5 stars --

John Ulmer

After finally watching this movie with a senior citizen and reading all of the other readers' comments about how terrible this movie "is", I thought I should have my say.

First, this movie isn't the BEST comedy ever. There have been better comedies before and since this movie. True, hearing the characters calling each other by their first names every so often can be annoying at times, I am PLEASED that I didn't hear much profanity in the movie.

I would much rather hear the characters' first names in every other sentence than profanity. So, this movie is rare in the sense of NOT having profane jokes and potty humor (like Austin Powers) to encourage laughter. But, knowing how today's society is, there is still the occasional "hell", "damn", and such.

Second, when I was watching this movie, I began to think of how the characters relied on some physical comedy and some crude slapstick humor. I do think the comedic routine could've been more refined and I have laughed at "The Three Stooges", "Oliver and Hardy", "Abott and Costello", and the older classic comedies more than I did in this movie. "Dumb and Dumber" was funnier, but somewhat vulgar.

Third, the plot and the characters could've been more refined, too. It seems as though about all the characters had to do was to act silly and get overly excited about winning a fishing trip and being very naive and innocent while creating havoc. But, this movie is simple and doesn't rely on some of the other crap that other movies rely on to get a laugh.

Finally, I would suggest this movie to older viewers who do appreciate a simple comedy without all of the unnecessary violence, potty humor, and profanity as evident in most of today's movies. (If this movie could've been more refined, I would've given it an "8" out of "10", but instead I give it a "5".)

PS--I don't think that most of mainstream society would appreciate this movie as they might appreciate potty humor and profanity, which I think is worse to think about than this movie itself!

Happy Viewing!

Joe Waters (Joe Pesci) and Gus Green (Danny Glover) are two accident prone lifelong friends who share a mutual obsession with fishing. During the week before Thanksgiving, the duo set out to Florida having won a contest sponsored by Joe and Gus' idol, professional fisherman Billy "Catch" Pooler (Willie Nelson). As the duo begin their road trip, they have a chance encounter with a seemingly friendly stranger (Nick Brimble) who also claims to be a fellow fisherman, unaware in actuality he is conman Dekker Massey who has swindled dozens of women out of their money and even killed his last mark. Taking advantage of Joe and Gus' trusting simplistic nature, Dekker steals their car setting the duo on a string of misadventures that keep them from their only desire to do some fishing.

Gone Fishin' is a 1997 Walt Disney comedy that was one of a number of broad produced by Caravan Pictures for Disney during their working relationship. While Caravan churned out these kinds of films with conveyor belt regularity, Gone Fishin' is notable for being one of the most expensive of these films due to behind the scenes production problems. The film was an early effort from J. J. Abrams and despite the film being released in 1997, by that point Abrams was transitioning to TV with projects such as Felicity and the script was likely written years prior as it had previously been considered as a buddy vehicle for Rick Moranis and John Candy. The film was beset by budgeting and scheduling issues that resulted in the film's final budget coming in at $53 million, and a tragedy occurred on set when stuntwoman Janet Wilder was killed during a boat chase gone wrong. Disney understood Gone Fishin' was not going to make its money back, so the company dumped it into theaters in May 1997 when The Lost World: Jurassic Park was dominating the box office and the film only made $19 million in the United States with other countries getting the film as a direct-to-video release. Critical reception was equally dismal as the film was near universally panned by critics with one critic even making the hyperbolic statement that Pesci should return his Academy Award for Goodfellas for his involvement in Gone Fishin' and 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag. Gone Fishin' is pretty close to the naidr of the 90s wave of slapstick heavy family comedies that tried to ape the success of Home Alone as there's barely any laughs to be had in this film.

While Pesci and Glover are fine actors in the right material, the characters of Joe and Gus are so thin that they're pretty much the same braindead catchphrase spewing numbskulls copied across two actors. While buddy comedies featuring dimwitted characters are nothing new as there have been countless films of this type that work with that format dating as far back as Abbott and Costello or Laurel and Hardy, but you still need to make the characters charming and Joe and Gus just aren't because they indulge in non-stop mumble speak of inane topics and are so massively unaware of the disastrous consequences of their actions that they feel more annoying than endearing. There's no real "jokes" in this comedy as the humor in this movie is primarily derived from exaggerated movements, mugging, and property damage....lots and lots of property damage, so unless you think buildings blowing up or cars and boats crashing is in and of itself a joke don't expect a whole lot of laughs to be had here. I could probably offer some leeway to this movie if it were just a harmless but dumb family comedy aimed primarily at children, but if children are the primary audience, why is the villain a sleazebag who fleeces women and has even killed one (complete with bloody knife) and why are there so many moments of Joe and Gus acting lecherous and making passes at women despite them being A) half their age and B) both Joe and Gus are married? This movie is too stupid for adult audiences, but it also covers topics that a lot of kids won't be interested in, not the least of which fishing itself as even the movie understands this and there's no actual fishing in the movie because it doesn't lend itself to slapstick hi-jinks.

Gone Fishin' is just a waste of time for all concerned. It's an unfunny comedy that has very little in the way of actual jokes and contrives two lead characters who are stupid, unlikable, and unaware to the point it is detached from any sort of grounding element, and 90% of the "humor" is from fast moving objects cause destruction but without creating any payoff or punch to it. Just don't watch it.

Ok, why's this film get a bad rap? I saw it and enjoyed it thoroughly. Not very often in these days do you get a film like this. It's a comedy without poop jokes, sexual innuendo or foul language. And you know what? It's truly funny. The innocents Joe Pesci and Danny Glover project, mixed with the wacky situations they get mixed up in, is truly hilarious. Not only did I find this film a laugh filled feel-good comedy, but its one of the few comedies of the 90's that I would feel OK about my little brother watching it with me.

There is nothing bad about this film. Sure; the script is silly, and the plot is inane, but the movie itself projects an innocent fun that can be enjoyed by people of all ages. Sure, if you're looking for a comedy akin to American Pie or Something About Marry, you won't find anything to your liking here. However, if you want a clean fun comedy with wacky antics and a good fun plot, this will work great.