Shooting Fish (1997)

I'm a big Kate Beckinsale fan, but I'll be the first to say that I much more enjoy her roles before her explosion of Hollywood stardom.  The action films Underworld and Van Helsing were fun, but nothing Kate has done in the past three to four years has really impressed me.  So over the next two weeks I'll be looking into some more of her quickly forgotten past, films you've probably never heard of, films you ought to see if you consider yourself a big Kate Beckinsale fan, Shooting Fish is one of those films.

Shooting Fish stars Dan Futterman and (probably a more recognizable name) Stuart Townsend, as Dylan and Jez, two best friends who have built and very close relationship coning people out of money.  To assist on their current con they hire a part time secretary named Georgie (Kate Beckinsale).  Georgie senses something's not right here but the guys explain to her all the money they receive is going toward the building of an orphan foundation, and that they are modern day Robin Hoods.  That seems to be an acceptable enough answer for Georgie and she soon becomes more of a permanent fixture of the team.

The guys goal is to collect two million pounds in which they plan to buy a stately home.  See technically the money is going to orphans, they are the orphans and have pined for a proper home their entire life.  But when they finally save up the two million pounds things start to go downhill and the guys begin to see their five years of work quickly flushed down the drain.  The major question is who are they going to turn to for help, and will Georgie bother helping them once she discovers the truth for what they plan to do with the money?

Shooting Fish is a very surprisingly funny con artist comedy.  Made up of a lot of well thought out ingenious cons and some very surprising twists in the film's final 30 minutes.  I also liked the living arrangements the guys had inside a huge water repository, I wouldn't want to live in a stately home if I had that kind of setup!  Overall a very well written comedy with only a few minor confusing aspects that were mainly due to some of the character's thick British accents.  If your a Kate Beckinsale fan I highly recommend checking this out, or if your just a fan of witty con artist comedies.

7/10