"Smiling Fish and Goat on Fire" is, in several ways, an Italians-in-L.A. version of "The Brothers McMullen."<br /><br />It's evidently done by NYU students, with the print blown-up from 16 mm, grainy shadows and all, and filmed primarily in the house of the brothers who co-star in and co-wrote the screenplay.<br /><br />The problems with the Opposite Sex are pretty much the same too, with one being a happy-go-lucky philanderer (that's "Smiling Fish") and the other a straight-arrow accountant being shredded by his long-time girlfriend (that's "Goat on Fire"). <br /><br />The new, magic realism element is an elderly black sage from the early days of race movies who provides oddball advice on love and the magic of the movies. <br /><br />As twenty-somethings-in-and-out-of-love movies go, this is cute and likable.<br /><br />(originally written 9/16/2000)