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Gone Fishin'
Movie

Gone Fishin'

1997 • Unknown

Woke Score
3
out of 10

Plot

Two fishing fanatics get in trouble when their fishing boat gets stolen while on a trip.

Overall Series Review

The 1997 buddy-comedy *Gone Fishin'* stars Joe Pesci and Danny Glover as Joe Waters and Gus Green, two lifelong, bumbling, blue-collar friends from New Jersey who win a dream fishing trip to the Florida Everglades. The plot is a formulaic slapstick farce focused entirely on their chaotic misadventures after a con-man steals their classic car and fishing boat. Their quest to recover their property and get home for Thanksgiving devolves into a series of improbable mishaps, property damage, and running into a wanted murderer. The two men are repeatedly portrayed as incompetent buffoons whose blundering is the engine of the plot's disasters, though their friendship and desire to return to their wives and home life remain central. The women they meet, Rita and Angie, are the active, motivated characters pursuing the villain for justice. The movie's core themes are simple: male incompetence for comedic effect and the value of a blue-collar hobby and family ties. There is no political lecturing or commentary on race, class, or sexual ideology.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics1/10

The two main characters, one white and one black, are lifelong best friends who are equally portrayed as simple-minded and accident-prone. The plot is colorblind, focusing on their universal incompetence rather than any systemic issues or racial dynamics. The casting serves a comedic duo, not an intersectional message.

Oikophobia1/10

The film centers on the two male protagonists being hard-working, blue-collar 'family men' from Newark, New Jersey, whose primary goal is to return home for Thanksgiving. The narrative celebrates their simple hobby and their commitment to their families and their 'home culture' life. The main villain is a foreign criminal, an English con-man.

Feminism7/10

The core of the comedy is the utter incompetence of the two male leads, Joe and Gus, who are consistently depicted as bumbling idiots who cause widespread destruction. In contrast, the two main female characters, Rita and Angie, are driven, focused, and actively pursuing the criminal who wronged their family. The narrative relies on the emasculation of the male characters for humor.

LGBTQ+3/10

The movie's plot does not center alternative sexualities or contain any gender theory lecturing. A brief moment of homosexual innuendo is mentioned by reviewers in a supporting character's scene, a minor element used for a quick gag that slightly deviates from the normative structure, but does not drive the story.

Anti-Theism2/10

The film is a simple, secular slapstick comedy with no overt religious or spiritual content. There is no hostility toward religion, but also no promotion of objective moral truth or faith as a source of strength. The moral worldview is a light, basic 'good overcoming evil' for the sake of a reward, not a transcendent moral code.