Peculiarities of the National Fishing (1998)

One of my all time favorites.

hyped garbage

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

The cast of the first film are re-united in this comedy caper, and they actually do catch at least one fish between the drinking and the hangovers. Some of the jokes might go over your head and you even need some history to understand one of them.I keep reading that this series of films will not be understood by Americans and that good comedy is funny in any language. That simply is not true and I believe that many 'Friends' or 'Frasier' fans from ANY part of the world will not get even a fraction of the humour when they watch this in their native language. My tip:- if you watch a dubbed or subtitled version of this and do not find it too funny, become Reivo, buy a ticket to Russia or the Ukraine, make some friends and live the film and when you come back to your own world look around and tell me which you can identify with more. You might like it and the experience will put a whole new slant on things you have found un-funny. You probably did not think much of Fawlty Towers either. The only thing from America that comes close would be MASH.

Peculiarities of national fishing is sometimes funny, but too often it merely celebrates its own imagined magnificence.The "drop the cow" plot in its predecessor was funny, but it isn't quite funny to refer to it like this film is doing it; even though some laconic remarks like "Ford... creative!" are.The same goes for the generals monologues, there's no substance, no absurdity, not even oddness, they are plainly boring and repetitive, I must add.Also, the "mermaid" plot and the "watching the moon" scenes were a mere waste of time. But enough of bashing. There were some upsides too.The "love on first sight" number was truly funny because it was so insanely stupid. Also things like "For a woman being deaf is a bad thing. She needs to hear words." and "What should an intelligent person think of this?" were making me laugh, at least. The whole "pantomime" scene was funny and so were the again quite laconic remarks of the police man concerning the explosion mechanism of sea mines and the subsequent behavior of the two castaways.But then again, the whole "submarine" plot was not only a waste of time, it was annoying. So that, in the end, you have a typical sequel, often dull, sometimes topping its predecessor, but in the end a less felicitous film.

This is simple, cheerful, selfcritical and very very funny movie. Maybe it will be hard and boring for Western viewers but that's their problem. They can always get back the days of Groucho Marx and Jerry Lewis and refresh their memory of some fine comedies. I think one could find some similarities.

even if you are from U.S., so you maybe do not understand everything or find some parts "boring". The film is showing Russian temperament during the fishing. This film is very nice and I recommend to take a bottle of russian vodka with.