Writer: Jonathan Sullivan
Original Post Date: 8/10/2009
Netflix Watch Instantly
Netflix Watch Instantly
Starring: Jay Baruchel, Alexis Bledel, Schuyler Fisk
Writer: Reed Fish
Director: Zackary Adler
Writer: Reed Fish
Director: Zackary Adler
A cool little indie film about small town life.
I'm Reed Fish is a comedy released in 2007 by Red Envelope Entertainment, a distribution company owned by the powerhouse (and my girlfriend) Netflix. The film stars Jay Baruchel as Reed Fish, a radio and TV personality in the small town of Mud Meadows. Well-liked and engaged to the ridiculously gorgeous Kate (Alexis Bledel), his life is going great...until his old high school crush Jill Cavanaugh (Schulyer Fisk) arrives back in town and puts Fish's life into upheval.
Like many of you, I had never heard of this movie before. I stumbled upon it while cruising through the Watch Instantly section of Netflix and decided to randomly give it a try, since I can only masturbate so many times a day before I have to do something different. Was it worth the 98 minutes I spent in front of my laptop screen? Well...yes and no.
Personally, I love the idea of a small town where everyone knows everyone else, and there isn't much outside of a general store and local establishments. Mud Meadows is a place just like this, and I fell in love with it immediately. My favorite parts of the film involved the citizens that Reed ran into, from the always complaining call in guest, to his best friend and radio show producer Frank Cortez, brought this town to life. My favorite had to be DJ Qualls, who plays a friend of Reed Fish named Andrew, who owns the general store, is into karate, and gets into high fiving fits with his fiancee. Qualls does excellent with the small screen time he has and it makes me sad that the way he looks will never get him a bigger role. Katey Segal (as the mayor) and Blake Clark (Shawn's dad on Boy Meets World) as Kate's dad Irv round out the cast, and they all join together to bring Mud Meadows to life in a way both believable and enticing. Hell, at the end of the movie, I really wanted to move there.
Jay Baruchel, in one of probably his few leading man roles, plays up the lovable slacker persona of Reed Fish, a guy who inherited the radio show from his deceased father Floyd and is content to just sort of live his life out in Mud Meadows. Alexis Bledel does well with what she has, but her character Kate does not get much to do, other than be the nagging and loving fiancee of Reed. Schyuler Fisk, who's character Jill Cavanaugh is the third side of the love triangle, is the better fleshed out character, but my sad shallow side had a hard time believing Reed would leave the white-hot Bledel for her. I know, I know, it's all about personality, but if you got to look into Bledel's piercing blue eyes for the rest of your life, would you honestly want to leave? Didn't think so.
The story is cookie cutter, but it's a cookie cutter that works and there is some depth (especially how Kate represents the status quo and Jill represents the chance to change). My only gripe is in the presentation: you find out mid-way that the movie you are watching is actually a film Reed Fish did with the citizens of Mud Meadows and he is premiering it to them. While sort of interesting, I found it very uneccessary and distracting to the experience, and it would have been a fine movie without that.
All in all, I'm Reed Fish is worthy of a look. I wouldn't buy it or watch it continually, but if you have a Netflix account (and if you don't, I weep for you), check it out on Watch Instantly, or if you can find it at a local store, rent it. I can think of worse ways to spend your time; like say watching Transformers 2.
Personally, I love the idea of a small town where everyone knows everyone else, and there isn't much outside of a general store and local establishments. Mud Meadows is a place just like this, and I fell in love with it immediately. My favorite parts of the film involved the citizens that Reed ran into, from the always complaining call in guest, to his best friend and radio show producer Frank Cortez, brought this town to life. My favorite had to be DJ Qualls, who plays a friend of Reed Fish named Andrew, who owns the general store, is into karate, and gets into high fiving fits with his fiancee. Qualls does excellent with the small screen time he has and it makes me sad that the way he looks will never get him a bigger role. Katey Segal (as the mayor) and Blake Clark (Shawn's dad on Boy Meets World) as Kate's dad Irv round out the cast, and they all join together to bring Mud Meadows to life in a way both believable and enticing. Hell, at the end of the movie, I really wanted to move there.
Jay Baruchel, in one of probably his few leading man roles, plays up the lovable slacker persona of Reed Fish, a guy who inherited the radio show from his deceased father Floyd and is content to just sort of live his life out in Mud Meadows. Alexis Bledel does well with what she has, but her character Kate does not get much to do, other than be the nagging and loving fiancee of Reed. Schyuler Fisk, who's character Jill Cavanaugh is the third side of the love triangle, is the better fleshed out character, but my sad shallow side had a hard time believing Reed would leave the white-hot Bledel for her. I know, I know, it's all about personality, but if you got to look into Bledel's piercing blue eyes for the rest of your life, would you honestly want to leave? Didn't think so.
The story is cookie cutter, but it's a cookie cutter that works and there is some depth (especially how Kate represents the status quo and Jill represents the chance to change). My only gripe is in the presentation: you find out mid-way that the movie you are watching is actually a film Reed Fish did with the citizens of Mud Meadows and he is premiering it to them. While sort of interesting, I found it very uneccessary and distracting to the experience, and it would have been a fine movie without that.
All in all, I'm Reed Fish is worthy of a look. I wouldn't buy it or watch it continually, but if you have a Netflix account (and if you don't, I weep for you), check it out on Watch Instantly, or if you can find it at a local store, rent it. I can think of worse ways to spend your time; like say watching Transformers 2.