Summary: When loser Dewey is offered $200 to watch over a group of eccentric elderly people at an assisted living facility he jumps at the chance because the funds will help him pursue his life-long dream of becoming a fishing champ in an upcoming tournament.
With a budget of only fifty-thousand dollars I was surprised at the quality of cinematography, editing and acting ability. Some of the special effects are noticeably bad, but again for a low-low budget film, this is forgivable.
The overall story works, as well as the character arc of Dewey from a self-centered loser towards a more selfless individual. What doesn’t work, though, is the humor and plot devices. Assisted Fishing is a slap-shtick sort of film. This is fine because the tone of the film suggests a family-friendly film, but the content does not facilitate itself to family viewing. There are plenty of scatological bits, which are okay for the kids, but much of the attempted humor takes the easy road and invokes sex. Equally troubling are the jokes made over elder abuse, potential rape and/or sexual abuse and use the name of Jesus as an exclamation.
I don’t understand what the filmmakers were thinking here. This film wants to be a fun, heart-warming family comedy, but the sexual and abuse humor make it inaccessible for family viewing, while the overall tone makes it unappealing for more mature audiences. The tone of the story and the jokes just don’t match up. The film doesn’t know what it wants to be.
I really wanted to like this film. The cinematography is wonderful for a film with this kind of budget. The acting is, with a few exceptions, pretty good. But in the end, the humor and story decision really didn’t make any sense.
Rating: 2/5 (I didn’t like it)
Assisted Fishing: www.assistedfishing.net
Find it here on Amazon.
A copy of the film was supplied for this review.
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