Shooting Fish

Stefan Schwartz, UK 1997, 113 mins

Take two orphans - one a smooth-talking American, the other a brilliant inventor - then add a sassy young secretary to this odd couple, mix for an hour and a half and what do you get? A delightful comedy for the post-capitalist era where more emphasis is placed on the fantastical than the mundane reality of everyday living.

Dylan (Dan Futterman) and Jez (Stuart Townsend) meet as orphans in London and quickly realise that together their individual skills can be put to much better use. The duo pull off a string of inspired scams, with Dylan providing the patter, and Jez lending the technical expertise. But when they hire Georgie (Kate Beckinsale) ­ whom they both fancy (of course) ­ for a larger job, they get a lot more than they bargained for. Together the three of them form the ideal partnership - or so it seems. For unbeknownst to the two men, Georgie has her own agenda and as things start to go wrong (in fact very, comically, wrong), they begin to suspect that they are the ones being conned.

From the unusual locations ­ living in a gas reservoir ­ to the glinting teeth in the picture perfect ending, we can tell that we've entered the cuddly world of director Stefan Schwartz (who previously made the quirky Soft Top, Hard Shoulder). There's a cracking selection of tunes from the likes of Space to provide the film with a "hip and trendy" feel and enough slapstick farce to keep the tears rolling down the cheeks. Of course a comedian is only as good as his/her jokes and Shooting Fish doesn't die on the big stage. Indeed one of the most hilarious moments in the film involves a funeral parlour, a coffin, a large bag of money and some blow up dolls. Finding other such gems is as easy as shooting fish in a barrel. Hopefully this film represents a growing trend for successful British comedies that will drag the industry into the next century.

Neil Chue Hong
EUFS Programme 1998-99