Classic cast can’t save this comedy
As a tribute to one of our more unsung female filmmakers, Joan Micklin Silver (“Crossing Delancey”), distributor Cohen Media Group’s restoration and rerelease of several of her indie movies, including such 1970s gems as “Hester Street” and “Between the Lines,” is a worthy endeavor.
However, a 20th-anniversary theatrical reissue of the director’s little-seen “A Fish in the Bathtub,” a weak-tea comedy notable solely for some casting pluses, proves far from essential.
It’s fun to see classic comedy duo Jerry Stiller and his now-late wife, Anne Meara, in action. Unfortunately, this creaky vehicle about a Queens, N.Y., couple — the nasty and volatile Sam (Stiller) and the kinder, gentler Molly (Meara) — whose 40-year marriage implodes soon after Sam brings home a carp to live in their bathtub, is a strained and obvious battle-of-the-sexes tale.
Sam and Molly’s split tests their resolve and the patience of their kids ( Mark Ruffalo and Jane Adams), daughter-in-law (Missy Yager) and friends and neighbors (enjoyably played by such familiar, now-deceased talents as Doris Roberts, Phyllis Newman, Paul Benedict and Louis Zorich).
A wan crisscross of romantic issues and missteps involving several of the supporting characters ineffectively pads the thin central story scripted by John Silverstein, David Chudnovsky and Joan’s now-late husband, Raphael D. Silver.
“A Fish in the Bathtub.” Rated: PG-13, for language and some sexual content Running time: 1 hour, 36 minutes. Playing: Laemmle Royal Theatre, West Los Angeles; Laemmle Town Center 5, Encino.