Reviews & Ratings for
Go Fish More at IMDbPro »

Filter:

Best Chronological Prolific Authors Loved It Hated It Hide Spoilers:

Page 1 of 4:

[1] [2] [3] [4]

Index

31 reviews in total

---

9 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
Hand in the "Honey Pot"..., 20 April 2005

Author: Andy (film-critic) from Bookseller of the Blue Ridge

This may be the first time you hear me say this, but Go Fish was too artistic and dated for my enjoyment. I think that if I had seen this film when it was first released back in 1994 I would have been impressed. This was a very avant-garde film that tried very hard to discuss an issue that was very "hush-hush" back in the early 90s. Lesbians were very closeted back then and were not a major part of the culture norm as they are today (well, as much as we recognize them today). This makes for a very provocative film, but it also makes for a very dated film. This was my biggest issue with this film was that it nearly felt like a comedy instead of this symbolic struggle to pursue happiness like any heterosexual relationship. I realize that director Rose Troche was trying to show us that a lesbian relationship is no different than a male and female relationship and even lesbians talk like men talk about women, but somehow it just felt very dated and cliché for me. It didn't open more doors in my mind to the lifestyle of lesbians, but instead gave me this dated image of this butch lesbian that is rebelling against something instead of embracing the true lifestyle.

The black and white photography, while symbolically trying to show the black and white of the situation and relationship, just felt like an art film. This was an art film, so what am I griping about? I guess I just didn't want to see an art film with this topic. I wanted to see something along the lines of Kids or even a documentary, not something where the uneducated will laugh at and ridicule even harder. I wanted a film that was going to punch me in the face, not build upon dated/old clichés that instead poked my mind randomly and not very hard. It was unimpressive. It wasn't bold film-making, but instead just this random, average production about a lesbian love story. Was it to be educational? I think there were elements that could have been explored greater and into detail to cross that education/lifestyle acceptance line. The scene dealing with bisexuality is the first that comes to mind. This probably sounded great on paper, but when it was actually filmed out, it seemed high schoolish and bland. The inner voices were not struggling with the character, but instead causing confusion and chaos that will never be resolved. Another scene that could have played out just a bit better was the dinner scene where a group of lesbians have gathered for a party. There could have been more discussed between the lesbians like lifestyle, issues, and current problems (that would help with the dated feel) instead of just sex, sex, and more sex.

That was a huge downfall for me was the constant reminder that all these women wanted was to have sex. There were times when I was watching this film where I felt a bit of sweetness in my mouth because I thought there was some candy-coating happening. This does not need to happen in a film that is supposed to bring the lesbian lifestyle closer into the spotlight. I never felt that these women in this film were given the best light to show their stuff anyway. From the beginning of the first scene until the last (and all those snippets in-between) all they could talk about was sex. They wanted to have sex more often than I honestly think about in a day. It really made the rest of the non-existent themes seem blurry and unimportant. There was just a consistent lack of togetherness for this film that ultimately hurt it in the long run. This wasn't a film about women's rights, but instead a dire attempt to show the similarities between homosexual and heterosexual relationships. I agree that this happened, but just not very coherently. There seemed to be other elements strewn together in a very loose fashion that took away from the overall power of the film. Don't get me wrong, this could have been a very powerful film about a lifestyle that this world is still not accepting, but instead it went too far to the left (which isn't bad, except in this case) and chose to go the bleeding artist route instead of the informative, here are the facts route. The black and white photography, the lack of character development (who really was Ely's partner?), and the cheesy moments between scenes where women talked to me about the illusive "honey pot". It just wasn't coming together well for me and eventually fell apart all together.

Overall, I was not impressed. There are greater films out there that express the power of the relationship and do not create this unimpressive "raw" sensation by trying to shock the audiences. One of my favorites is the film Big Eden which accepts homosexuality like it is commonplace in society. If Go Fish would have been done in a similar style, I think I could have walked away from the film with a better taste in my mouth. Instead, I am stuck with an unimpressive story that did nothing except joke about why lesbian women like to play the game "Go Fish". Ha ha ha h….it just isn't working for me. I do not recommend this film in the least bit. There was one, singular scene that made me chuckle and for the likes of me I cannot remember why. It was an unmemorable feast of bad cinema. Skip it.

Grade: * out of *****

---

5 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
Realistic, artistic... one of my favorite movies., 24 April 2001

Author: (rbernsdorf) from california

These women, though similar to the "Dykes To Watch Out For" comic characters, are incredibly realistic in their interactions, activities and dress patterns/self presentation. There is, after all, a reason that DTWOF is a hugely popular lesbian comic strip. The characters in "Go Fish" are modeled after real lesbians, not Hollywood creations. You get the sense that part of the film is scripted, and other parts are ad-libbed. I watched this movie (again and again) and thought THESE ARE DYKES! This is NOT a Hollywood flick with shiny Hollywood glitz gals and high budget special effects. This film is RAW, and will appeal to lesbians and independent film lovers. Warning: if you thought "Bound" was the quintessential lesbian flick, you will NOT like "Go Fish".

---

5 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
Felt its impact for days afterwards, 31 August 1999
Author: Seething from Toronto, Ontario

I saw this movie in the summer of 1994, as a young lesbian who was just comming out of the closet who had never had a girlfriend. I found the chemistry between Max and Ely so real, that I found myself yearning for that kind of relationship. Daria's trail was also very well done, as many lesbians do share that attitude.

---

6 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
Just because..., 2 June 2001

Author: alli_katz from Bronxville, NY

A movie is independent, and about gay women, doesn't make it good. And, it's a shame, because the actress who plays the lead character, Max, actually is very good. But the movie is so poorly constructed, and most of her friends are so one-note, that the novelty gets old pretty soon. I was bored halfway through it; there is a clever twist near the end which raised it to a 5 for me, but don't expect much in between.

---

5 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
I love you Guin, but really..., 16 December 1998

Author: Corky-12 from Manchester, England

"Go Fish", at first glance, appears to have all the elements of a good dyke film; good writers, great background, and above all a rather scrumptious leading lady. So why, then, did it fail to even moisten my appetite? There was no energy in the piece. I found myself creating my own little stories in my head to keep me occupied while I watched good material being drawn out to its maximum, and therefore losing all appeal. There was simply no pace, no excitement, and it seemed to me very dated. Guin, please, drag us into the twenty-first century, I know that you are capable of it. And this time, find a gorgeous girl to do it with?

---

2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Go Fish: Not Worth Multiple Views, 23 September 2008

Author: rsg2033 from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

This movie was somewhat interesting. The characters in it were well rounded, but the acting had a lot of room for improvement. This film revolved around dialogue and there was plenty of it. For the most part the dialogue was funny and somewhat interesting, but overall this film mostly felt like a dirty version of Sex and the City: Lesbian Edition. I did think it was interesting that the film included real depictions of lesbian women and didn't just have classically beautiful women in it pretending to be lesbians. It also wasn't afraid to show uncensored lesbian relationships, which a great number of people in 1994 would have found repulsive.

The film also included a variety of shots and wasn't afraid to play around with camera angles, but this wasn't necessarily a good thing. A few shots in particular were simply annoying, for instance: the laundry room shot from the drier and the conversation between Max and her black friend in the coffee shop. The transitions in the movie also didn't seem to have much relevance to the plot of the film. Some transitions would be kids playing in the park and others would be up close images of hands—there is one exception—when Daria and one of her sex lackeys are making love it shows Evy splitting some bread in half, but other than that the transitions do not have any relevance. Overall Go Fish is not a bad movie, but it isn't a great one either. I personally would not watch it again given the opportunity.It is a somewhat interesting movie, but it leans heavily on the lesbian aspect and given that this is the twenty-first century it doesn't carry the same shock value that it did back in '94. Don't get me wrong, if the characters in this film were not lesbians it probably wouldn't be interesting at all. In fact it would be the same romantic comedy that we've all seen over one hundred times now.

---

1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
too stereotypical and no depth, 21 September 2007

Author: purplpxy from Philadelphia, USA

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I was hoping that this movie would actually be interesting. I'm used to artsy films and can usually appreciate them. However, this film was just not my cup of tea at all. First of all, the plot seemed too shallow. The main character finds love with some random woman she was set up with and there is no explanation as to how or why they fall in love. I think the problem was that Troche was trying to hit on some major lesbian issues while at the same time portraying a lesbian love story, but in the end came out too scattered and unstructured. The characters seemed way too stereotypical, almost like they had to reinforce the whole dyke image. Granted this movie was released back in 1994, I knew plenty of lesbians back then who were a lot more feminine and not as obviously gay as the characters in this film. I felt a bit annoyed that they had to sort of scream dyke so loudly by the way they dressed, talked, and wore their hair. That's not to say that I have anything against the butch image, but as a "lipstick" lesbian myself, I felt like the femmes weren't properly represented. The only things that seemed to really give the movie any actual substance were the scenes in which Evie's mother threw her out of the house after she found out she was a lesbian and also the scene in which Daria was being interrogated and jeered at by other lesbians for having sex with a male friend. Those are real issues for us today as lesbians and I liked how she touched upon them, but I felt like Troche could have done more with Daria's scene. So many lesbians out there judge their own kind too much and bisexuality has become so abhorrent in the gay community due to its current trendiness. All in all, it felt like the movie, quite literally and figuratively, was just too black and white for me. (I can disregard the bad acting as this WAS an indie film and many of the actors looked like they were real lesbians with no acting experience who were looking to do a film about their lives.) Troche seems to portray the lesbian world and life as similar to straight life and yet totally different. But it's just not that black and white. Sexuality, in my opinion, is very fluid and I felt like the theme of the movie focused too much on what a lesbian was SUPPOSED to be, feeding into too many stereotypes and clichés.

---

1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
A film about looking for love, 9 December 2002

Author: tink from United States

This film is about lesbians but it has a message for all. First off, it is to me the first film that does not have issues with being a lesbian or gay for that matter. Go Fish works from the inside out and features real members of the chicago lesbian community. Go Fish urges you to just get out there and date rather than waiting for the perfect woman or man. Unlike Philadelphia, it doesnt try and make any pc claims about sex or homosexuality. I give these girls snaps, they put it together for p

---

1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
A cheesy home movie with artsy pretensions, 8 January 2001

Author: Dehlia from New York

This indie lesbian love story made a splash at its New York premiere, and the writer/star is a friend of Kevin Smith's, so I was really interested. It was a big disappointment. First of all, it's SO indie that it's like watching a home movie, which gets on my nerves. So indie that the filmmakers obviously used their friends as `actors,' lending an irritating stiffness to the delivery. The `love story' is utterly inexplicable, as two women who have nothing in common become interested in one another apparently for the sole reason that their mutual friends are pushing them together. We never see why these two fall in love, our pretty, hip heroine and her ugly, dour, repressed object of interest. Even the writer/star (Guinevere Turner) can't figure it out, as the scenes of the two getting to know each other have no dialogue - they simply show the two talking while music plays. The rest of the `lesbian drama' is bland and oppressive.

I'm curious as to why Go Fish has so much in common with the excellent comic strip/soap opera Dykes to Watch Out For, including four major characters, one setting, and two major plot points. Alison Bechdel's strip pre-dates this movie, so I wonder…

---

2 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
Cut Your Nails, 26 August 2001
Author: tedg (tedg@FilmsFolded.com) from Virginia Beach

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Spoilers herein.

I just came back from a trip visiting an artist whose specialty was lesbian art. Not making, but curating and collecting. She really showed me some stuff that blew me -- a straight guy -- away. Film for me is capable of mainlining the same sorts of effect: The ability (with a little commitment) to transport to new worlds, intensely internal, personal. So I rushed to this film.

Alas, its a miss. It had some powerful images and lines, but it really would have been better, even worldclass as a photo shoot with enticing captions. The production was so unartful -- despite valiant aspirations -- that I felt embarrassed. The acting was largely night-at-the-Y. The dynamics of the camera just weren't understood. Its so strange that for some communities if you speak to them at all with honest intent, they forget all else. In a way, this film is like `Left Behind,' which fundamentalists love, but most others think is curious but fundamentally blunt and bad art.

Guinevere Turner does have an endearing film presence as the focus. I have seen some of her later films and frankly didn't notice her. But here she is everything.

---

---

Page 1 of 4:

[1] [2] [3] [4]

Add another review

---

Related Links

Plot summary	Amazon.com summary	Ratings
Awards	Newsgroup reviews	External reviews
Plot keywords	Main details	Your user reviews
Your vote history