May 21–28, 1998

movie shorts

Shooting Fish

recommended

Team filmmakers and longtime friends Stefan Schwartz and Richard Holmes have made a generic combo, a buddy-caper movie and romantic-comedy three-way. Meeting the general criteria for both genres, it delivers escapades, bonding and some amour. The central boys are orphans determined to achieve their goal, the material and emotional security that they never had as babes. Dylan (Dan Futterman, Robin Willliams' son in The Birdcage) is a not-quite-ugly American fast talker and Jez (Stuart Townsend) is a naive (read: pure of heart) British computer whiz. They run scams on wealthy corporations, homeowners and banks. The third element, the girl (Kate Beckinsale, also in Whit Stillman's upcoming Last Days of Disco), is both madcap and wise, the ideal prize for either buddy (and of course, the choice must be made). The pace is appropriately capricious, the dialogue is sparkly and the plot is predictable. And all three actors are quite genuinely charming.

-Cindy Fuchs