I'm Reed Fish: Charming little indie

Reviewer: James van Maanen
Rating (out of 5): ***½

If you're looking for a light romantic-comedy/coming-of-age flick, you could do worse--much, much--than renting I'm Reed Fish, which fills this bill nicely, even adding extra charm due to the movie's location: a tiny Pacific Northwest town in which everybody knows everybody (and their business). And then, once you're settled in for something sweet and happy, in a single moment of surprise, director/co-writer Zackary Adler (along with Peter Alwazzan, Rhett Wickham and, yes, Reed Fish) turns this movie into a supremely sophisticated take on "true" love, reality and the process of maturation--all without giving up any of its sweetness or charm.

As the credits rolled, my companion and I expressed amazement at the bright young moviemakers whose work we've recently enjoyed (Snow Cake, Severance, Starter for 10 and Closing Escrow--all of which exhibit these smarts to some extent, but I'm Reed Fish more so.) Jay Baruchel (lately one of the weird roommates of Knocked Up and formerly the star of Undeclared) plays Reed and proves that he can carry a movie in the leading man department. He's ably assisted by Victor Rasuk (the lead in Raising Victor Vargas, Lords of Dogtown), Alexis Bledel (TV's Gilmore Girls, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and the underseen "Tuck Everlasting"), Schuyler Fisk, DJ Qualls, Katey Sagal and others.

There is much to commend in this seemingly effortless concoction, but among the most important is that when you reach the finale you'll see the characters have truly changed--at least enough to make the necessary difference to their own life and those of the folk they care about.

Only one question: At the end, who's the girl on the roof? We went back to replay this bit several times and even re-checked the cast list, as well. I have a theory but will not ruin anything by explaining it here.