Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful film from Cleese and Co.
Review: What makes this special is the interplay between American and English attitudes that is at its heart. This is a pet area of co-writer and star Cleese who has had three American wives and nurtures a fascination for the differences between the two cultures. This can be seen both in his work with Monty Python and in the Fawlty Towers episode The Americans. The conflict created between the characters' backgrounds creates much of the magic and gives the picture its transatlantic appeal. Cleese gives a career best performance as an actor, being surprisingly vulnerable in the love scenes and making us believe that he has fallen in love with Jamie Lee Curtis. Kline won an deserved Oscar for his very very funny supporting role, but all four stars contribute equally to this post-modern Ealing comedy. This leads me to mention director Charles Crichton. In his last feature film, Crichton was in his late seventies when this was made. Having directed classic Ealing comedies The Titfield Thunderbolt and The Lavender Hill Mob, Crichton had retired from feature films in the 1960s and since then had turned in many well received episodes of television series such as The Avengers and The Professionals. His return to feature films marked a return to the form which had made him so successful in his Ealing days, garnering him commercial success and his only Oscar nomination.
Rating: 
Summary: Goody goody goody
Review: This is what some might call a guilty pleasure. Not that it's badly acted or badly written. It's neither. The lines are snappy, the acting is great, and I think that Kevin Kline totally deserved his Oscar. But it is so DIRTY! Sex scene after sex scene. Yet somehow, every single one of them made me snigger, laugh, and once even gasp for breath from laughing so hard. John Cleese plays a barrister (He's well suited for the role) who is defending the boss of three jewel thieves, played very well by Kevin Kline, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Michael Palin. The boss is being arrested on charges of animal cruelty, of all things. The title comes from the name of Palin's character's favorite goldfish, Wanda. I won't reveal any more of the plot, partly because it's so complicated and partly because I'd ruin the whole thing. I'll just let you watch and see how it goes for yourself. If you don't mind watching the several slightly nasty scenes in this film, you'll definately enjoy it.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: I got into Monty Python sometime around last year. I became sort of obsessed and I plan to someday see every movie and book that any of them made. A Fish Called Wanda was one of the movies I had to see. We rented it and I must have watched it 4 times in the first week of having it! Michael has always been one of my favorite Pythons, but I knew John first because of Fawlty Towers that I watched with my sister on Comedy Central. Apart from the Monty Python movies, this has to be my favorite! I think they all did a great job on it! Next to see: Fierce Creatures.
Rating:
Summary: Fishing for Compliments
Review: A Fish Called Wanda may be crude, but it is really a romantic comedy in the old fashioned sense of the word. It contains all the neccesary romance elements: an unlikely couple (Cleese and Curtis); a love triangle (in this case a love hexagon); and just about the right amount of sentiment sprinkled in, But it also posseses a wicked sense of humour the perfectly balances and compliments the romance. In a way, something to please everyone.
The old fashioned whimsy of the tale combined with a sense of the macabre is heightened by the presence of Charles Chichton, one time director of many of the similarily dark Ealing comedies who masterly handles this story of a jewell robbery aftermath, with all it's backstabbing and bed hopping. In fact, Wanda could very much be considered an eighties desendent of Ealing.
The cast is sublime. Cleese gives his usual but still enigmatic stuffy British suit performance as barrister Archie Leach, brilliant in the early scenes where he is stuck in his stale upper class marriage with an uncaring wife and a spoilt daughter. As Leach, defending gangster George (Tom Georgeson) on robbery charges begins an affair with chief defence witness and George's girlfriend Wanda (A gorgeous Jamie Lee Curtis).
Kevin Kline performs a comedy masterclass as the ignorant, philosophy reading, violent tempered Otto, Wanda's "brother", and he seems to have a problem with any men that show his "sister" too much attention.
But Kline is just pipped to show stealing honours by Michael Palin, as the stuttering, animal loving getaway driver Ken. He's George's best mate, and also fancies Wanda, but thinks Otto is gay... oh, and he has a fish that's also called Wanda, which Otto doesn't like. Confused? You won't be, as this near note-perfect comedy fits together piece by piece as all and sundry double cross each other, before reaching a happy climax.
Delicious in every sense of the word.
Rating: 
Summary: Offensive language
Review: I got this video because I was told that it was funny.
I did not find it funny. The language was very offensive.
I couldn't count the many times the f-word was used.
I am surprised that John Cleese did that film. He doesn't
have to be crude to be funny. I would not recommend it
to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: Fresh Fish for everyone
Review: A FISH CALLED WANDA is one of the most rewarding comedies of the past 30 years, offering up a stellar script, well-balanced direction and 100% perfect casting. The story involves a gang of jewel thieves and the barrister Archie Leach (Exceptional John Cleese) representing the leader in court. Sexy Jamie Lee Curtis teams with everyone to her benefit from Archie to her "brother" Otto (Kevin Kline in an Oscar winning role) and Ken, a stuttering animal lover who always seems to accidentally decrease the animal population with his mishaps. Filled with scene upon scene of hilarious hijinks and no slow spots in sight, FISH is fantastic adult entertainment. Although, if you carry a disdain for British humor, be aware that some of the film does fall in that direction. The DVD has a nice video transfer and a special "Easter Egg" where you can watch teh fish Wanda swim on your television monitor. Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: brilliant!
Review: One of the most funny movies ever. Every time you watch it, you find new things to enjoy. John Cleese is excellent as the typical English lawyer, who is dying to break out of harness of Englishness, Jamie Lee Curtis is the most sexy gangster girl ever and Kevin Kline is the most cliche American hitman you can imagine. There are numberous brilliant and classic scenes, varying from John Cleese who is being disturbed while stripping and spreaking Russianby the new owners of a house he has hired from a friend to Jamie Lee Curtis explaining to the ultra-stupid Kevin Kline that the London Underground is NOT a political movement. And you also learn how to torture a person using only French fries and a pear. So watch it, enjoy it and laugh yourself to pieces.
Rating: 
Summary: DVD fans...
Review: Fear not, DVD fans, a brand new Special Edition version will be released in the first quarter of 2002!
Rating: 
Summary: Great movie - disappointing DVD release
Review: Given that "Wanda" is way up there in my personal "Top 25" list, I eagerly anticipated its release on DVD and picked it up as soon as the opportunity presented itself.Unfortunately, I'm rather disappointed in the DVD version. Were there no deleted scenes or outtakes that could've been added? Was there no behind-the-scenes documentary footage to show us? Could Michael Palin and/or John Cleese not be persuaded to add any commentary to one of the audio tracks? And speaking of the audio - why on Earth is the soundtrack in MONO??!? When I saw that on the box, I thought that _had_ to be a misprint - but no, the soundtrack is indeed in bloody single-channel monophonic. Sorry, MGM - you blew it with this one.
Rating:
Summary: Movie great -- Sound just simply awful
Review: This gut-busting comedy starring Kevin Kline, Jamie Lee Curtis, John Cleese and Michael Palin deserves better. The DVD has the worst sound I've ever experienced on DVD or VHS. If you're used to 5.1 sound, mono just doesn't cut it. It's one of my favorite comedies, and maybe my most disappointing DVD.
|
