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Slice of lesbian life leaves viewers fishing for insightsREVIEW: ‘Go Fish,’ a romantic comedy, offers a handful of bright observations but neverbrings its central relationship to life.By HENRY SHEEHANThe Orange County Registero Fish,” a black-and-white romantic comedy concerning the lives _ and loves of fiveyoung lesbian women, strives hard to be not just a novelty item.Yet director Rose Troche, who collaborated on the script with her principal performer, Guinevere Turner, has chosen a structure at obvious odds with herindsiVj K'lr'Go Fish'► Stars: Guinevere Turner, V.S. Brodie.► Behind the scenes: Directed by Rose Troche. Produced by Troche and Guinevere Turner. Written by Troche and Turner.► Playing: Opens today at the Port Theatre at Corona del Mar► Rating: No rating (some nudity, sexual situations, language)► Grade: C► Running time: 1 hour 30 minutesRelying i on tat critical chorusthat repeatedly interrupts the action both to comment and further the plot, and on talk-heavy dramatic encounters, she has made a film that plays mostly like the filmed record of a theatrical workshop production, half-finished and unconvincing.Her cast provides an intractable problem, too.1 Not so much because theiactors are uniformly-'60 FISH': Max (Guinevere Turner, left), goes fishing for Ms. Right andeventually finds Ely (V.S. Brodie)./u unpolished; audiences for .shoe-. i string;, ihdepmdeftt .prg^pctjonss's It.tend to be generous in this department. But given that Troche forces much of her leading characters’ courtship offscreen, the two have to provide at least a flash of personal chemistry. When that fails to happen, the movie falls apart.Turner plays Max, a 24-year-old would-be writer whose romantic spirit is slowly being dampened by the suspicion that Ms. Right isn’t out there. Eventually she meets Ely (V.S. Brodie), a teacup-and-lace type who, temperamentally at least, would appear to be her diametric opposite.Of course, that’s the point, that opposites attract. But there has to be something beyond a mere statement of that dusty old shibboleth. And while Troche gives us a slice-of-lesbian-life (contemporary urban division, at least), thumbnail demonstrations of some complexities of lesbian life; , and a, grab-ba, of ,sQirie. prettygood verbal jokes, she never once vivifies this central issue.Max and Ely’s courtship can’t sustain itself on single-cell motivation, not dramatically anyway.iIt’s on the peripheries where Go Fish” offers some insights. One of Max’s roommates, Evy (Migdalia Melendez), has to deal with her devoutly religious mother after her ex-husband exposes her current lesbian relationship to her.In a fantasy sequence, the pYo-miscuous Daria (Anastasia Sharp) is pulled off the street to confront a hostile, interrogating force of her peers who demand to know why she had just slept witha man.But these are momentary rewards. They hardly compensate for the dry assertions and forced . narrative that make up the bulk of “Go Fish.”/. i ^ ? * ’ i : *! f» K *i 1 i u i / jj I- ■ j . -m) ** i
Newspaper Details
Santa Ana Orange County Register
Santa Ana, California, US
Fri, Jul 01, 1994
Page 152
Full Page
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Rotten T.
USA 24 Aug 2021
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