A Fish Called Wanda: On-This-Day Thursday
Written by Andreas Babiolakis
Every Thursday, an older film released on this opening weekend years ago will be reviewed. They can be classics, or simply popular films that happened to be released to the world on the same date.
For July 15th, we are going to have a look at A Fish Called Wanda.
Well after the days of the Monty Python series and films — as well as Fawlty Towers, while we’re at it — came John Cleese facing a new renaissance of sorts: his time as a serious (well, serious enough) screenwriter for the big screen. Gone were the days of complete absurdity and British screwball antics, but the conversion over into material that was a little more conventional wasn’t a problem for the Cambridge graduate Having studied law (he would meet part of the Monty Python team while attending university), it made sense that the comic legend applied this knowledge somewhere. Why not in his comedy writing? So this idea came to be in his screenplay for A Fish Called Wanda: a poking-of-fun of heist films and romances. Cleese naturally plays a barrister that is yanked around as an attempt to play favour in a case against a captured criminal mastermind (well, primarily to find where said leader hid a stash of diamonds, since every thief involved is looking out for themselves).
Joining him is Jamie Lee Curtis (who was on the rise of her career), Python associate Michael Palin, and Kevin Kline, who steals the entire film (and is a rare Academy Award winner for a solely comedic performance). Again, this gang of misfits were all wrapped up in a heist that didn’t go exactly as planned, and their subsequent ulterior motives don’t go as smoothly either. Barrister Archie Leach starts to swoon after the titular Wanda (Lee Curtis), who plays him like a fiddle for her own motives; the joke’s on her once she begins to fall for him, though. She is also romantically linked with the leader George (Tom Georgeson) and fellow thief Otto (Kline); obviously, they’re all trying to screw each other over whilst screwing each other (to put it bluntly). The only innocent person (considering that Archie goes out of his way to be unfaithful) is poor Ken (Palin), who gets made fun of and neglected for a majority of the film; he also is asked to kill one of the eye witnesses, and his misfortunate attempts are as hilarious as they are saddening.
A Fish Called Wanda places the terrible natures of its characters at the forefront.
First things first, the dialogue in Wanda is incredible comedy. That credit goes to Cleese. However, it’s the delivery that every cast member brings that turns these lines into the best versions of themselves that they could be. When Otto just arbitrarily yells “asshole” at any driver that he almost hits, it’s a punctuation point that knocks me over; additionally, him staring at an empty vault and shouting “disappointed!” was meant for the meme generation of today (get cracking, readers). One of my all time favourite jokes is the “ape” exchange between Wanda and Otto, which I wouldn’t dare spoil here. Otherwise, Wanda has slapstick, gross-out, one-liner, and subliminal humour bursting out of nearly every single scene. There has to be at least something that would stick out to any viewer and make them laugh until they hurt. Fortunately for me, most of the film leaves me in stitches.
All of this would be fine even if the film itself wasn’t so well put together, and yet Wanda went the extra mile to be a legitimately good story as well. Seeing these terrible people trying to one-up each other at all costs (Otto has zero dignity in this film) is quite a treat, and trying to see how this will all pan out is even better. Wanda keeps things intriguing right until the bitter end. Of course, it’s a rom-com at its core, so it’s going to be a little formulaic, but it doesn’t even matter when the jokes are actually hysterical, the plot surrounding its foundation is quite loopy, and each character is unforgettably ridiculous.
A Fish Called Wanda is a romantic film at its barest, but it relishes in being a silly affair as well.
I won’t deny that I typically like more out-there comedies, genre benders, or funny films that may feel high brow or even full-of-themselves to some. However, I know a damn good straight forward comedy when I see one. A Fish Called Wanda is one of the finest ‘80s comedies, through and through. It’s as smart as it is wacky, and as intricate as it is conventional. It plays by the rules, but knows how far it can go before it loses its audiences. It has a balance of every kind of humour, as well as a series of players that play every note just right. Cleese was used to working with great casts before, and knew what would make each performer tick in Wanda. Of course this is his film through and through, but let’s wrap up with a quick shout out to the late Charles Crichton, who directed and helped write this series of shenanigans, and allowed such a blend of dark-and-light comedy to exist so seamlessly. All things and contributors considered, A Fish Called Wanda does anything but flounder. It lands every joke, and pulls you at every turn. It’s as fun as a film can be.
Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Ryerson University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.