Directed by: Charles Crichton
Starring: John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline, Michael Palin, Maria Aitken, Tom Georgeson, Patricia Hayes
A Fish Called Wanda remains one of the great comedies in film history. I do not normally subscribe to hyperbole like that, but it is remarkably funny. Like Bad Santa, it does not mind rolling up its sleeves and getting dirty. The characters are selfish, sometimes mean, and yet we like watching them try to worm their way in and out of trouble. I can not think of any other movie which combines the comic elements like A Fish Called Wanda does and never loses its way. It does not throw things against the wall at random to see what will stick. There is a well-executed method to all of this madness.
The plot centers around a jewel heist pulled off by two British guys George and Ken (Georgeson and Palin) and two American cohorts Wanda and Otto (Curtis and Kline), who are lovers but pose as brother and sister. The Brits hide the jewels in one place, the Americans double cross the Brits by calling in an anonymous tip to the police, and the Americans are then stunned to learn the Brits moved the jewels anyway. This quartet has never heard of honor among thieves.
The two sides scheme against each other. The Brits want to keep the jewels' location secret. The Americans stoop to whatever means necessary to find out where they are. How? Wanda concocts a plan to seduce George's barrister Archie (Cleese) into giving up the jewels' whereabouts. This inflames Otto's jealousy ("Touch his dick and he's a dead man") and on more than one occasion nearly blows the whole plan out of the water. One way is by Otto hanging Archie out of a fifth floor window after Archie calls him stupid. Otto is convinced without any proof of his own intellectual superiority and his superiority to the British. This leads to numerous comic payoffs in which his stupidity is put on full display, including one in which Wanda tells him, "The central message of Buddhism isn't every man for himself." Kline's Oscar-winning performance remains one of a kind. His Otto has no doubt whatsoever about his intellectual prowess despite all evidence to the contrary. He has a classic argument with Wanda:
Wanda: " I know sheep that could outwit you. I've worn dresses that have higher IQs. But you think you're an intellectual, don't you. ape?"
Otto: "Apes don't read philosophy."
Wanda: "Yes, they do. They just don't understand it."
Otto is her own setup and his own punch line, all in one character. The same can be said for Cleese, whose Archie is in a loveless marriage and whose libido is suddenly awakened by Wanda simply wearing a low-cut dress for him. He sets himself up for public embarrassment more than once trying to keep his desires under wraps. He naively has no idea he is being played, yet Wanda develops a certain affection for him. This is not to say she would give up the jewels for him.
The movie contains many delicately balanced scenes which are hilariously mean-spirited. There are three occasions in which Ken, a stuttering animal lover, accidentally kills a dog belonging to a key witness. He is heartbroken, but the ultimate payoff to this sequence is an exercise in hilarious inappropriateness. You'll see what I mean. A Fish Called Wanda is not a movie in which animals are unharmed. I count the dead dogs and then the fish eaten by Otto as he attempts to force Ken to tell him where the diamonds are. Context is everything. ( "What's this one's name? I'll think I'll call him lunch." )
A Fish Called Wanda doesn't play nice and has no desire to. Sometimes a comedy can only work if the cast and crew are fully committed to showing the tawdry, disdainful side of people. Otto insults the English every chance he gets. ("They get rigor mortis in the prime of life in this country."). but yet his character remains beloved by American and British audiences alike. It is this willingness to go all the way that sets A Fish Called Wanda apart from other less successful comedies.
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