Proving that a stylish and innovative feature could be made for the cost of a mistreated Buick, Robert Rodriguez's $7,000 El Mariachi galvanized independent cinema in 1992, suggesting a future in which the filmmaking process would be truly democratized. But now that the future is here—and cheaper than ever, thanks to digital video—it's harder to be impressed by competence on a minuscule budget: If a film doesn't have a raison d'être, it may as well not exist at all. Reportedly made for a slim $40,000, Smiling Fish And Goat On Fire is an exotic label for a product that should be stamped with a barcode and shelved with the dozens of other interchangeable films about uncommitted twentysomething men redeemed by love. The title refers to the nicknames given to brothers Steven and Derick Martini, respectively, by their half-Native American grandmother as a shorthand description of their personalities. Living together in a humble Los Angeles neighborhood, "Smiling Fish" is an affable but irresponsible free spirit (read: an actor) and "Goat On Fire" stable, retentive, and a little dull (read: an accountant). Different as they might seem, their romantic lives wind up following similar trajectories: The former, who likes to sleep around, considers settling down with a mail carrier (Christa Miller) from Wyoming and playing father to her precocious daughter. The latter, stuck in a dead-end relationship with his long-time girlfriend, falls for an Italian animal wrangler (Rosemarie Addeo). It's helpful that the four principals are given quirky names or professions, because they'd otherwise be virtually interchangeable: the women mature and self-assured, the men confused and mildly quirky. Perhaps sensing that his innocuous romantic pairings might otherwise float off into the ether, director Kevin Jordan (who wrote the script with the Martini brothers) anchors the story with a patronizingly "soulful" black man (Bill Henderson) who is wise in matters of the heart. The most charitable thing that can be said of Smiling Fish is that it's unfailingly pleasant, but pleasantness is a negligible substitute for ambition.