Where I Watched It: paramount Plus
English Audio Description?: Yes
Cast: Toby Wallace, Ben Foster, Tommy Lee Jones, Jenna Ortega, Aaron Stanford, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Lolita Davidovich, Tim Daly, and Clane Crawford.
Written and Directed By Brian Helgeland
From the Oscar nominated writer of LA Confidential, who later went on to direct movies like A Knights Tale, comes a fishing story that got buried on Paramount Plus. I think Helgeland would have been an interesting choice that cinephiles might want to watch, if people knew this film existed. However, while it does boast a strong cast, it is very average. Perhaps that’s why Paramount had no faith in it.
Loosely, the story is centered around a commercial fishing rig, and two brothers. One brother is already a fisherman for life, while the other is looking at maybe some Ivy League schools. If you are worried this is another Perfect Storm, it’s not. it’s a far more complicated film that tries to merge family dynamics between half brothers, with the sense of duty and bond, and fighting useless laws that can quickly take away a fisherman’s ability to earn money, and just a lot of concepts. If I had to guess, Helgeland spent some time with some fishermen and got really wrapped up in the whole “Devil in the details” thing, and crafted this. It’s got everything from fighting the man to going to extremes to save what you love. All the themes are crammed in here. Family is what you make of it. You can take away twenty different things, but when you throw so much in there, it gets murky.
The cast is able. Ben Foster, who is one of my five favorite actors working right now who has not received an Oscar nomination, notches another performance where he’s just the most reliable actor regardless of what his material is. Luckily, he does have someone like Tommy lee Jones to show up and take some of the weight, and Aaron Stanford (who I feel I haven’t seen in forever) is also quite good. I’ll be honest, for Jenna Ortega fans, she does feel wasted, but i see the appeal of a role like this for a girl who is starting to get typecast. this is so unlike anything she’s ever done, so of course, this is interesting to her.
The audio description never really has anything too complicated, though there are some fight scenes, and the poignant moments at the end wouldn’t work without audio description because we wouldn’t be able to see the symbolism. Likely, it’s a thankless effort, but it did help me understand how to pronounce this title. Finest Kind. Even though it is spelled as one word, they pronounce it as two, and at the top, Helgeland even throws in a dopey scene where the crew explains what it means. Technically, it can mean “Fuck You”, so depending on how you choose to take the title, the title of this movie might actually be Fuck you. Fun fact. Not a huge spoiler, it’s something that is discussed almost immediately.
A Fishing Family Crime Drama with a hint of romance thrown in for good measure. It bites off more than it can chew, so while the boat is clearly jam packed, Helgeland is gonna need a bigger boat next time.
Final Grade: C
