Review of A Fish Called Wanda (1988) by Peter M — 05 Nov 2009

This is one of the most refreshingly funny, clever, witty and original movies I have seen. Now, I am not the type of person who likes physical, blatant comedies. In fact, screwball and physical comedy is among my most disdained cinematic genres. "A Fish Called Wanda" could be considered by some to be another teen-aimed, semi-crude physical comedy if not observed closely and carefully. However, this movie is too intelligent for that. It blows the simple, low brow qualities of vulgarized slapstick screwballs swiftly and directly out of the water.

The film centers primarily on a group of robbers and their jewel heist, plus the events involving this group that follow. This aftermath mainly consists of the issues of Jamie Lee Curtis attempting to seduce a barrister, John Cleese, that will then feel compelled to leak certain classified details to Curtis. This plot line is present among many other sophisticated subplots, of course. The rest of the main cast is composed of Kevin Kline, Michael Palin, Maria Aitken and Tom Georgeson, who are all perfectly cast (especially Kevin Kline, who deservedly won an Academy Award for his role).

This movie's gift is its ability to walk the fine, fine line between farce and drama; true comedy. It masters that ability. It is a laugh-out-loud, funny movie that really makes you think about and ruminate upon much of our odd world. Finally!

A true cinematic masterpiece, "A Fish Called Wanda" is. It is definitely one of my favorite comedies. 100 percent.