Product: The Fisher King [VHS] (1991)
Rating: 2.0
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You know ... I *like* Terry Gilliam. And I expected a lot from this movie. But I have to say, after seeing it twice, that I don't like it very much. It doesn't so much strike me as whimsically zany and uplifting as it strikes me as *trying* to be whimsically zany and uplifting. Of course being a work of Gilliam, it has some real style, but it comes off to me as a terribly self-indulged film, that is struggling to convey a positive and humane message, yet at the same time undercutting itself with its own poor attempts at humor. There is a scene about half into the movie in which Jeff Bridges is re-establishing himself, and he is in a meeting with a TV executive, who tells him that he will be starring in a sitcom about homeless people. He describes the project as portraying them as "wacky and fun," with a touch of wisdom, and putting the emphasis on the fact that they are "free." I *think* it is supposed to be ironic, but at the same time, that exactly is what The Fisher King spends a good deal of its time doing -- portraying the homeless and insane as wacky and fun, with an underlying wisdom. Real homeless people are not like the people in this film. Nor are "crazy people" nearly as amusing and inspiring as the crazy people as depicted here. Gilliam wants to make us laugh, and wants to deliver a fairly heavy-handed cry for humanitarianism and inner freedom at the same time, but the ways in which he tries to achieve either goal contradict each other and leave me with the feeling that, stripped of its pretentions of being "uplifting," this is really a rather tasteless film. I'm not someone who is particularly offended by such things, but these factors just sort of leave the whole film in a dubious place for me. A lot of the humor just struck me as awkward, and the dramatic situations were difficult to get into too seriously because there is such an abundance of wackiness surrounding it. I think the Fisher King is a poorly balanced and only mildly entertaining film. I also feel an excruciating amount of self-indulgence here. Oftentimes I like directors who are described as self-indulgent -- including Gilliam -- but in this movie that self-indulgence seems boorish, even if it is well-intended. The film has no solid context -- it wavers between heavy-handed melodrama, social commentary, and general wackiness too frequently and steeply. Yes ... the more I analyze this film to myself, the more I feel it is a real mess. Fairly good performances, and plenty of visual style, but ... a mess.