A Fish Called Wanda (1988) - film review

London gangster George Thomason has masterminded the perfect jewel robbery, which he is about to put into action with his henchman Ken Pile, an animal-lover with a crippling stutter, and a pair of Americans - Wanda Gerschwitz and Otto West.  The latter pretend to be brother and sister but are in fact lovers who intend to double-cross George and Ken after the robbery.  The heist goes off as planned and George is rounded up by the police after his American cohorts have done the dirty on him.  Before his arrest, George had the foresight to move the stolen jewels to a location known only to himself and Ken.  Fearing that George will give up the jewels to shorten his prison sentence, Wanda lauches an all-out charm offensive on his barrister, Archie Leach.  The latter, trapped in a loveless marriage with a shrewish wife, is an easy prey for the seductive Wanda, but Archie’s rekindled love-life is threatened by Otto who, a ferocious Anglophobe, has no intention of losing his girl to a semi-derelict limey.  Meanwhile, Ken has been instructed by George to eliminate the only witness to the robbery, an elderly woman whom the gang almost knocked down in their getaway.  The woman appears to have a charmed life, for every time Ken tries to kill her he accidentally massacres one of her pet dogs...

One of the funniest and most successful British film comedies of the 1980s, A Fish Called Wanda was a personal triumph for John Cleese, the former Monty Python star who co-wrote, co-directed and starred in the film.  In a comedy performance that surpasses his now almost legendary contributions to Fawlty Towers and the various Python escapades, Cleese leaves us in no doubt that not only is he a comedy genius but also a pretty fine actor to boot.  The quartet which he forms with fellow Python Michael Palin and stars from across the Pond, Jamie Lee Curtis and Kevin Kline, is an ensemble that will have anyone who watches the film in stitches for every one of its 108 minutes.  Sharing the writing and directing credits on the film is Charles Crichton, a veteran of British cinema who previously helmed such classics as Hue and Cry (1947), The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) and The Titfield Thunderbolt (1953).  

What makes this a comedy classic of the first order is the sheer abundance of hilarious comedy situations and the impeccable comic timing of its four leads (supplemented by some superlative supporting contributions from Tom Georgeson, Patricia Hayes, Maria Aitken and Geoffrey Palmer).   Kevin Kline has never been as relentingly funny as he is here as a psychotically jealous Nietzsche-obsessed gangster who is so thick he believes that the London Underground is a political movement.  Michael Palin’s thwarted attempts to kill Patricia Hayes will have any audience (dog-lovers and representatives of the RSPCA excluded) in hysterics, although this is topped by an even more side-splitting gag, the punchline to John Cleese’s once-seen-never-forgotten striptease.  Laughing (or is it spitting?) in the face of political correctness whilst exaggerating national stereotypes to ludicrous extremes, A Fish Called Wanda is a film that takes the Mickey out of just about everyone, and does it brilliantly.  It is as fresh and as funny as it was when it was first seen and remains one of the all-time comedy highlights of British cinema.  Pescophiles may have a different view, however...

© Alex Sullivan 2011

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