It might sound like a very special episode of Barney Miller, but The Annihilation of Fish is actually one of those romantic comedies that features senior citizens doing the Metamucil mambo.  Ordinarily, the idea of two old people in love is as nauseating as the prospect of a Bush presidency, but Fish makes both its leads nuttier than a Snickers bar, and, as a result, the film is entertaining rather than sickening and sappy.

Fish takes place in a Los Angeles boarding house, where two elderly crackpots rent upstairs apartments.  Obidiah "Fish" Johnson (James Earl Jones) is a retired Jamaican janitor who has recently been released from an institution.  He seems like a normal guy, except when a demon named Hank appears from time to time to stir up trouble.  The flesh-and-bone Fish and the invisible Hank go toe-to-toe in numerous unannounced wrestling matches, which, of course, make everybody else think Fish is off his nut.

Poinsettia Cummings (Lynn Redgrave) lives across the hall from Fish, and her quirk (other than being a fall-down drunk) is that she thinks she's in a relationship with deceased opera legend Puccini.  Fish and Poinsettia don't have much to do with each other as the film opens, but he begins to help her stumble into her apartment after a night of drinking with Puccini.  They start drinking tea and playing rummy together, and Poinsettia even begins to referee the wrestling matches between Fish and Hank.  Before long, they're doing the Unthinkable Act.

But as they grow closer, Hank becomes upset that Fish is banging the referee, and Fish is forced to choose between the invisible demon who kicks him in the crotch or the daffy woman that puts out.  And if that doesn't sound wacky enough, the lady who owns the boarding house (played by real-life kook Margot Kidder) spends her days adding letters to her last name and growing a giant weed in her garden to piss off her dead husband.

Directed by Charles Burnett (The Glass Shield), Fish is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser, no doubt due to the fine performances from Jones (other than his poor accent) and Redgrave.  The film is oddly heartwarming, while similar films about unlikely lovers that aren't young and beautiful and perfect (like the deplorable The Other Sister) are nothing but crap. Fish has been bouncing around film festivals for nearly two years, but, based on the crowd reaction it's received, deserves a nice distribution deal so it can be seen by a wider audience.

1:48 –

for old people sex and light adult language