
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, June 3, 1995                   TAG: 9506060032
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: B-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DESSON HOWE THE WASHINGTON POST
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

WARNING: `FLUKE' WAGS A HEAVY TALE

Anything that departs from formulaic convention is like catnip to a critic. Which is what kept me alert and interested throughout ``Fluke.'' But at the same time, this doggie flick, starring Matthew Modine, Nancy Travis, Eric Stoltz and Max Pomeranc, is one of the weirdest, most depressing family films ever made.

The story of a mutt that returns to a family it remembers from a previous life, ``Fluke'' is described by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as ``a magical adventure for the whole family.'' But it's a bizarre hybrid of wet-nosed tearjerker and adult psychodrama, with a bummer conclusion, and out-there Buddhist-lite themes about life beyond the grave, guaranteed to send kids sobbing into the night. Consider yourselves warned.

When Fluke enters his latest life, he's an alley mutt (played by Comet, the golden retriever in the TV series ``Full House''), who has to learn how to score free meals behind restaurants and evade dog catchers. He's taught by shaggy mentor Rumpo, who also shows how to communicate a la ``Look Who's Talking.'' Suddenly, Fluke (the voice of Modine) and Rumpo (voice of Samuel L. Jackson) are yakking big time. The banter between them is fun, but the story they go through is anything but.

When Pomeranc and his mother (Travis) befriend and adopt Fluke, the mutt starts to get increasingly revelatory doggy flashbacks. He slowly comes to realize that he was - holy reincarnation! - Pomeranc's father and Travis's husband.

Little by little, Fluke remembers the circumstances that led to his death, a nasty car crash, in which an oncoming truck caused him to swerve off the road. (Do you see what I mean about this movie?) He starts to believe that Stoltz, his former business partner and best friend, who is clearly vying to be Travis' next husband, may be behind all this. So, whenever he sees Stoltz, he flies into a doggy rage and leaps at him savagely.

Will Fluke figure out the truth? Is the family really in danger? Will Travis realize that her former husband pees on trees these days?

These and other questions are guaranteed to intrigue and ultimately dismay any youthful or soft-hearted viewers. The movie amounts to a booby trap for fuzzy-animal lovers and kids. Apart from jaded kids from the Beavis and Butt-head generation, who might walk out of this cackling ``Cool, uh-hurrrrrr, uh-hurrrrrr,'' it's hard to imagine who ``Fluke'' would appeal to. If you go to this, remember, you're on your own.

Fluke

A Metro Goldwyn Mayer film showing at Valley View Mall 6. Rated PG for depressing plot elements, as well as violence and themes of grievous loss and death that could be disturbing to children. 95 mins.

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by CNB