I have a lot of time off for the rest of the year, so that means I’ll probably be seeing at least one movie a day. That’s just as well. I have a lot of movies on different watchlists I should get to eventually. So, to start, how about the 1991 oddity The Fisher King? I’d say it’s the usual sort of weird movie Terry Gilliam has made made times over, but quite honestly, this may be one of the least weird movies he’s ever made. Sure, it’s still a bit weird, but it’s not 12 Monkeys or The Adventures of Baron Munchausen weird.
How weird is The Fisher King? They have Jeff Bridges playing something other than an affable guy. I mean, he doesn’t always play affable guys, but he usually seems to, so…
Radio shock jock Jack Lucas (Bridges) is doing his thing, mocking the people who call into his show, when it turns out one of his frequent callers/targets has shot up restaurant, killing multiple people before turning the gun onto himself. Full of remorse, he gives up his promising career just before it turned to a potential film career, living with video store owner Anne (Mercedes Ruehl) while working in her store. While out on a drunken bender, he’s saved from some guys looking to beat up the homeless by a homeless man sort of named Parry (Robin Williams). Parry believes he’s an Arthurian knight in search of the Holy Grail, living a life of chivalry and the like. However, Jack soon learns Parry is actually a former college professor who lost his wife in the restaurant shooting he indirectly caused, a moment that shattered Parry’s mind.
Jack figures the thing to do is help Parry. That means trying to set the man up with a clumsy, introverted young woman (Amanda Plummer) he has a thing for. With some help from Anne, Jack might be able to get Parry back to something resembling normal, a deed that might allow Jack to go back to his original job and revive his career. However, spending time with Parry and his own unusual friends might allow Jack to do more than atone. It might just make him a better person.
For the most part, I liked this movie. Ruehl earned herself a Best Supporting Actress Oscar, and yeah, it’s a little weird, but nowhere near as weird as most of Gilliam’s work. The characters are, by and large, eccentric without being cloying or anything along those lines. Williams brings his usual manic energy to the proceedings, and it’s appropriate for this one. The comedy is a bit more lowkey at times, and it isn’t all funny. Likewise, Parry seems to have some legitimate mental health issues that the movie may not entirely brush over. Jack thinks he can cure Parry of his delusions, and, well…part of the movie is Jack’s learning mental health doesn’t work that way.
Now, normally I might make a comment here on how the movie has aged since it does have a few plot elements that look different in 2022 than they did in 1991. For one, how complicit Jack is in the shooting at the start of the movie is something I don’t think any “shock jock” sort might cop to today especially when there are people like Alex Jones making far worse claims to an audience while showing zero remorse when people get hurt indirectly because of his words. Likewise, given Williams’s eventually suicide over his own mental health issues, there could be an added poignancy to his performance here. But in the end, I mostly just enjoyed this movie for what it was. Asshole Jeff Bridges learns not to be an asshole, and Robin Williams finds someone to love and support him. I’d say that’s worth it for a movie that may not be a fantasy film but flirts with the tropes all the same.
Grade: B+
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