Film

The Fisher King

Name: The Fisher King
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Released: 1991
Cast: Robin Williams, Jeff Bridges, Amanda Plummer, Mercedes Ruehl, Michael Jeter

Drama

Terry Gilliam's fantastical tragicomedy pairs a disgraced radio shock jock with a homeless man shattered by trauma, both circling the same buried guilt on the streets of Manhattan. It swings between slapstick, myth, and devastation without warning, letting a medieval grail quest collide with gritty urban homelessness. Funny, strange, and unexpectedly moving, it's for anyone who wants their comfort films a little haunted.

TMDb rating

3.7

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like fables about broken people, where a bruised radio host and a damaged street poet stumble into magic, and the comedy and grief keep trading places without warning.

Skip it if you want a tidy, fast-moving plot; this one wanders into long stretches of fantasy imagery and loud, emotional set pieces that some viewers will find overwrought.

What it asks of you: Nearly two and a half hours of patience, with a tone that swings from manic farce to quiet melancholy, so settle in and let the mood shift around you.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Good Will Hunting1997

An unlikely, combustible bond between a wounded genius and the man who won't let him hide from himself - like Parry and Jack, healing arrives disguised as an argument.

But Considerably tidier and more conventional; the messiness and delirium of Gilliam's vision is smoothed into something more reassuring.

Big Fish2003

Tim Burton's tale of a dying father's tall stories does the same trick as Gilliam - using fantasy and whimsy as armor against grief, guilt, and things too painful to say plainly.

But Its whimsy is gentler and more family-friendly; you may want more grit and menace than this ultimately offers.

Dead Poets Society1989

Robin Williams again as a man convinced that imagination and belief can save people from despair - warmer and more straightforward, but carrying the same conviction that wonder is medicine.

But Far less strange and far more earnest; if you liked the danger and mess of Fisher King, this may feel safe by comparison.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Fisher King

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Sullivan's Travels1941

Both films use a privileged man's descent into the world of the homeless to ambush comedy with real suffering, and both insist laughter and grief aren't opposites.

Preston Sturges' delirious 1941 comedy sends a movie director slumming among tramps to learn about suffering, then blindsides him with real violence and grief - the same lurch from screwball to devastation Gilliam pulls off fifty years later.

But Black-and-white studio-era pacing and rapid-fire 1940s banter can feel like a different language if you're not used to it.

Benny & Joon1993

A whimsical romance built around mental illness that, like Fisher King, refuses to treat its fragile characters as jokes or tragedies alone, finding real tenderness in the strangeness.

But Slighter and more twee - the stakes never approach the horror lurking underneath Gilliam's comedy.

Silver Linings Playbook2012

Two damaged people find each other through their dysfunction rather than despite it, with the same swerving tonal energy - a scene can turn from funny to frightening in a breath.

But Grounded in suburban realism rather than myth or fantasy - no knights, no grails, just group therapy and football.

Patch Adams1998

Williams doing his purest "clown as healer" routine, insisting that laughter and absurdity can be a genuine answer to suffering - exactly the faith Parry clings to.

But Considerably sappier, with a sentimentality that some viewers find manipulative rather than moving.

Awakenings1990

Williams inverted - restrained, quiet, playing a doctor rather than a patient - in a based-on-fact drama about people trapped inside themselves finally breaking free.

But No comedy at all, and a much slower, more clinical rhythm than Gilliam's manic energy.

Garden State2004

A numbed, grieving man wanders a heightened, faintly surreal version of his hometown and slowly, awkwardly comes back to feeling - the indie cousin to Gilliam's fable.

But Early-2000s quirk and soundtrack can feel dated or precious next to Gilliam's grubbier, stranger New York.

Punch-Drunk Love2002

Adam Sandler, cast wildly against type, plays a man whose rage and loneliness curdle into something like Parry's fractured mind, wrapped in Paul Thomas Anderson's oddball romantic haze.

But Deliberately abrasive and anxious rather than warm; a stranger, more uncomfortable ride than Fisher King's ultimately hopeful one.

Dark Days2000

Same invisible New York, same homeless communities with their own codes and loyalties that Gilliam romanticises - this one shows you what's underneath the fairy tale.

This documentary follows people actually living in the tunnels beneath Penn Station, filmed by the residents themselves - it's the real, unglamorised version of the underworld Gilliam turns into knightly myth, and it's oddly tender.

But No score, no fantasy, no rescue arc - just people surviving, which can be a bleaker watch than you're bracing for.

Hook1991

Same actor, same year, same core wound - an adult who's lost his capacity for wonder and has to be lured back into belief to be whole again.

Released the same year, this is Robin Williams playing the other half of the same idea - a broken adult who has to remember how to believe in magic to save himself, dressed up as a Spielberg family blockbuster with pirates.

But It's shameless, sentimental, and aimed at ten-year-olds - a tonal 180 from Gilliam's grubby fable, style over substance in places.