Zackary Adler's 'I'm Reed Fish' (2006)

I'm Reed Fish is a semi-autobiographical romantic-comedy written by a man named Reed Fish about a character named Reed Fish, who makes a semi-autobiographical film called I'm Reed Fish with a character named Reed Fish. This movie has more layers than a trifle, I tell you.

But despite the frankly needless postmodern approach to the narrative, Reed Fish's screenplay offers little in the way of originality. It's not a bad film, but it loses its footing in the middle and never recovers. The ending of both the film and the film within a film feels rushed and hastily patched together.

The acting is, by and large, quite good, and all of the actors seem comfortable in (and not too big for) the small town their characters inhabit. Jay Baruchel of Undeclared plays the titular character as a decent guy having to struggle with his identity very publicly. Gilmore Girl Alexis Bledel is on familiar ground playing Reed's fiancée Kate, a beloved daughter of a tiny town of quirky characters, and she offers a very nice performance. Bledel has an excellent scene with Baruchel when they call off their wedding, which is probably one of my favorite bits of acting I've seen from her. But as good as Baruchel and Bledel are, Schuyler Fisk steals scenes with her unforced charm and girl-next-door good looks. Her lovely singing voice doesn't hurt either. Neither of the actresses who play "the real" Kate and Jill is as winning as Bledel or Fisk, which contributes to the disappointment of the ending. And despite the fine acting from the leads, I came away from the movie more excited about Schuyler Fisk's music career than anything else.