I'm Reed Fish is one of those amusing little movies that has some problems, but overall is a pretty enjoyable experience. It takes place in a quaint little town that appears to be in Minnesota or something, if we can judge the 23 year old lead's accent. One is confused, however, given the other main characters don't have a similar one. The supporting cast, and this is a plus for this sort of movie, is fill with familiar names that deserve work and often thrive in these little indies. This includes Alexis Bledel (Gilmore Girls, looking nicely low key here, not so made up and such ... she sells cars!), Katey Sagal (Married ... with Children, looking good), Schuyler Fisk (Sissy Spacek's daughter, apparently on happy pills here), DJ Qualls (usual funny looking self), and others. And, the story is decent too.
Reed Fish's father was a long term voice of the local radio station, and apparently the glue that held things together, including dealing with necessary stop signs and the like. Not much goes on here, given the combo of a horse and zebra is a top story for the local t.v. station. After a tragic end, one that really is a bit much for this basically trifle of a movie, the young son took over. He's getting married in a few weeks and isn't quite ready to live the life everyone has apparently assigned for him. The return of a friend from high school -- Schuyler Fisk (who has a couple songs here, showing off her singing ability) -- totally throws him. The guy is a bit of a putz, but such growing pains are typical and people can relate.
[On a related front, I was thinking about how we generally follow the path of least resistance, considering other paths as basically impossible in any practicable sense. This quite often is not true, but we act as such. I thought about this when listening to The Bell Jar and reading up a bit about Sylvia Plath. Quite a few people, like her, felt smothered by life too. They just accepted and dealt with it, at times while having chronic malaise. Plath could not handle it and committed suicide. Sort of something to think about when you wonder why x lets things continue, even when damn it it's horrible. We can learn to live with near anything. Small and large.]
The movie turns out to have a certain conceit that ends on a questionable note, at least for me, so it didn't quite hold up to the end. But, independent low budget films like these often aren't 100% successful. Just enough to enjoy them for they are, yet another reason to not be too upset about handing over $10. It also is useful to watch them in independent film friendly theaters like the Quad.
Oh, and finding a Duane Reade with a free water cooler, plus a nice walk on a warm near summer night works too.