Review #428: A Fish Called Wanda.
Cast
John Cleese (Archie Leach), Jamie Lee Curtis (Wanda Gershwitz), Kevin Kline (Otto West), Michael Palin (Ken Pile), Maria Aitken (Wendy Leach), Tom Georgeson (George Thomason), and Patricia Hayes (Mrs. Coady) Directed by Charles Crichton.
Review
It has been 25 years to the day that this film was released into theaters (U.S. and Canada theaters anyway, it wouldn't be released in the U.K. until months later for some reason), and it was a major hit when it first came out, with Kevin Kline garnering a Best Supporting Actor award at the Oscars and the film also had other various nominations, but enough about that, how is the film? It's pretty good. The actors do pretty well, and Kline does steal the show after a while, but Curtis and Cleese do manage to keep the focus going, and Palin slides in and does a well job, given his character and all. The story itself isn't lost to stupidity, or to disgusting gags with no point or too much vulgarity unlike some recent comedies, the story in this is coherent, it actually flows well without a misstep, the actors and the story matter, and the comedy comes in later, this movie could actually work as a drama, but the comedy is abundant enough to work as a comedy as well. And the film isn't dated, it could still be believable after 25 years, and when a film can do all that, clearly that is an accomplishment, which it was 25 years ago and still is today.
Overall, I give it 9 out of 10 stars.
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