Cohen Film Collection is proud to present a new restoration of this Joan Micklin Silver (Hester Street) romantic comedy. In their first film appearance together, real-life husband and wife comedy team Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara star as a couple who have been driving each other crazy for 40 years. Retired and depressed, former shop owner Sam (Stiller) is getting on Molly’s (Meara) last nerve. When he refuses to move the pet carp he’s keeping in their bathroom, Molly leaves him and moves in with her son, Joel (played by Mark Ruffalo), who’s dealing with marital problems of his own. The result is a laugh-out-loud comedy about the trials and tribulations of marriage and family life – and how to stay in love through it all.

For thoughts on A Fish In The Bathtub, please check out our discussion on The Video Attic:

[youtube https://youtu.be/tZ_w9yoCx1s?t=1674]

Video Quality

A Fish In The Bathtub comes to Blu-Ray in a 1080p presentation courtesy of a new restoration that is simply marvelous. This is not the most dynamically shot film, but the natural world is presented with a straightforward vividness that radiates off the screen in high definition. Whether you are out in the world or slinking around the interiors of the house, you are treated to an incredible amount of detail. The bright colors really pop with the dazzling hues of the world and in certain articles of clothing. The white levels are handled gracefully, especially in the warm, bright sun. The black levels do not appear to suffer from any compression artifacts or intrusive digital noise. A few instances of print damage remain, but the transfer has been cleaned up quite a bit. The skin tones look very detailed and natural all around with fine texture easily observed. This presentation is another winner from Cohen Media Group.

Audio Quality

The film comes to Blu-Ray with a lovely DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track in the original English. The movie is primarily dialogue-driven with pretty much nothing in the way of action, but the environmental activity such as chattering house guests comes through without issue. Do not look for anything in the way of texture in the low end as the movie is not built for such things. The dialogue and sound effects are in perfect balance with the spritely score where nothing gets lost in the track. This track is a perfect representation of the film. There are optional English SDH subtitles provided.

Special Features

On-Stage Q&A with the Director and Co-Writers: A 27-minute conversation with Director Joan Micklin Silver and co-writers John Silverstein and David Chudnovsky moderated by Bruni Burrest conducted at the Jacob Burns Film Center in 2017. In this piece, the subjects discuss the inspiration behind the narrative, the collaborations with the performers past and present, the writing process, the ideas behind the titular fish in Jewish orthodoxy, working with the performers and much more. This is a pure pleasure from beginning to end that is worth checking out.

Trailers: This disc includes the Original Trailer (1:57) and the Re-Release Trailer (0:59)

Final Thoughts

A Fish In The Bathtub is another charming Jewish story from the great Joan Micklin Silver which treats its characters with great emotional honesty and respect. The actions and exchanges can be a bit outlandish, but they are never to the point of being unbelievable. This film is sharply funny and offbeat in a way that exemplifies the best of ‘90s independent cinema. Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara draw on their real-life love to make these characters feel fully fleshed out. Cohen Media Group and Kino Lorber have released a Blu-Ray featuring a stellar A/V presentation and a few decent special features. This is worth a spin for anyone who appreciates great character-based dramedies. Highly Recommended

A Fish In The Bathtub is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray and Digital.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Cohen Media Group and Kino Lorber have supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.