‘Fish’ Lives Up to Potential

If you can get past the stay-away title of the year, “Smiling Fish and Goat on Fire,” you’ll find an endearing little picture hiding behind it.

Chris (Derick Martini) and Tony (Steve Martini) are mid-to-late-twentysomething brothers, who have recently lost their parents in a freeway crash, and for now are living in the old L.A. Craftsman cottage in which they grew up. One of their grandmothers was half-Italian and half-Native American, and she bestowed the nicknames Smiling Fish and Goat on Fire on the sunny-natured Chris and the sober Tony, respectively.

Still, you could wish the brothers Martini--who wrote the script with their director, Kevin Jordan--had simply called their movie “Chris and Tony” for want of a more inspired title. At any rate, as adults they’ve stayed true to their natures. Easy-going Chris is an aspiring actor, losing no sleep over not setting the world on fire while Tony sticks to his dull office job and an even duller relationship with his high school girlfriend (Amy Hathaway) who reacts to his dogged devotion with undisguised indifference and even contempt.

Both brothers are about to meet women who could change their lives--provided they are up to the challenge. Tony meets the gorgeous Anna (Rosemarie Addeo), an Italian-born animal wrangler for movies and TV shows, and Chris finds himself taken with his lovely postal carrier, Kathy (Christa Miller), whom he runs into at an audition for her young daughter Natalie (Nicole Rae). Natalie has enjoyed some success back in Wyoming in TV commercials and stage productions, and Kathy, a single mother, is letting her daughter give Hollywood a shot.

The brightest spot in Tony’s everyday life is Clive, who is amusingly played by Bill Henderson, the veteran actor and jazz vocalist, who also contributed to the film’s score. Clive, the uncle of his ultra-uptight boss (Wesley Thompson), is an elderly pioneer motion picture sound engineer, mourning the death of his beloved wife and nudging Tony to loosen up and live a little.

Chris and Tony, while different in temperaments, are sweet-natured, thoughtful guys, and the film is really a portrait of them in transition in the wake of their shared loss--of how they discover within themselves how much potential they have for change and growth.

This is a deliberately modest movie of modest goals, but having said that, Jordan, the Martini brothers and their colleagues are committed to realizing the potential for humor, emotion and enlightenment in its every moment. This is a film of much gentleness, tenderness and keen observation into the way laughter and pain have a way of colliding into each other. It takes a while for it to find its own rhythm, but by the time it does, you’re hooked. Now if they could just change that title. . . .

* MPAA rating: R, for language, some sexual content and some drug use. Times guidelines: acceptable for mature older children.

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‘Smiling Fish and Goat on Fire’

Derick Martini: Chris Remi

Steven Martini: Tony Remi

Christa Miller: Kathy

Bill Henderson: Clive Winter

A Stratosphere Entertainment presentation. Director Kevin Jordan. Writers-producers Steven Martini, Derick Martini and Jordan. Executive producers Sheilah Goldman, Thomas W. Lynch. Cinematographer Fred Iannone. Editors Kevin Anderson, Ryan Rothmaier. Music Chris Horvath, Steven Martini, Bill Henderson. Set designers Karyn Burgner, Deana Aho. Running time: 1 hour, 32 minutes.

At selected theaters.