‘Sleeping with the Fishes’ Review (LALIFF)

Director-writer Nicole Gomez Fisher certainly understands the Nora Ephron model of plucky heroines overcoming adversity to find their true selves. Yet, her admirable attempt at offering a variation on the Ephron formula with “Sleeping with the Fishes” for today’s multi-cultural world does fall a little short of the mark.

Actress Gina Rodriguez, whose tour de force performance in the Sundance hit “Filly Brown” still registers as one of the year’s best, makes a bold attempt to broaden her range as the central character in Sleeping with the Fishes. As Alexis Fish, Rodriguez is certainly game to journey the complex emotional terrain of a young Jewish-Latina trying to pull her life together after her husband dies.

Returning back to the family fold in Brooklyn, Alexis has to face many of the adversities of Girl World and other dictated by being first generation Americanas. Her domineering mother (Priscilla Lopez) rules with a deep well of “I mean well” and “It’s for your own good” advice, overlooking that the weight carried by her party-planning daughter is a lot more than physical.

Offered a chance to coordinate a bat mitzvah, Alexis stumbles her way through the job that ultimately offers parallels to her own life. The young girl of said religious tradition is not the only one coming of age in this scenario. As Alexis powers through a week of planning and self-discovery, she edges closer to finally reaching the center of her true self and reconcile her past once and for all.

Rodriguez is a truly charismatic presence as an actor. However, what proved a force of nature in “Filly Brown” seems oddly less effective in “Sleeping with the Fishes.” More at ease with the nuanced elements of Gomez Fisher’s script, Rodriguez is just dialed too high for the broader comic moments of the piece. In fact, that lack of subtlety proves problematic for much of the film. Gomez Fisher mines many of the stock genre tropes from mother-daughter conflicts to Alexis’ being that “loveable mess” to “I will still get the hot guy as a reward for my suffering.” Through it all, Rodriguez puts forward a brave face and a kilowatt smile, but you can’t help but wish she wasn’t such a “chick flick” construct.

What does work well for “Sleeping with the Fishes” is the wonderful Ana Ortiz as Alexis’ sister Kayla. For whatever reason, Gomez Fisher’s script and direction offer the right balance with Ortiz. Bringing plenty of sparkle and zing to the proceedings, Ortiz brings out the best in Rodriguez when the two women are on screen together. Their sisterly bond feels tangible and honest, even if the clichés surrounding them swirl at a rapid pace.

Gomez Fisher certainly has much love for her characters, her cultural background and the genre that she understands quite well. However, with “Sleeping with the Fishes,” well-intentioned filmmaking is not enough. She is definitely on the right track, though, as the Ephron model is in dire need of reinvention. What Gomez Fisher does next will warrant attention as she switches tracks from the safe and moves into territory that is all her own.