The Fisher King (Film Review)

1991 Tri-Star Pictures
Directed by: Terry Gilliam; Written by: Richard LaGravenese
Starring: Robin Williams, Jeff Bridges, Amanda Plummer, and Mercedes Ruehl
MPAA Rating: R; Running Time: 137 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Score: 8/10

Jack Lucas is the worst. The shock jock DJ is on top of the world because that world enjoys his jerk schtick. However, just before Jack is up to star in a television show, the world doesn't enjoy that due to Jack's acrid advice, a listener has mowed down patrons in a Manhattan restaurant. Jack loses everything, and months later, is living with a women named Anne, above the video store she owns. One night, as he is about to end his own life, he meets a mentally ill man named Parry. Soon, Jack discovers that Parry used to a college teacher whose wife died right in front of him during the very shooting that Jack inspired. Suddenly, Jack has found his calling. He'll help Parry get together with a woman he's been crushing on, help him get his life back together, and then he himself can finally get back to his old life. There's only one issue: Jack's new life may be more spiritually rewarding than his old one, whether he realizes it or not.
Terry Gilliam made some quirky films, and while 1991's The Fisher King is indeed quirky, it is far less quirky than his previous work. Its a love story at heart, even if it features Gilliam mainstays like lucid daydreams and mental asylums. Working from a great script by Richard LaGravenese, Gilliam does indeed present a unique visual work, but one a more popular audience can enjoy than his past films. For better or worse, or perhaps inconsequentially, it is not Brazil.
As Jack, Jeff Bridges gets to portray a character who is immediately unlikeable and has to redeem himself to the film and audience alike. He's great. Robin Williams gets to pull a fast one, at first seeming to be a generic, fast-talking, wacky Williams character, but soon revealing deeps well of emotion and feeling, his career in a nutshell. The showcase role here, though, is Mercedes Ruehl's Anne, and the award-winning actress brings both strength and naked vulnerability to a role that could have been generic, yet ends up revelatory.
The result is a romantic, involving, and lovely film that's not without its flaws. Namely, The Fisher King is 137 minutes long when it should be two hours max. Tighter editing, particularly in the film's middle and last acts could have led to a masterpiece. As it stands, though, The Fisher King is quite good, another gem in Gilliam's shining crown.