Fluke (film)

Infobox Film
name = Fluke


caption = Fluke Movie Poster
director = Carlo Carlei
producer = Tom Coleman
Jon Turtle
writer = James Herbert (novel)
Carlo Carlei James Carrington
starring = Matthew Modine
Samuel L. Jackson
Max Pomeranc
Nancy Travis
Ron Perlman
Jon Polito
Bill Cobbs
music = Carlo Siliotto
cinematography = Raffaele Mertes
editing = Mark Conte
distributor = MGM
released = 1995
runtime = 96 min.
country = USA
awards = Two Nominations for the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
amg_id = 134742
imdb_id = 0113089

"Fluke" is a 1995 film, directed by Carlo Carlei and starring Matthew Modine, Eric Stoltz, Max Pomeranc and the voice of Samuel L. Jackson. It was based on the novel of the same name by James Herbert.

ynopsis

Centered on Flat-Coated Retriever puppy named Fluke (voiced by Matthew Modine), who has flashing memories and dreams of a human life. He befriends a street-wise St. Bernard-like dog named Rumbo (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson), and a homeless woman who gives him the name Fluke. During this time he eventually realizes that he used to be human - a workaholic Thomas Johnson (also portrayed by Matthew Modine), who died in an auto accident. After Rumbo and his homeless owner both die, he 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 business partner, Jeff (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.

His stay with them doesn't work out, and 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 makes one final attempt to point out to his wife who he really is (by digging away the snow covering his tomb stone and pointing out his name there). With a heavy heart, he decides it's better to move on -- the man he used to be is dead and gone, and so leaves his family, never seeing them again. He also learns that life is simply meant to be cherished, regardless how one lives it.

Far away and months, or possibly years later, 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 mostly negative, with film review website Rotten Tomatoes tallying only 33% of its collected reviews as positive, giving the film a label of "Rotten". However, both Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel gave it thumbs up [http://bventertainment.go.com/tv/buenavista/ebertandroeper/index2.html?sec=6&subsec=Fluke] . In conjunction with negative reviews, "Fluke" also underperformed at the box office, generating just under $4 million dollars in the American box office [http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=fluke.htm] . Despite both critical and commercial failure, "Fluke" 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

External links

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* [http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll "Fluke"] at Allmovie.
* [http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=fluke.htm "Fluke"] at Box Office Mojo