Movie Notes: A Fish Called Wanda

April 4th, 2008

= 5 stars

Starring John Cleese, Kevin Kline, Jamie Lee Curtis
Directed by Charles Crichton

Amazon Link

Synopsis

Four bank robbers, three smart and one stupid (Kevin Kline) need a barrister’s (John Cleese) help to claim some jewels.

The Good

The four principals are very strong, each creating funny characters that are constantly caught in situations where they must lie or pretend in order to wheedle out of their situations. That to me is very funny.
Especially notable is the moronic Otto, whose surreal traits must be seen to be believed - posing in a mirror with a samurai sword, yelling “asshole,” (a true vulgarian), and a completely insanse sex scene where he inhales his own armpit odor and gets some hits off a boot - all while rambling in faux Italian.
The plot is satisfyingly twisted although it largely exists to get the characters into embarrasing situations from which to ineptly extricate themselves. Most notable is John Cleese’s seduction on the part of Jamie Lee Curtis, leading to him lying to his wife and robbing his own house.
There’s another funny thread regarding stupid Americans vs. the British, which starts out via proud American Otto mocking wussy K-k-k-k-ken with chips up the nose, and builds to a climactic Vietnam reference between Archie and Otto on an airport tarmac.

The Bad

Nothing I can think of.

Conclusion

A must see. A bit of trivia, the film is funny enough that one person, Ole Bentzen literally died laughing:

“(Ole Bentzen) went to see the film A Fish Called Wanda. During a scene featuring John Cleese, Bentzen began laughing so hard that his heartbeat accelerated to a rate of between 250 and 500 beats a minute and he was seized by a heart attack and died.”

IMBD: A Fish Called Wanda
Wikipedia: A Fish Called Wanda
Rotten Tomatoes: A Fish Called Wanda 100%