Film #157 - A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
A Fish Called Wanda is very much a 1980s film. The plot, characters and tone all speak to that very specific time. Luckily, it holds up pretty well, if not shining as brightly as it did years ago.
The film is, at its heart, a caper story. It follows a diamond theft that doesn’t go quite according to plan for anyone. The nominal head of the group Georges Thomason (Tom Georgeson) is captured due to the duplicity of his girlfriend Wanda Gershwitz (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Otto (Kevin Kline), who is pretending to be her brother when he is, in fact, her lover. But Otto and Wanda are also disappointed when they learn that Georges has hidden the diamonds somewhere without telling them. (This is particularly irritating for Wanda, who was about to clobber Otto and take the diamonds for herself.) Also involved is Ken Pile (Michael Palin), whose mild manner and stammer make him an easy target for Otto’s verbal (and eventually physical) abuse. While Wanda and Otto and Wanda continue to scheme in order to find out where the diamonds are, Ken is tasked by Georges with killing the only witness to the crime. Enter Archie Leach (John Cleese). He is Georges’ lawyer and Wanda plays upon his obvious boredom by attempting to seduce him and find the diamonds. Archie’s married life, Wanda’s multiple alliances, Otto’s violent jealousy, Ken’s timid attempts to commit murder and the hunt for the diamonds all eventually come to head once Georges’ trial begins.
As good as the performances are (and everyone is at the top of their game here), the real glue holding this film together is the script. Specifically, the crackingly good dialogue. The story is well constructed and the twists and turns seem reasonable and believeable, but it’s not terribly original or engaging on its own merits. It is the way the characters interact; the terribly formal Archie, the lowbrow Georges, the high-strung Ken, the “vulgarian” Otto, and Wanda’s many personas that she adopts throughout the film. One very Python-esque aspect to Cleese’s script is how quotable it is. Hardly a scene goes by without one or more gems that never really leave you.
Still, as the years go by (and maybe it’s just my getting older), I find myself less and less tolerant of “chraming criminals”. And everyone here, Wanda and (eventually) Archie included, *are* criminals. Sure, some are worse than others and we can still root for Archie, but I’m just no longer as fond of these kinds of things as I used to be. I prefer something along the lines of the original Ocean’s Eleven, where the criminals “win”, but ultimately don’t get away with it.
But that issue aside, A Fish Called Wanda is still a great movie, perhaps the best post-Python film from any of the members. The direction, music, cinematography, etc. are not really notable, but the dialogue and the performances elevate this to true classic status. It’s a pity that the Pythons weren’t able to tap into this kind of overall quality very often. I’ve always felt there should be more films like A Fish Called Wanda and far fewer Nuns on the Run. Mores the pity that’s not the case.