Dream With the Fishes

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Dream With the Fishes

R

1997

1h 37m

Comedy

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

61%

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44 Reviews

85%

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1,000+ Ratings

Shy, neurotic Terry (David Arquette) spends his days spying on neighbors through binoculars. One night, he decides to jump off a bridge but can't bring himself to end it all. Nick (Brad Hunt), a cocky artist with a terminal disease, arrives on the scene, and they make a pact. If Terry helps Nick live out his fantasies in his final days, Nick will pay him back by killing him. The two head out on a road trip, where they drop acid, bowl naked, open old wounds and live life on the edge.

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Dave Kehr

New York Daily News

Despite the emphasis on Oedipal conflict, the film expresses no desire to enter the grownup world; happiness here is associated with eternal adolescence, following the '70s (and now, apparently, '90s) ideal.

Rated: 2/4

Feb 13, 2014

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John Hartl

Seattle Times

A throwback to the independent-minded, anything-goes movies that followed in the wake of Easy Rider in the early 1970s.

Rated: 3/4

Feb 13, 2014

Full Review

Desmond Ryan

Philadelphia Inquirer

Clearly, it wishes to be different, but anyone who fondly recalls the buddy films of the '70s will find it to be more of the same.

Rated: 2.5/4

Feb 13, 2014

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Dennis Harvey

48 Hills

That outline might sound like a recipe for cutesy inspirational schmaltz. But Dream With the Fishes was—still is—slyly funny, mordant, surprising, and ultimately touching in ways that never feel sentimental.

Oct 14, 2022

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Margaret Pomeranz

sbs.com.au

Dream With The Fishes is quite a moving but perplexing film.

Rated: 3/5

Feb 13, 2014

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Dan Webster

Spokesman-Review (Washington)

Dream With the Fishes is a personal kind of story told with a sensitivity that, while not exactly Oscar-worthy, does manage to touch on feelings most mainstream films don't even admit exist.

Rated: 3/4

Feb 13, 2014

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Audience Member

Great soundtrack too!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/18/23

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Audience Member

a very black blk comedy that i found quite delicious

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

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Audience Member

The best independant film ever, the movie that made David Arquette, and Kathryn Erbe famous. (Kathryn later stared on Law and Order: Criminal Intent.) A true road movie about freeing yourself from your past and starting anew. And of course, how can anybody not love the scene of a cop wigging out on acid inside of a donut shop. Classic!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/28/23

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Audience Member

By the time it ends you realize that all this while the film was only pretending to be plot less or may be I was dimwitted to not bother noticing it.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/15/23

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Audience Member

This is really a great little film! I have to admit the soundtrack alone gave this film about death and dying a major edge for me. The performances are really good from the main actors as are some of the location shots in San Francisco.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/15/23

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Audience Member

no dreams or fishes were harmed in the making of this movie.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/09/23

Full Review

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Finn Taylor

Director

David Arquette

Terry

Brad Hunt

Nick

Kathryn Erbe

Liz

Cathy Moriarty

Aunt Elise

Patrick McGaw

Don

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Synopsis

Shy, neurotic Terry (David Arquette) spends his days spying on neighbors through binoculars. One night, he decides to jump off a bridge but can't bring himself to end it all. Nick (Brad Hunt), a cocky artist with a terminal disease, arrives on the scene, and they make a pact. If Terry helps Nick live out his fantasies in his final days, Nick will pay him back by killing him. The two head out on a road trip, where they drop acid, bowl naked, open old wounds and live life on the edge.

Director: Finn Taylor
Producer: Johnny Wow, Mitchell Stein
Rating: R
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: English
Box Office (Gross USA): $556.7K
Runtime: 1h 37m
Sound Mix: Surround

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