Java_Joe
A Fish Called Wanda caught everybody by surprise. It was a low budget, silly English comedy that just exploded in popularity and has gone down as one of the great comedies of all time. The makers managed to capture literal lightning in a bottle that they have never been able to recreate. Years later when they got the same crew together for "Fierce Creatures" it just wasn't the same. In it we have Michael Palin, Jamie Lee Curtis and Kevin Kline playing a group of jewel thieves and how they're all backstabbing each other to get the loot to themselves. When the fourth member of their crew gets captured, thanks to an anonymous tip by Kevin Kline, it's John Cleese as the barrister who supposed to defend him in court.What follows is a series of events where the only witness to the crime is targeted for murder only to have her pets doe one by one. John Cleese and Jamie Lee Curtis wind up falling for each other. And Kevin Kline winds up stealing the show as the oversexed killer who misinterprets philosophy and thinks that killing is okay. He won the Oscar for best supporting actor for that role and he totally deserved it .It's one of those movies that you really need to see if you haven't already.
grantss
A criminal gang, made up of George, his girlfriend Wanda and their associate Ken, are planning a massive diamond heist. Wanda brings in a fourth member, Otto, who she claims is her brother. In reality, Otto is her lover and the two are planning to double-cross George and Ken.Brilliantly clever and funny. Written by John Cleese, and you can see the Pythonesque touches in the script. Helps too that John Cleese and Michael Palin have prominent roles in the cast.Solid plot, so works pretty well as a crime-caper and not just as a comedy.Good performances from a star-studded cast: John Cleese, Jamie-Lee Curtis (as Wanda), Michael Palin (as Ken). However, it is Kevin Kline, as Otto, who steals the show. Incredibly funny and well deserved his Best Supporting Actor Oscar.
LF
The fact is, that John Cleese and Michael Palin are incredibly funny even outside their usual Monty Python stupid people roles. What they do here is something completely different. These two actors alone could make this movie work, but we also have the young and wild Jamie Lee Curtis and Kevin Kline close to his peak form. Really everything is given for a totally catastrophic movie - yet the clash of the British and American school somehow worked out brilliantly. There are no scenes that would try to give you the experience of an extremely big laugh, but it very smartly convinces you to be interested in the lead of the story and be a bit amazed about every little twist and joke. Luckily, the romantic side was not emphasized too much - it is still more of a comedy than a romantic comedy. A few theatrical motives might show up here and there, but I think that deducts little from the value of the final product - it only means that "A Fish Called Wanda" could work well on stage too.
GertrudeStern
"Total farce, so many gags; it's like something out of a Tom and Jerry cartoon": my friend's unenthusiastic reactions through a mouthful of somewhat dry baked potato.And he was right. A Fish Called Wanda definitely has tons of pomp and circumstance, but lacks any real structure apart from following around a key, secured in a locket, which Jamie Lee Curtis is going to use to open a safe that will make her rich.The (sort of) positives: A *few* moments of passable situational comedy, some fun torture scenes (when Kline quizzes the stuttering Michael Palin about Nietzsche, stuffing french fries into his nose with non-response, before slurping down all of Mike's aquarium life), some semi-funny lines ('I've worn dresses with higher IQs' & ' The London Underground is not a political movement!').Really, you should just pull up stills of the most not-to-be-missed feature of the film: Kevin Kline's wardrobe. With the black ball cap and trench coat. Possibly the best outfit of any cinematic heist-meister. Does he really put his pants on one leg at a time?
AD
