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Actors: John Cleese, Kevin Kline, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Palin
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| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about A Fish Called Wanda |
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Diamond-loving American Wanda (Curtis) has come to London with her demented, self-loving, and Nietzsche-quoting boyfriend Otto (Kline) in hopes of pulling off an armed diamond heist. The couple team up with two Brits, George (Tom Georgeson) and Ken (Palin), a stuttering animal lover who plots to kill his annoying elderly neighbor but keeps knocking off her little dogs, much to his sorrow. After the heist, the four conspirators turn on one another in an attempt to keep the loot for themselves. Wanda and Otto inform on George and get him locked up, little knowing that he has already stashed the diamonds somewhere else. It appears that George's lawyer, prim and straight-laced Archie Leach (Cleese), may be the only (free) person who knows where the grand haul is hidden, so Wanda sets out to seduce Archie, much to Otto's discomfort. This 1988 film is a delightful, hilarious hoot, cowritten and codirected by Cleese and 78-year-old Charles Crichton, once the director of 1951's "Lavender Hill Mob" and a number of 1960s "Avengers" episodes. Kline won his only Oscar (Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting role) for Otto, and Cleese chose as his character's name the true birth name of Cary Grant, who was born in the same town as Cleese, Weston-Super-Mare.
--David Loftus, Resident Scholar
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Greedy jewel thieves plot against each other in order to get their huge diamond heist. It's up to the buxom Wanda (Jamie Lee Curtis) to seduce the uptight,very proper English lawyer Archie Leach(John Cleese) in order to find the whereabouts of their stolen loot.Pure madness ensues when Wanda's macho lover Otto(Kevin Kline) and the hapless, stuttering Ken(Michael Palin) get involved in this laugh-a-minute comic masterpiece.
--Derek Elmore, Resident Scholar
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A gang of jewel thieves thwarted by their own greed get mixed up with a bumbling lawyer. Madness and Mayham follow.
--Scott, Resident Scholar
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| Analysis of A Fish Called Wanda |
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Comedy, primarily
Yes
Time/era of movie:
- 1980's-1999
If a parody... of
- gangsters/crime
Kind of comedy
- bungling criminals
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- a lawyer creature
Age:
- 40's-50's
Eccentric:
Yes
- emotionally unstable
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Hair color?
- brunette (Brown)
Hair type
- (man) bald
Body type
- (man) average
Events of movie makes character more...
- aggressive
- tougher
Ethnicity/Nationality
- British
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor?
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Female
Hair color
- brunette (Brown)
Hair style
- (woman) short/butch/lez
Body type
- (woman) ample bosom & buttocks
Unclothed?
- very tight clothes
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 20's-30's
Profession/status:
- killer
Eccentric:
Yes
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- 80%
Hair color
- brunette (Brown)
Hair type
- (man) short/standard curly
Body type
- (man) average
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Setting
Europe
Yes
European country:
- England/UK
City?
Yes
City:
- London
Misc setting
- prison
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
Movie makes you feel...
- full of laughter
Sex/nudity in movie?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- kissing
- seeing nude male butt
Non-American film?
Yes
What language?
- English
Subtitles?
- No
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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