Fish Out of Water (1993) User Reviews

Fish out of water.

[McBuff · 7/10 · 14 June 2001]

Viggo (Erik Clausen) is a middleaged machinist, who suddenly finds himself without a job when the factory he works for is closed down. Not only does he have to cope with unemployment, but also his son´s homosexuality and a doomed affair with wealthy housewife Karen (Anne Marie Helger). The quintessential role for Clausen, if ever there was one, Clausen manages to be both real and pathetic at the same time. Helle Ryslinge as his long suffering wife is also very good, while the supporting cast leaves a bit more to be desired. Bjarne Liller makes a standout performance (in his last film) as an unemployed alcoholic, and Clausen regular Leif Sylvester is excellent as his no-nonsense ex-colleague. Loses itself along the way when Viggo is committed to an insane asylum, but generally a good examination of unemployment and its effects on people, with many funny moments. ***

Barely watchable

[Thomas-Pedersen_Denmark · 3/10 · 10 August 2022]

Objectively bad, though it seems decent on the surface. No conclusion, no coherent meaning throughout. Some conversations and actions are blatantly forced beyond what's realistic just to drive the wanna-be plot, which is a common trend with piss poor and unimaginative writing, and something that impacts my rating a lot, easy 6 to 3; to me it completely invalidates a movie, when it's writers can't come up with valid and organic reasons to reach some desired situation; they're literally too incompetent to bring it to that situation then; it's illegal in my book and outright offends me, given that imbeciles are calling the viewer an idiot indirectly. The acting is good and the movie is watchable, but the story is nothing and achieves nothing, and you kinda just waste your time watching somewhat likeable people go about their day throughout.