Searching for Bobby Fischer? Search No More!

Former world chess champion, America's Bobby Fischer is pictured in this August 10, 1971 file photo at an unknown location in the USA. (AP Photo) 

According to this report from the Associated Press, Bobby Fischer has been detained by Japanese immigration authorities.  The reclusive Fischer has been out of the public eye for over a decade and is notorious for popping up when you least expect, usually to play chess.

 Searching for Bobby Fischer isn't really about finding the elusive chess champion.  It is a true story based on a gifted young boy named Josh Waitzkin who enters the world of competitive chess.  Throughout the story, the boy details some of Fischer's exploits through voice over narration but it really is the simple touching story of a father and son.   Joe Mantegna does a superb job as sports writer Fred Waitzken, who penned the book upon which the movie is based.  Powerful performances from Joan Allen as the mother, Ben Kingsley as the tutor, and Laurence Fishburne as drug addicted chess player from Central Park make this film worth watching again and again.  Character actors William H. Macy and David Paymer show up as hyper-parents and look for Laura Linney in one of her earliest roles.
 
Every parent should see this film because it illustrates how easy it is to push our kids too far.  The Waitzkin's finally realized that no matter how good Josh was a chess, he still needed time to be a kid... to go fishing and play baseball, too.  If you haven't had to the chance to see this film, go rent it!  I give it a HOT DATE rating.