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Actors: Bill Murray, Peter Gallagher, Joanne Whalley, Alfred Molina, Richard Wilson, John Standing, Nicholas Woodeson, Simon Chandler
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| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about The Man Who Knew Too Little |
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American Wally Ritchie unexpectedly visits his brother Jimmy in London, just as Jimmy and his wife are about to entertain banking clients. To keep him occupied, they buy him a "Theatre of Life" ticket - a realistic interactive game he can play around the city with actors. He is to await instructions at a phone booth. By mistake, he answers a call to a hit man named Spencer, and Spencer answers his. So while Spencer meets with the actors, Wally embarks on an espionage adventure he does not know is real. After coolly facing "fake" muggers, he meets Lorelei - a kept woman who believes that Minister of Defence Gilbert Embleton has sent him to kill her over some blackmail letters. She tries to entice him to cash in. When Gilbert arrives and offers to pay him off, Wally unwittingly scares him away with a "fake" gunshot, and releases Lorelei from the clutches of the real assassin by staring him down.
A Peace Accord is to be signed at midnight by the leaders of Russia and Great Britain. Preferring to keep cold war frictions alive, Russian Sergei and Brit Sir Roger have planted a time bomb in a Russian doll at the banquet hall. Wally, believing the real Spencer is only playing dead, takes from him a communication device linked to Sir Roger. He inadvertently finds the highly sought letters. When he talks of firing up Ambassadors, he means cigars; but it sounds to Sir Roger like he knows about the bomb plot. His reckless driving gets him away from hit man Boris. When he chats with the cop who pulls him over, it looks like he has "connections." Soon, he seems to be an invincible genius.
The bad guys offer him three million in unmarked bills if he meets them in the Grand Plaza lobby - but they secretly intend to kill him. Tied up and given truth serum, he impresses them with his apparent good training by claiming only to be a video clerk from Des Moines. Using only nasal spray and dumb luck, he escapes to the ledge and dodges bullets. As his brother - who has rushed to the hotel on learning that Wally is wanted by police - is taken to the basement for torture, Wally disguises himself as a Russian dancer and fakes his way through the floor show, unwittingly tossing around the doll containing the bomb. With just minutes to go before it explodes, can he survive and prevent the catastrophes he does not even know are in the works?
--vjm, Resident Scholar
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| Analysis of The Man Who Knew Too Little |
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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
Kind of comedy
- bungling spies
How much humor v. drama
- Nearly all humor
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- salesman
Eccentric:
Yes
- deluded
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Hair color?
- brunette (Brown)
Hair type
- (man) short/standard straight
Body type
- (man) average
Events of movie makes character more...
- happy
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Sense of humor?
- Strong but gentle sense of humor
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Female
How much in movie?
- 80%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- British
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 60's-90's
Profession/status:
- politician/elected ruler
Eccentric:
Yes
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- 80%
Hair color
- white
Ethnicity/Nationality
- British
How sensitive is this character?
- mean, arrogant
Setting
Europe
Yes
European country:
- England/UK
City?
Yes
City:
- London
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- moderately detailed references to deaths
Movie makes you feel...
- full of laughter
Is this movie based on a
- book
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Resident Scholar Profiles
TOP SCHOLAR:
 vjm
SCHOLARS:
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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