“A River Runs Through It” Wins “By the Width of a Fly Line”

In fly-fishing circles, the comparisons were immediate.  In the mainstream media, they were only inevitable.  Mitch Paradise of Movie Smackdown compares “A River Runs Through It” and “Salmon Fishing in Yemen” and finds that the former wins by the “width of a fly-line.”

But Paradise has only good things to say about both: “There is a vast difference in tone and style in these two films. Robert Redford’s direction and Richard Friedenberg’s Oscar-nominated script for River, lovingly recall an innocent time, an idyllic Eden where fishing is a metaphor for life. In Yemen, salmon fishing is a lovely pastime but a far-fetched goal, in fact a likely disaster. The film is also quite funny, with Kristin Scott Thomas stealing every scene she’s in with a salty tongue and the in-your-face arrogance of the politically protected.”