The heist comedy A Fish Called Wanda is directed by John Cleese and Charles Crichton and stars John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Kevin Kline. The film takes place in modern day England.
The film starts off with a four person armed bank heist. When the four of them escape the police they keep the money in a safe in a hide out. Wanda and Otto (Curtis and Kline) turn in one of their co-robbers to be able to take the money for themselves. But it turns out the money is not there. Wanda tries to gain the trust of her co-robber's attorney, Archie (Cleese), to find out where the money is. The whole film is about how Wanda and Otto try and get off with the money without being caught by the others.
The screenplay was by John Cleese and it was pretty well written. There was a lot of witty dialogue and good jokes. What the script lacked really was character development, because most of the characters were one dimensional, such as Otto and pretty much Wanda even though that could be argued. There were some coincidences in the film such as towards the end involving Otto and some cement. Personally I don't find animal cruelty that funny, just cruel.
The direction by Cleese and Crichton was solid. One shot in particular I liked was when Archie was hanging upside down outside the building by Otto and the camera flipped to show how he was hanging. The two of them got very good performances from the whole cast. There were really no glaring things that I was against because of the direction.
The editing for this film was very smooth and flowed very well. Yet nothing made me think during the film wow, great editing choices.
The acting was very good, definitely kept the strongest part of the film. Curtis was very charming as Wanda and delivered all her lines very well. It seemed that everyone gave their best acting when they were around Kevin Kline though. He deserved to get nominated but I guess it was a bad year since he won the award. He was great as the foul mouth, stupid American. John Cleese played the part of the uptight British gentleman very well also. The whole cast gave great performances.
Overall I give this film a 7/10 due to the great acting. I would recommend this to anyone who likes smart comedies.
The film starts off with a four person armed bank heist. When the four of them escape the police they keep the money in a safe in a hide out. Wanda and Otto (Curtis and Kline) turn in one of their co-robbers to be able to take the money for themselves. But it turns out the money is not there. Wanda tries to gain the trust of her co-robber's attorney, Archie (Cleese), to find out where the money is. The whole film is about how Wanda and Otto try and get off with the money without being caught by the others.
The screenplay was by John Cleese and it was pretty well written. There was a lot of witty dialogue and good jokes. What the script lacked really was character development, because most of the characters were one dimensional, such as Otto and pretty much Wanda even though that could be argued. There were some coincidences in the film such as towards the end involving Otto and some cement. Personally I don't find animal cruelty that funny, just cruel.
The direction by Cleese and Crichton was solid. One shot in particular I liked was when Archie was hanging upside down outside the building by Otto and the camera flipped to show how he was hanging. The two of them got very good performances from the whole cast. There were really no glaring things that I was against because of the direction.
The editing for this film was very smooth and flowed very well. Yet nothing made me think during the film wow, great editing choices.
The acting was very good, definitely kept the strongest part of the film. Curtis was very charming as Wanda and delivered all her lines very well. It seemed that everyone gave their best acting when they were around Kevin Kline though. He deserved to get nominated but I guess it was a bad year since he won the award. He was great as the foul mouth, stupid American. John Cleese played the part of the uptight British gentleman very well also. The whole cast gave great performances.
Overall I give this film a 7/10 due to the great acting. I would recommend this to anyone who likes smart comedies.