A Fish Called Wanda DVD > Reviews > Something F-f-F-f-Fishy's going on!

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Good
Characters / Performances	Outstanding
Special Effects	Unmemorable
How does it compare to similar films?	Outstanding

Advantages:	Michael Palin, John Cleese, The Story .
Disadvantages:	Humour is a little dated .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

In this review on “A fish called Wanda” I will give a short synopsis so you know what the film is about, my opinion of the film and then finally get to the all important question that Ciao have proposed needs to be answered, is “A fish called Wanda” the “best British comedy ever?”.

Synopsis
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A fish called Wanda is a delightful comedy about the aftermath of a jewel heist, planned by George Thomason (Tom Georgeson), and executed by George, Wanda, Otto and Ken. The film then focuses on Wanda’s attempts to get the money all to herself.

Barrister Archie (John Cleese) falls in love, in an incredibly reckless transformation, with super sexy and charming thief Wanda (Jamie Lee Curtis) who has somewhat of a way with men. Not only has she been charming Archie, she has been using her skills on Otto (Kevin Kline, an Oscar winning performance), a stereotypical dim witted American idiot and not to mention psychopath who claims to be an intellectual with vast political knowledge. In order to help her in a heist, little does Otto know, she will be trying to rob him too. Before Otto’s visit to England, he thought the London Underground was a political movement!

As Otto and Wanda are “brother and sister” to the rest of the gang in desperate attempts to cover up after being somewhat caught in the act Otto pretends to be gay and begins making eyes at henchman Ken (Michael Palin), an animal lover, with a stutter and not to mention accidental multiple dog assassin who is obsessed with fish… in particular, a fish called Wanda. You can see where this is going…

Opinion
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I must be honest and say that the movie was far from what I expected. When I sat down to watch I thought it would be a laugh a minute like the Monty Python films. After getting through the first 15 minutes without a single laugh I was very confused and thought that it would get much funnier, luckily it did, but again not in the manner I expected. The humour was really very subtle throughout the film and at the same time extraordinarily effective.

The script is very well constructed and is one of those ones where throughout the film you try to piece everything together even though you know that at the end all will be revealed. It’s sort of like a race for the audience in some respects where much is left unsolved right until the finish. Although this kind of construction isn’t particularly original, the way that is written makes up for it. The story is quite exceptionally written and because of its total originality and, I suppose in some places, randomness it becomes very hard to predict and therefore guessing what happens/happened before the end is quite a fate, making the film experience all the more fun.

Looking back on this film, it still makes me smile and even laugh out loud so imagine what it can do for you when watching it. In my opinion the sign of a great comedy is that it continues to make you laugh after you have watched it and although the humour was subtle and focused on bazaar aspects of life like mannerisms it certainly does it for me, I am still laughing now!

I must credit the good use of contrast and confusion also in the film created by the lies and discrepancies in the script which once again added to the underlying and somewhat casual form of humour that made the film what it is.

There is one slight problem with the film. The humour is rather dated now. It’s still great fun to watch but some jokes are no longer funny because you have seen them done by so many people and films after a fish called Wanda and although you know that Wanda was the first to do it, it seems sort of like copying. Therefore, the film would have been much funnier within years of its release than 20 years on. But that is certainly not to say that the film isn’t funny because really, it’s hilarious.

Even though the film wasn’t always funny, and many of you would have preferred to have seen, as it is a comedy, more jokes less story, it doesn’t get boring because of the way the whole thing is cleverly pieced together. You won’t get irritated or bored if for some strange reason the wit fails to entertain you as the story is good fun too and on it’s own, is sufficient for all your needs, obviously the humour helps a great deal but if you really don’t find it funny, at least you can appreciate the script and plot as it will still be very watch-able.

Although the humour was very good, you don’t, like most comedies, remember it solely for its wit and absurdity but for the story as well. Now this truly is weird. Most comedies you would forget the majority of the story but with A fish called Wanda, this is not the case, and in actual fact I remember, and am sure you will to, it for the story and script as well. This does truly make the film a fantastic comedy and a very worthwhile watch.

*Acting:

As far as acting is concerned it really was sublime. Every single actor characterised their part brilliantly giving themselves original mannerisms, speech and movement. This made the film all the more believable and in doing so, ludicrously funny. All four main actors: John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Palin and Kevin Kline where superb in their highly contrasting yet hysterically funny roles. Although Kevin Kline won the Oscar anyone one of those actors could have one it for there performances, personally I would have picked Michael Palin although, there maybe some bias on my part as he was always my favourite Python.

*Picture:

The quality of the picture isn’t actually all that bad considering the film was made in the late 80’s and the way it is edited although very basic was equally as effective. Throughout the film there, deliberately, no flamboyant or even particularly creative shots on the cinematography front, but… this is done for a reason. The reason being that the plainness of the cinematography and editing actually, believe it or not, added to the film considerably as it made it much more realistic and therefore much funnier. The idea behind this is that if something totally ludicrous is made out to be totally truthful, you can’t help but laugh and really this is the case. The film actual reminds me of Paul Merton, especially on Have I got news for you?, when he would claim something totally absurd and keep the straightest face as if he generally believes it. This is effectively what this film is doing, there are ridiculous jokes presented with serious and plain cinematography. This is a prime example of how discrete the humour is but you really can imagine how funny this would be. This is an extremely effective technique and really takes the humour in the film to another level.

*Sound:

The use of sound in the film was, again, very subtle yet immensely effective. Sound is used for both the building/setting of scenes and to make things more comical. In both scenarios, it is very successful. The choice of the music in each scene and the comic action it is paired with was truly exceptional and did without out doubt make the film far funnier. The variety of the music was also very impressive as there was a danger it would get repetitive with some similar jokes, but it was varied and the successfulness of the pairing of music to action didn’t deteriorate. The music was very original; there was no sort of predictable music that is already paired in our heads to certain types of action. This exuberance and improvisational music makes the film more amusing. I can safely say that the music is one of the films best features. The choice was brilliant!

To sum up, A fish called Wanda is great fun, with flawless acting and a brilliant story, it’s definitely worth watching and I strongly recommend it if you are looking for a movie that is happy, lively and generally good fun. If you don’t find one joke funny, there is another round the corner that you are sure to be in stitches over. There is something in it for everyone.

“Best British comedy ever?”
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Now, to the all important question proposed to us by Ciao! Is “A fish called Wanda” the “best British comedy ever?”

Well… first of all, we need to consider some contenders to the great accolade of best British comedy:
The Full Monty
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Bridget Jones
The Pink Panther films
The Carry On films
The Holy Grail

Obviously these are only some of the worthy contenders because we are lucky to have so many brilliant comedies originating from the UK and it would be very boring to list them all, but if you are interested in knowing many more, I have found a suitable website you can visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_comedy_films

So… is A fish called Wanda the greatest comic film ever to grace the UK’s green and pleasant land? Personally, I am going to have to say no, but it’s not far off. In my opinion the best British comedy film is, well it’s a tie. I believe that both Monty Python’s Life of Brian and Withnail & I are inseparable, they are both comic genius but for different reasons. Although I don’t think that A fish called Wanda is the best British comedy, I would have to say it has two of the best British comedians in it. John Cleese and Michael Palin were fantastic in this film and they are fantastic in everything. They really have graced this film with their own share of comic genius and therefore made it infinitely better.

I have to say that although it’s not the best British comedy in my personal opinion, it really isn’t far off the best so you really shouldn’t let it put you off watching it, in fact its all the more reason to watch this hilarious comedy that will have you in stitches even days, months and perhaps years after you watch A fish called Wanda on recollection.

It’s not the best, but it’s not far of and you must watch it if you haven’t already!

Conclusion
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In conclusion a fish called Wanda is a brilliantly crafted hilariously funny film with incredible acting, and an exceedingly solid, not to mention intricate, script with an outstanding plot. I really can’t reiterate my highest regard for this side-splitting comedy and therefore it has my uppermost of recommendations and I strongly urge you to watch it.

Technical Details
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Director: Charles Crichton
Writers: John Cleese and Charles Crichton
Cinema Release Date: October 1988
Genre: Comedy
Classification: 15+
Runtime: 108 minutes

Thanks,

Guy, 15. (www.freewebs.com/firelightphotography)