Quirky: the one adjective that if employed in a synopsis or review should cause any thoughtful person to avoid a film so described, and a perfect kiss-of-death salvo for Eagle vs. Shark. This crowd-pleasing New Zealand indie, developed from the Sundance Director's and Screenwriter's Labs (from which the similar Me and You and Everyone You Know emerged) and plucked from the vine by savvy Miramax, is the latest in a recent trend of offbeat, adorable stillbirths about families of barely lovable misfits learning valuable life lessons in a world of kitschy crap. The parade of cute begins right off the bat when fast-food employee Lily (Loren Horsley), an awkward collection of Church Lady grimaces masquerading as a "sensitive dreamer," practices a marriage proposal into her mirror, thus demonstrating that the quirky indie's favorite go-to device - the head-on camera shot at some "ka-razee" character's goofy countenance - is in actuality a symptom of rampant narcissism.
Click here to read the rest of Michael Joshua Rowin's review of Eagle vs. Shark.
