Fishing Naked

The story is a little slow as it goes and the plot is rather implausible but it was a fun watch. Despite the title, the "nude" scenes have strategically placed hair or fishing gear to keep things covered. The young fellers in this flick are trying to run off tourists in order to protect their fishing holes. They do this with rather hokey big foot sightings. Their quest soon adds the dimension of trying to get lucky with a couple of young ladies who have decided to live in the wild (with most of the comforts of modern living). Out for fun and trying to impress the young ladies, who get involved in the hoaxes, their plans become more elaborate until they spin out of control. Oh, and an alien is on vacation in the area. The alien loves fish but is bad at fishing. The alien is a friend of one of the boy's grandmother, who encourages him to bring back lots of fish so she can give them to the alien. A 3 star movie becomes a 4 star movie as the hunt for big foot becomes one of the funniest chase sequences I have seen in a long time. The local sheriff and his deputy know what the boys have been doing. During the big chase they decide to have fun by misdirecting the hunters. Of course the movie was predictable but it was still fun to watch.

This movie was a free rental, and I'd glad. I'd have been rather unfond of having to pay for viewing it. Perhaps more interestingly, one never knows when picking a movie leads to, what unforeseen consequences might grow out of it. One would scarcely predict when I was watching it last night that today it would have me doing research to confirm that Philip Seymour Hoffman was not in "Dances With Wolves". But that is exactly what I was doing today.I didn't mind too much that this film had far less nakedness than the title would suggest, but my girlfriend did, less because she could have stood to see some of its "hunks" au naturel than because she's a stickler for truth in advertising. I'll have to admit I could have stood to have seen any character naked more than I could go for what the film did get bogged down in. Labeling of two characters as "hippies" did not capture much good memory of the "hippie" era. The hippie era started out with preaching "peace and love" and getting stoned. All too soon it diminished to just plain getting stoned. But even then for awhile, it remained not so infiltrated with modern day neo-puritanism as this all-too-contemporary co-opting of the hippie image does. So parts of this film were tedious and hard to watch, like the part vying to make a new well-worn cliche of the "I'm not his girlfriend!" proclamation.An actress I previously didn't know about, Tinsel Korey had the thankless or brilliant (you pick) task of playing the only character who ever pees in this movie. But at least her overall performance rose above the level of mere bodily-function buffoon. Maybe for that reason I won't have to worry too much about any threat of her becoming typecast as such a buffoon. At least maybe not so much as Philip Seymour Hoffman did thanks to such films as "Along Came Polly" and "Cold Mountain". Despite his gripping performance as Truman Capote, playing a bodily-function buffoon is a secure part of his legacy and competes with his untimely death for the distinction of being the major waste of his talent. It was enough that way, that until today the actor playing the earliest appearing bodily-function buffoon in "Dances With Wolves" (one such buffoon of all too many in that acclaimed picture diminished by a rabid bodlly-function buffoon fetish) was running together with Philip Seymour Hoffman in the back of my mind. So I had to make sure that the latter wasn't in "Dances With Wolves". I learned that the character I remembered therein was played by Maury Chaikin. But considering how Chaikin and Hoffman resembled each other in overall build, and how that hapless character played by Chaikin quickly blew his brains out on finishing his cameo as bodily-function buffoon, the confusion that lurked in my subconscious until today was understandable. Chaikin's character's demise was quick and pitiful. None of Hoffman's characters suffered so abruptly or pitifully in that department, but his own eventual demise was at least as sad.Anyhow, I can say that Tinsel Korey's performance in "Fishing Naked" was good enough for me to wish her luck in avoiding any such vicious typecasting as Chaikin or Hoffman may be vulnerable to, no matter what redeeming features might be found in their dramatic achievements as a whole. Even so she deserves a mention for a certain evening up the score: Unlike other movies I've mentioned (especially "Dances With Wolves"), she broke new ground in "Fishing Naked" by breaking the barrier of characters who in some point in their development seem to be flirting with being bodily-function buffoon typecast, taking that distinction out of the ranks of a purely waspish male preserve (specifically a waspish male Christian preserve in the case of "Cold Mountain"). For that she deserves some points toward possibly delivering the best performance in "Fishing Naked".Nonetheless, my choice for best performance in this movie must go to another Native American actress, Elaine Miles, who plays the Grandma character. Starting out as someone suspected of losing her mind because she reports seeing "orbs", she does get a redemption by the end. But her redemption comes in the alien subplot, advertised as making the film science fiction. But because the alien subplot is so scant, the redemption is a blink-and-you-can-miss-it sort of thing. Early on Korey's is the first other character to also see the "orbs," which turn out to be alien spaceships. But by the time we see the aliens themselves, there's scarcely left any time for the aliens to characterize themselves, as good, bad, indifferent, or anything else, even while "Grandma" patiently harbors one under her porch. So the movie ends scarcely having a significant science fiction subplot.

Here is a real sleeper. I think this movie is sweet, silly fun. The kind you'd love to see at a drive in movie with friends. The filmmakers (I hope) truly had a good time making this. It hits on many different myths and totally has fun with Bigfoot, aliens and orbs, tourists, natives, college students and spliff. Totally far fetched yet definitely worth watching with a big bowl of popcorn and whatever libation you like to go with it. No apologies for effects - as they fit like a hand in a glove in this film. A bit hokey, but really at the end of the day, works with the magic of the rest of the movie. I hope Mr. Coggan makes more movies. I'm a fan.

A sleeper movie. Delivers fun entertainment from from good actors operating under skillful direction. Clearly there were worthy advisors and their input on the flyfishing scenes. Doesn't mean the actors were accomplished flyfishers, just that the technical details were thought out and authentic. I recommend this movie. A good Date Night film.

Two questions to ask...What is this movie about? After all it's got a catchy title. And then comes the biq one: Why in the hell am I watching this silly flick? The answer because it's mindless fun. Reminds me of Northern Exposure set in Colorado. Seems to be a combination of Wayne's World, Caddy Shack, Blair Witch..and Smokey and The Bandit, plus the Blues Brothers and all other off the wall movies squeezed into a low budget film. I give it four stars because of the characters: Louise and Art. And you've got to watch it to figure out the connection.

An enjoyable movie that does have moments of hilarity. It is an amateurish production, but is still fun. It does have something of a surprise that I was not expecting in terms of how the script plays out, but I can't get into too much detail about it or I will giveaway the ending. It does have some nudity and sexual situations, but these scenes are not overplayed or overpowering. One of the things that I did like was that the interactions between people and the intended humor did not rely on vulgarity and grossness as the vehicle. In so many so-called comedies today the attempt at humor is single mindedly driven by the the excessive use of extreme vulgarity and obscenity. Fishing Naked does actually try to tell a good story. A good popcorn movie. It might be suitable for a mature 13 year old and above audience, but that is the parents' call in the end.