Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.5

Gone Fishin' Blu-ray Movie Review

Even seasoned anglers might not find this movie worth reeling in.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman May 21, 2012

Flick and dip.

Fishing and friendship and frantic fun and farcical fiction make up this fairly flat family film focused on Florida. But for all the "Fs," that's not the film's final grade. Gone Fishin' is no cinematic work of art, but it's a serviceable yet unremarkable time-waster that pairs a couple of quality actors for a little fun and unexpected adventure under the Florida sun. Joe Pesci and Danny Glover energetically maneuver through the film's zany collection of misadventures that leave them doing pretty much everything but casting their lines for a relaxing day in the sun. Director Christopher Cain's (Young Guns) whacky Comedy serves up a sufficiently palatable collection of laughs. The movie traverses fairly well-worn ground, but it's good for a few scattered laughs and a light cinema experience. Don't count on Gone Fishin' as anything other than a generic throwaway Comedy and chances are audiences will find just enough humor and serviceable characterization to keep coming back once every five or ten years.

Best buds.

Joe Waters (Pesci) and Gus Green (Glover) may as well be identical twins -- never mind their obvious physical differences -- for as close they've always been and continue to be. They've been best friends their entire lives, a friendship largely shaped by a shared passion for fishing. These forty-something chums are headed south to Florida for a fabulous fishing trip. But what should be the highlight of their angling lives instead becomes one disaster after another. An innocent stop at an out-of-the-way diner sets off a chain of events that will test their friendship and their sanity. At the diner, Joe and Gus happen to run into a seemingly kindly stranger who's anything but. It turns out their new acquaintance is none other than Dekker Massey (Nick Brimble), a nationally-known wanted murderer. He manages to steal Joe's and Gus' ride, but their boat at least survives an accidental run-in with the diner. Yet the men remain undeterred, pushing the boat towards the promise of the fishing experience of a lifetime. It seems their troubles just might be worth it when Joe and Gus come into possession of a treasure map leading to millions in cash and jewels, but that nasty Mr. Massey seems to butt into the friends' lives at every turn. He, too, wants the fortune, and he'll stop at nothing to get it, even if it means killing a couple of guys who just want to go fishin'.

Gone Fishin' might rightly define the casual modern Misadventure Comedy. Only a fishing backdrop differentiates this from most any other Buddy/Road Trip farcical disaster movie. It's painted with broad strokes, only fleshing out its story just enough to move on from one gag to the next. It's absolutely ridiculous and completely unbelievable, but then again that's pretty much par for the course for a zany Comedy that aims for exaggerated situations acted out by stock characters (though the characters are here better than that; more on them in a moment). The movie's far from original, but it's comfortably familiar and safe. It accomplishes what's required of it, namely generating some scattered laughs and entertaining audiences looking for a light escape from the realities of life. Audiences know everything's going to work out for Joe and Gus by the end, that they'll save the day and get a hardened criminal off the streets. Even the very last sequence isn't difficult to see coming, but the movie succeeds on a base level in creating a charming, light, viable Comedy that's gentle and sometimes sweet, even as it simply maneuvers through all of the expected genre elements.

The real highlight here is the actor chemistry and the well-drawn characters the actors play. Joe and Gus are such close friends that they're basically a single character spread out into two. Internally, they're virtually identical figures. They're next to inseparable, appearing together in pretty much every scene and capable of completing one another's thoughts and predicting the other's actions. In many ways, they're like twins or an old married couple, and it's that instant and never-off personal connection that's largely responsible for seeing them through their adventure safely and soundly. It's a good and somewhat unique tandem, and the accompanying performances nicely capture that unmistakable rhythm and easily shared chemistry extraordinarily well. Pesci and Glover light up the screen in every scene. They compliment one another wonderfully, perhaps not so well as did DeVito and Schwarzenegger in the underrated Twins, but enough to truly convey a sense of closeness and deep personal friendship that takes a lifetime to develop, not a few weeks prior to the shoot. Glover and Pesci are no strangers, having worked together in the Lethal Weapon series, but this is one of the better pure Comedy pairings of the 1990s, and they're together reason enough to give Gone Fishin' a look-see.

Gone Fishin' Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Gone Fishin' features a Blu-ray transfer that is surprisingly effective and impressive. It's not the most polished, perfect transfer, but considering the bargain price Mill Creek could have done much worse. Though there are moments when the image looks a little worked over and de-grained -- the opening young Joe and Gus sequence in particular -- the transfer rounds into form as a fairly handsome, filmic presentation. Light grain accentuates some nice, sturdy details. Old cardboard boxes and worn-down boat hull textures enjoy a fairly tactile appearance. Clothing and faces appear fairly complex and nicely defined, too. The image is usually quite clear and robust, with an even and bright color palette that's only noticeably dim in stretches. A few shots go a bit soft and the transfer can't always resolve with great clarity more complex visuals like clumps of leaves, but most of the front-and-center details impress. There are some edge halos throughout, but print wear is negligible, with a stray vertical line that lasts a few seconds near the end of the film the primary culprit. As noted, this is a far-from-perfect image, but most viewers will be satisfied with the price/image quality ratio of this Mill Creek release.

Gone Fishin' Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Gone Fishin' features a fairly impressive DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack. As with the video transfer, it's not an expectational presentation, but all things considered it's a workable one. It's fun and energetic, playing with solid clarity and a fair sense of immersive space. The opening Willie Nelson title song enjoys some surround elements and a noticeable low end that rounds the tune into nice form. Minor ambient effects impress, such as the boat squeaking down the road after Joe and Gus lose their car. The track is dotted with some heavier elements, such as various crashes, that play with good, positive energy and natural power. Dialogue is even and remains balanced up the middle, save for a stretch in a cave late in the film where it naturally echoes about the listening area. This track plays evenly and with a fair bit of enthusiasm, just what a zany physical Comedy of this sort needs.

Gone Fishin' Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of Gone Fishin' contains only the film's theatrical trailer (480p, 2:18).

Gone Fishin' Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Gone Fishin' doesn't reel in extraordinarily big laughs or an original, never-before-seen catch, but it's a pleasant enough cinema experience that comfortably and even somewhat confidently maneuvers through all of the usual Buddy/Misadventure movie clichés. The film is highlighted by two very well-drawn lead characters and two equally solid performances from Joe Pesci and Danny Glover. Gone Fishin' is no classic, but it's a good choice for an easy, rather thoughtless rainy afternoon. Mill Creek's Blu-ray release of Gone Fishin' features good video and audio. Unfortunately, the only included supplement is a standard-definition trailer. As with most of these sorts of releases, a higher price would necessitate a recommendation to rent or skip, but the low asking price makes this one rather easy to recommend as a purchase.