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Rated: R; Genres: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy; With: Jeff Bridges and Robin Williams
C
By Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman is a film critic for EW

THE FISHER KING (R) A real change of pace for the madcap Terry Gilliam (Brazil). He directed this wacky-yet-sentimental fable about the friendship between a fallen talk-radio star (Jeff Bridges) and a crazed homeless man (Robin Williams) who keeps jabbering on about the Holy Grail. Much of the movie is corny and conventional, yet nothing in it quite fits together. Gilliam, who can be a wizard with images, lacks the feel for dramatic continuity and pace that a conventional director needs. He lumbers from dark satirical scenes of Bridges' radio show to fantasy visions of a faceless red knight galloping through Manhattan to low-key domestic psychodrama. The movie has some funny and charming moments, especially when it turns into a lunar version of Marty, with Williams and the comically gawky Amanda Plummer going on a nerds-night-out date. Mostly, though, The Fisher King is a genial mess. C


Posted Sep 27, 1991
 

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