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Overall Rating
  Awesome: 74.55%
Worth A Look: 12.73%
Just Average: 3.64%
Pretty Crappy: 5.45%
Sucks: 3.64%
3 reviews, 37 user ratings
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| Fisher King, The |
by Only Dreaming
"I'd like to thank the Academy...actually, no, I wouldn't."

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Robin Williams won his first Oscar ever for Good Will Hunting. A fine film, and a fine performance by the man. But how did he not win the award for this movie? How? What demented reality was the Academy living in?It takes a lot for a movie to really wow me. The Fisher King set me up, bowled me over, and didn't even bother to reset me. The plot: A Howard Stern-like radio personality (Jack, played by Jeff Bridges) gives some snide words against yuppies to a regular caller. Said regular caller snaps, enters a yuppie-filled bar, and opens fire with a shotgun and then turns the gun on himself. Said radio personality partly loses his mind and fully loses his motivation as a result. On a particularly drunken bout, he meets a total lunatic (Perry, played by Robin Williams)who, he soon discovers, he feels a tie to whether he wants to or not. Perry's questing for the Holy Grail, and he pulls Jack into it because Jack's the Chosen One.
This is a story of insanity, reality, and redemption. Williams is, frankly, brilliant. You feel SO strongly about his character that you want to enter the film and fix him yourself.
The movie has many giggle points, although many of them are guilty giggles. You're laughing because of Perry's irratic behavior, but you feel bad for it because he's legitimately insane. You're not supposed to laugh at crazy people (unless they're choosing to be, but that's a horse of a different color). You're also horrified at the absolute trauma Perry's experiencing, and frustrated with Jack's blundering attempts to "fix" it. One particularly gory scene does a fantastic job of bringing the horror of Perry's trauma home.
Two gripes: One: I have NEVER felt a need to see Robin Williams naked. EVER. He is the hairiest guy this side of Bigfoot. In what's meant to be one of the most poignant scenes in the movie (as well as one of the few times Perry's truly lucid), I was somewhat distracted with a thought that consisted primarily of "DAMN. He's HAIRY." Two: The very final part of the movie, once the movie's actually resolved and over, the final graphical bit is pure cheese and TOTALLY unnecessary. It leaves you with a hokey taste in your mouth after a movie that should just leave you speechless.This film is easily one of the 10 best I've seen in my life. It's a beautifully done film, marvellously acted (by leads and supportings), well-scripted...see it. Love it. Learn from it.
link directly to this review at http://hollywoodbitchslap.com/review.php?movie=2152&reviewer=206 originally posted: 04/23/00 21:05:10
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OFFICIAL SELECTION: 2007 San Francisco Film Festival For more in the 2007 San Francisco Film Festival series, click here.
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USA 02-Feb-1991 (R)
UK 02-Jul-1991 (15)
Australia 02-Jul-1991 (M)
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