Jez (Stuart Townsend) and Dylan (Dan Futterman) are lifelong buddies and an especially efficient pair of small time scammers focussing on ‘small fish’, but only those who can afford to be duped.
For these boys ‘free’ is too much. Constantly looking for an angle, they enter competitions with prizes that no-one could possibly use, just for the possibility of using the winnings later on in another scam. Every conversation with a stranger is a chance to gain a benefit. Every meeting brings information that can be used later for personal gain.
Dylan is the frontman and mouthpiece, a brash quick talking and quick thinking smooth tongue with an answer to everything. Jez is the quiet geek with Britpop hair and a shoegazing outlook on life. It is Jez that pulls the reins when Dylan’s aspirations go beyond the ‘small time’ parameters.
It is during a larger scale (for them) job that the lads hire Georgie (Kate Beckinsale) as a temp – though why is less clear beyond providing the love interest the film needs. Georgie is initially put off by what is clearly illegal activity, but is won over by Jez’s justification that they are saving the ill-gotten gains ‘for the orphans’.
With the unknown financial target very nearly attained, the only thing that could waylay Jez and Dylan is getting found out. That or a fresh faced young woman coming between the pair like a wedge and driving them apart.
Like Jez and Dylan Shooting Fish never takes the hard option, preferring instead to perch above the proverbial barrel to… shoot fish… as it were. Despite avoiding the big questions like ‘yeah but it’s still breaking the law’ and ‘when does one stop being an orphan?’, the film is likable, engaging and amusing throughout.
Strangely it is Dan Futterman that grabs your attention through the film as the always animated and uber-confident Dylan. I say strangely, because both Stuart Townsend and more obviously Kate Beckinsale (who a sceptic would say had some work done after this film) went on to find more fame and fortune subsequent to this.
Even with the ‘surprise development’ that brings tension to the film and drags it to a crescendo is especially unlikely, Shooting Fish is breezy and lightweight in the proper proportions, and most certainly worth tracking down if you can find it.
Final Rating – 7 / 10. The thing about aiming low is that it is easier to hit the mark. Shooting Fish is a prime example of how this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
