An Innuit hunter races his sled home with a fresh-caught halibut. This fish pervades the entire film, in real and imaginary form. Meanwhile, Axel tags fish in New York as a naturalist's gofer. He's happy there, but a messenger arrives to bring him to Arizona for his uncle's wedding. It's a ruse to get Axel into the family business. In Arizona, Axel meets two odd women: vivacious, needy, and plagued by neuroses and familial discord. He gets romantically involved with one, while the other, rich but depressed, plays accordion tunes to a gaggle of pet turtles
You can't stop watching because nobody in the audience, and possibly nobody on the screen, has any idea what's going to happen next.
– Roger Ebert,
Chicago Sun-Times,
1 Jan 2000
fresh:
Depp yet again reveals his unique ability to be the seductive yet compassionate idealist, discovering strength in tenderness.
– Kevin Thomas,
Los Angeles Times,
13 Feb 2001
fresh:
Even at its full length, showing off a more seductive rhythm and the buoyant humanism that is this director's calling card, it remains as ripe a subject for therapy as for criticism.
– Janet Maslin,
New York Times,
30 Aug 2004
fresh:
The first 'American' film by the director of Time of the Gypsies is every bit as bizarre and imaginative as his earlier work, although it's also maddeningly indulgent and erratic.
– Geoff Andrew,
Time Out,
24 Jun 2006
rotten:
Kusturica grafts his sometimes unwieldy Europe-inflected concerns onto brash American landscapes with mixed results. Much is made of dreams that, either spoken of at length or illustrated, are offered in lieu of character development.