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Rating: 5 out of 5
Have you ever watched a movie that completely surprised you? I’m talking about that movie where you look at the box cover and go, “This movie will probably suck or not even be good.” You read the back of the box cover, and it seems interesting, but your expectations are really low. When you get home and play it, you see that the movie is pretty good. Sorry, not pretty good, but freakin hilarious while giving you one of the best laughs you had in a while. A Fish Called Wanda is honestly one of the funniest movies I have ever seen, and I thoroughly enjoyed Kevin Kline’s hilarious performance. Honestly, this is one of the best comedies I have seen in a long time, and I hope everyone in the entire world takes the time to watch this funny ass film.
Directed by Charles Crichton (in his final film) and written by Crichton, and John Cleese, A Fish Called Wanda is a comedy heist film for the ages. In the beautiful city of London, Georges Thomason (Georgeson), his beautiful and charming American girlfriend Wanda Gershwitz (Lee Curtis), and their associate, a stuttering animal lover Ken Pile (Sir Palin), are planning their latest crime: a diamond heist that should net them 13 million pounds sterling. After the heist, they plan to dip from the country and live the high life. At Wanda’s request, the crew enlisted the help of her weapons-expert brother Otto West (Kline). The thing is that Otto isn’t Wanda’s brother but lover who hates being called stupid and thinks he is a genius. Wanda and Otto plan to double-cross Georges by having him arrested for the heist while they dip with the jewels. Wanda also plans to triple cross Otto by hitting him on the head after getting the diamonds. The heist goes off well, and they are able to get Georges arrested with him not knowing who tipped the off the police and implicated by elderly eyewitness Eileen Coady (Hayes). With George in jail, Wanda and Otto go to their next step in their plan when they discover that Georges moved the diamonds with only telling Ken a mini hint. Wanting to be free from jail, Georges gives Ken the task of eliminating Eileen so she won’t testify against him. Wanda decides to take matters into her own hands and seduces George’s defense lawyer Archie Leach (John Cleese) and find the jewels’ location. As the plans are hatch, the wild card in the whole thing is Otto and his crazy ways. Can anyone reach the diamonds?
I am trying to think of an excellent place to start with this review. I can start with the cast and the characters they play, or I could talk about the actual plot and how funny this is. I think I’ll start off with the story because that is how this crazy group of characters gets together. First, the plot revolves around a jewel heist between the characters. It’s relatively simple, but with most comedies, it sets up many plot points that will have you rolling with laughter. We have George, an Englishman who is the leader and planned the heist. George has his very loyal, stuttering, and fish-loving right-hand man Ken. Also part of the crew is the beautiful Wanda, George’s lover, and Otto, who hates the English and is Wanda’s “brother.” The heist goes off well with them stealing the diamonds, only for them to almost run over an elderly lady and her three dogs who can point out one of them.
The story actually gets going when Wanda and Otto betray George and send him to jail. Wanda was going to cross Otto only to find out that the diamonds were not in the safe. In turn, they all have to figure out where George/Ken hid the diamonds. I will say the story soon splits into two hilarious parts. Let’s start off with Wanda and Otto. They are “lovers,” but Wanda wants to get rid of Otto. Now Wanda knows how to use her sex appeal to convince George she is on his side and the whole relationship with Archie. At first, you think she is conning him, and then they actually fall in love with each other. Such a beautiful story. Actually, let me back up, Wanda is a freak, and then when she leaves Archie in that house, butt ass naked, you were like damn.
Now the part of the movie that is absolutely hilarious has to do with Ken. Ken is ordered to kill the elderly woman with three dogs. Otto bets him a pound that he couldn’t kill the old lady. The first time he tries to kill the woman, he has a dog try to kill the woman only to have the dog kill one of three dogs. The woman holds this elaborate funeral for her dog. The second time, this dude dresses up as a Jamaican with dreads who drives a taxi. He misses the woman and runs over the dog, only to drive into a trash container and hurt his eye. The woman again holds another elaborate funeral. The third time, Ken has a full-on sniper rifle and aims it as a container to drop on the woman. The woman looks around just to make sure everything is safe. Ken shoots the container, and it comes down and crushes the last dog. The woman dies from shock, which was crazy with Ken laughing on as he finally succeeded to Otto’s amazement.
I also want to speak on the ending because it was hilarious. First off, the whole dynamic between Ken and Otto is hilarious. Who eats a man fish while interrogating him? That is freakin cold-blooded. Yet, the funniest part was when Ken gets his overall revenge in a display of slow torture to Otto. Watching Ken on the steamroller slowly coming towards Otto is hilarious because it moves so slow and takes so long. Yet Otto can’t move because he is stuck in cement and to see him slowly crushed yet survive is funny. The epilogue is also amusing because Otto is stuck on the plane with his last words, “asshole” is hilarious. Also, Wanda has 17 kids, and Otto manages to become a Minister of Justice or something like that.
As far as the cast goes, Kevin Kline should receive a standing ovation for his performance as Otto. Honestly, Kline is the best part of the whole film. He had me rolling every time he thought someone was going to call him stupid, and he would say, “Don’t call me stupid.” What about that sex scene? It was beyond hilarious because he was so outrageous. Jamie Lee Curtis as Wanda Gershwitz was absolutely stunning. She definitely used her sex appeal and charm to seduce men. Now she was a freak for people who could speak different languages. She would get off and turned on so much when men spoke Italian and Russian.
I want to say that A Fish Called Wanda is a sleeper for me that I found absolutely hilarious. Kevin Kline was masterful in his role as Otto and definitely deserved his Academy Award. The story was funny with the woman who seemed to have her dogs killed and the whole eating the fish. Give this film a chance because it will have you laughing.
