Fluke (film)
| Fluke | |
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 Fluke Movie Poster |
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| Directed by | Carlo Carlei |
| Produced by | Tom Coleman Jon Turtle |
| Written by | James Herbert (novel) Carlo Carlei James Carrington |
| Narrated by | Matthew Modine |
| Starring | Matthew Modine Samuel L. Jackson Max Pomeranc Nancy Travis Ron Perlman Jon Polito Bill Cobbs |
| Music by | Carlo Siliotto |
| Cinematography | Raffaele Mertes |
| Editing by | Mark Conte |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date(s) | June 2, 1995 |
| Running time | 96 min. |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $15 million |
| Box office | $3,987,649 |
Fluke is a 1995 film directed by Carlo Carlei and starring Matthew Modine as the voice of the title character with supporting roles done by Eric Stoltz, Nancy Travis, Max Pomeranc, Bill Cobbs, Ron Perlman, Jon Polito and Samuel L. Jackson as the voice of Rumbo. It was based on the novel of the same name by James Herbert.
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Synopsis [edit]
The story is centered on a Irish Setter puppy named Fluke (voiced by Sam Gifaldi), who has flashing memories and dreams of a human life. After being taken to a pound and eventually escaping from it, he is raised by an elderly homeless woman named Bella (Collin Wilcox Paxton), who gives him the name Fluke, stating that he is "a fluke by nature, and by name."
After Bella dies of an illness caused by poor conditions, he befriends a street-wise St. Bernard-like dog named Rumbo (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson) and takes him to see Bert (Bill Cobbs) who feeds Fluke and Rumbo. During this time he matures into an adult dog (now voiced by Matthew Modine) and he eventually realizes that he used to be a workaholic named Thomas P. Johnson (also portrayed by Matthew Modine), who died in a car crash.
Fluke is then abducted by a man named Sylvester (Ron Perlman) to be used in animal experiments at a cosmetics company. During the tests, Rumbo comes to the rescue, however Rumbo is shot by Sylvester, as he and Fluke escape. A dying Rumbo tells Fluke that the black-and-white snapshot of a man, in a sailor suit was him. He also states that when he was a human, Bert was his brother and that he wishes to smell the sea again, suggesting that he died in the line of duty.
After Rumbo's death, Fluke seeks out his wife Carol (Nancy Travis) and son Brian (Max Pomeranc) and reunites with them as their dog. Fluke tries to show them who he used to be, at the same time suspecting that his human death was caused by his former business partner Jeff Newman (Eric Stoltz). It's during his time among them as a dog that he gets to know his family better and bitterly realizes that he was an emotionally distant workaholic.
However, he comes close to killing Jeff, but at the last minute has a flashback and realizes that Jeff wasn't involved in his death - his death was caused by his own recklessness. Fluke finally manages to point out to his wife who he really is (by digging away the snow covering his tomb stone and pointing out the word "forever" at the bottom, something that in life, he had often said to his wife). With a heavy heart, he decides it's better to move on as the man he used to be is dead and gone. So he leaves his family, never seeing them again. He realizes that life is simply meant to be cherished, regardless of how one lives it.
Far away and sometime later, Fluke is resting under a tree by himself. To his surprise, he encounters Rumbo who is now reincarnated as a squirrel. Rumbo then tells Fluke about life as a squirrel and reincarnation.
Cast [edit]
- Matthew Modine - Thomas P. Johnson
- Nancy Travis - Carol Johnson
- Max Pomeranc - Brian
- Eric Stoltz - Jeff Newman
- Bill Cobbs - Bert
- Ron Perlman - Sylvester
- Jon Polito - Boss
- Collin Wilcox Paxton - Bella
Voices [edit]
- Matthew Modine - Fluke
- Sam Gifaldi - Young Fluke
- Samuel L. Jackson - Rumbo
Reception [edit]
Reviews of Fluke were mixed with film review website Rotten Tomatoes tallying only 33% of its collected reviews as positive, giving the film a label of "Rotten". Despite these poor reviews both Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel gave it thumbs up [1]. However, Fluke has received by the users of the Internet Movie Database a rate of 62%.[1] In addition to IMDb, Allmovie's reviewer Mark Deming gave to the film 3/5 stars.[2] Fluke underperformed at the box office, generating just under $4 million dollars in the American box office.[3] Fluke also was nominated in 1996 by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films for Best Fantasy Film and Best Performance by a Younger Actor for Max Pomeranc.
References [edit]
External links [edit]
- Fluke at the Internet Movie Database
- Fluke at AllRovi
- Fluke at Rotten Tomatoes
- Fluke at Box Office Mojo
