Fluke (film)
Encyclopedia
Fluke is a 1995
film directed by Carlo Carlei and starring Matthew Modine
, Eric Stoltz
, Nancy Travis
, Max Pomeranc
and the voice of Samuel L. Jackson
. Bill Cobbs
, Ron Perlman
, and Jon Polito
co-star. It was based on the novel of the same name by James Herbert
.
s), 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's "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
). 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. 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's also told that as a human, Bert (Bill Cobbs
) (a man who feeds Fluke and Rumbo) 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 (Nancy Travis
) and son (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; 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, Fluke is resting under a tree by himself. To his surprise, he encounters Rumbo, who is now reincarnated as a squirrel.
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 http://bventertainment.go.com/tv/buenavista/ebertandroeper/index2.html?sec=6&subsec=Fluke. However, Fluke has received by the users of the Internet Movie Database
a rate of 62%. In addition to IMDb, Allmovie's reviewer Mark Deming gave to the film 3/5 stars. Fluke underperformed at the box office, generating just under $4 million dollars in the American box office. 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
.
1995 in film
-Top grossing films:-Events:* March 22 - The Dogme 95 movement is officially announced in Paris by Danish directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg.* March 28 - Actress Julia Roberts and singer Lyle Lovett announce their plans for separation....
film directed by Carlo Carlei and starring Matthew Modine
Matthew Modine
Matthew Avery Modine is an award-winning American actor. His film roles include Private Joker in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket, the title character in Alan Parker's Birdy, high school wrestler Louden Swain in Vision Quest, football star turned spy Alec McCall in Funky Monkey and the...
, Eric Stoltz
Eric Stoltz
Eric Hamilton Stoltz is an American actor, director and producer. He is widely known for playing the role of Rocky Dennis in the biographical drama film Mask, which earned him the nomination for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture...
, Nancy Travis
Nancy Travis
Nancy Ann Travis is an American actress. She is known for her roles in films Three Men and a Baby and its sequel, Three Men and a Little Lady , Married to the Mob , Air America , Internal Affairs , So I Married an Axe Murderer , Greedy , and Fluke...
, Max Pomeranc
Max Pomeranc
Max Pomeranc is an American former child actor.Pomeranc was born in New York City, New York. His mother, Marion Hess Pomeranc, is an author, and his father, Abe Pomeranc, is a stock broker. He made his acting debut at the age of eight, playing the lead in the film Searching for Bobby Fischer, based...
and the voice of Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel Leroy Jackson is an American film and television actor and film producer. After becoming involved with the Civil Rights Movement, he moved on to acting in theater at Morehouse College, and then films. He had several small roles such as in the film Goodfellas before meeting his mentor,...
. Bill Cobbs
Bill Cobbs
Wilbert "Bill" Cobbs is an American film and television actor. He has starred in over 120 television programs and movies.-Life and career:...
, Ron Perlman
Ron Perlman
Ronald N. "Ron" Perlman is an American television, film and voice over actor. He is known for having played Vincent in the TV series Beauty and the Beast , a Deathstroke figure known as Slade in the animated series Teen Titans, Clarence "Clay" Morrow in Sons of Anarchy, the comic book character...
, and Jon Polito
Jon Polito
Jon Polito is an American actor and voice artist, who is known for working with the Coen Brothers, most notably in the major supporting role of Italian gangster Johnny Caspar in Miller's Crossing. He also appeared in the first two seasons of Homicide: Life on the Street and on the first season of...
co-star. It was based on the novel of the same name by James Herbert
James Herbert
James Herbert, OBE is a best-selling English horror writer who originally worked as the art director of an advertising agency. He is a full-time writer who also designs his own book covers and publicity.-Family:...
.
Synopsis
The story is centered on a puppy named Fluke (voiced by Sam Gifaldi, and played by Golden RetrieverGolden Retriever
The Golden Retriever is a medium-sized breed of dog. They were historically developed as gundogs to retrieve shot waterfowl such as ducks and upland game birds during hunting and shooting parties. As such, they were bred to have a soft mouth to retrieve game undamaged and have an instinctive love...
s), 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's "a fluke by nature, and by name."
After Bella dies of an illness caused by poor conditions, he befriends a street-wise St. Bernard
St. Bernard (dog)
The St. Bernard is a breed of very large working dog from the Italian and Swiss Alps, originally bred for rescue. The breed has become famous through tales of alpine rescues, as well as for its large size.-Appearance:The St. Bernard is a large dog...
-like dog named Rumbo (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel Leroy Jackson is an American film and television actor and film producer. After becoming involved with the Civil Rights Movement, he moved on to acting in theater at Morehouse College, and then films. He had several small roles such as in the film Goodfellas before meeting his mentor,...
). During this time he matures into an adult dog (now voiced by Matthew Modine
Matthew Modine
Matthew Avery Modine is an award-winning American actor. His film roles include Private Joker in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket, the title character in Alan Parker's Birdy, high school wrestler Louden Swain in Vision Quest, football star turned spy Alec McCall in Funky Monkey and the...
), and he eventually realizes that he used to be a workaholic
Workaholic
A workaholic is a person who is addicted to work.The term generally implies that the person enjoys their work; it can also imply that they simply feel compelled to do it...
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
Ron Perlman
Ronald N. "Ron" Perlman is an American television, film and voice over actor. He is known for having played Vincent in the TV series Beauty and the Beast , a Deathstroke figure known as Slade in the animated series Teen Titans, Clarence "Clay" Morrow in Sons of Anarchy, the comic book character...
) to be used in animal experiments
Testing cosmetics on animals
Testing cosmetics on animals is a form of animal testing, intended to ensure the safety and hypoallergenic properties of the products for use by humans...
at a cosmetics
Cosmetics
Cosmetics are substances used to enhance the appearance or odor of the human body. Cosmetics include skin-care creams, lotions, powders, perfumes, lipsticks, fingernail and toe nail polish, eye and facial makeup, towelettes, permanent waves, colored contact lenses, hair colors, hair sprays and...
company. During the tests, Rumbo comes to the rescue. 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's also told that as a human, Bert (Bill Cobbs
Bill Cobbs
Wilbert "Bill" Cobbs is an American film and television actor. He has starred in over 120 television programs and movies.-Life and career:...
) (a man who feeds Fluke and Rumbo) 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 (Nancy Travis
Nancy Travis
Nancy Ann Travis is an American actress. She is known for her roles in films Three Men and a Baby and its sequel, Three Men and a Little Lady , Married to the Mob , Air America , Internal Affairs , So I Married an Axe Murderer , Greedy , and Fluke...
) and son (Max Pomeranc
Max Pomeranc
Max Pomeranc is an American former child actor.Pomeranc was born in New York City, New York. His mother, Marion Hess Pomeranc, is an author, and his father, Abe Pomeranc, is a stock broker. He made his acting debut at the age of eight, playing the lead in the film Searching for Bobby Fischer, based...
) 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
Eric Stoltz
Eric Hamilton Stoltz is an American actor, director and producer. He is widely known for playing the role of Rocky Dennis in the biographical drama film Mask, which earned him the nomination for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture...
). 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
Workaholic
A workaholic is a person who is addicted to work.The term generally implies that the person enjoys their work; it can also imply that they simply feel compelled to do it...
.
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; 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, Fluke is resting under a tree by himself. To his surprise, he encounters Rumbo, who is now reincarnated as a squirrel.
Reception
Reviews of Fluke were mixed with film review website Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
tallying only 33% of its collected reviews as positive, giving the film a label of "Rotten". Despite these poor reviews both Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
and Gene Siskel
Gene Siskel
Eugene Kal "Gene" Siskel was an American film critic and journalist for the Chicago Tribune. Along with colleague Roger Ebert, he hosted the popular review show Siskel & Ebert At the Movies from 1975 until his death....
gave it thumbs up http://bventertainment.go.com/tv/buenavista/ebertandroeper/index2.html?sec=6&subsec=Fluke. However, Fluke has received by the users of the Internet Movie Database
Internet Movie Database
Internet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
a rate of 62%. In addition to IMDb, Allmovie's reviewer Mark Deming gave to the film 3/5 stars. Fluke underperformed at the box office, generating just under $4 million dollars in the American box office. 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
Max Pomeranc
Max Pomeranc is an American former child actor.Pomeranc was born in New York City, New York. His mother, Marion Hess Pomeranc, is an author, and his father, Abe Pomeranc, is a stock broker. He made his acting debut at the age of eight, playing the lead in the film Searching for Bobby Fischer, based...
.
External links
- Fluke at Box Office MojoBox Office MojoBox Office Mojo is a website that tracks box office revenue in a systematic, algorithmic way. Brandon Gray started the site in 1999. In 2002, Gray partnered with Sean Saulsbury and they grew the site to nearly two million readers when, in July 2008, the company was purchased by Amazon.com through...