Um Peixe Chamado Wanda

This is one of the best, if not THE best, caper comedies of the modern era. The writing is very witty and at the same time sometimes turgid. The cast is absolutely perfect; Cleese makes a great subdued lawyer who wants to be a bad boy, Curtis is wonderful and just keeps you guessing (as perhaps her own character is guessing, as to what it is SHE wants), and Kline is perfectly annoying as the Nietzsche-quoting American. This movie has strong shades of "The Big Sleep" and other Howard Hawks comedies, even going so far as to name Cleese's character "Leach" in honor of Cary Grant.

This film should appeal to those with no classic movie knowledge, but for those who have seen "To Catch a Thief" and other caper classics, this is even more of a treat. Romantic, funny, and slick.

Also big ups to Michael Palin for another memorable supporting performance.

Brief and simple: this movie is terrific entertainment! With its uniquely eccentric characters and delightfully absurd storyline, 'A Fish Called Wanda" unquestionably is one of the funniest films ever made. The exhilarating screenplay works on so many level (a diamond heist gone wrong, Brits vs. Americans, romantic comedy...) and the top-notch cast obviously had an excellent time doing this film-job. There's not a dull moment throughout the entire movie and every sequence contains at least two or three hilarious moments. The humor is very over-the-top at times but, what the hell, it remains a joy to behold. The cast is nearly perfect with John Cleese, Michael Palin and Jamie Lee Curtis at their absolute best. Still, there's one actor who deserves extra praise for his role here and that's Kevin Kline. His hyperactive, deranged and extravagant character Otto is one of the most brilliant roles in comedy cinema ever! His moves, grimaces and monologues will make you fall off your seat laughing. Kline won an Oscar for his role and, everybody who has seen "A Fish Called Wanda" will agree on the fact that this was a well-deserved price.

Four crazy characters team up to steal diamonds, and then try to doublecross each other. Georges Thomason (Tom Georgeson) is the elder. Wanda Gershwitz (Jamie Lee Curtis) is a vixen who play all the men like a fiddle. Otto (Kevin Kline) is blindly in love with Wanda and easily goes violently crazy. Ken Pile (Michael Palin) is the stuttering animal lover. When the double-crossing begins, Georges' attorney Archie Leach (John Cleese) is dragged into the chaos.

The wacky craziness is punctuated by Michael Palin and Kevin Kline. They've created two of the craziest most memorable characters. Who can truly forget Kevin Kline shoving that fish back in his mouth? It helps that Jamie Lee Curtis is both beautiful and ballsy. It serves her well in this movie.

What makes this old friend so very funny? There are lots of great setpiece sequences, like Michael Palin running over Kevin Kline in slow motion. It's the energy that Kline gives to his Oscar-winning role, the way Jamie Lee Curtis double crosses everyone, Michael Palin's stammer, Tom Georgeson's malign mastermind, the clockwork jewel robbery..... but mostly its the mean-spirited selfishness that suffuses every moment of it. It's pretty much unique for British comedy, which always seems to have a soft spot some place for the little fellow. Even the Boultings, at their most vicious, have that normative core , a sense of right and wrong, to grimace dourly at the actions of their petty tyrants.

This movie, however, makes no such claim. In fact, Cleese's monologue about the stifling, lifeless way in which the British are terrified of saying the wrong thing the terror of asking about the spouse and being told she left that morning... it's not a comedy of embarrassment. It's a comedy of shamelessness, and pretty much unique. And anyone who talks about 'poor taste' doesn't get it. It's meant to be tasteless.

Took me longer than I prefer to admit before actually seeing this movie even though I'm a huge fan of John Cleese and his work.. And I honestly had no idea who Kevin Kline even was before watching this. Winning an Oscar for best actor in a comedy was not normal in the 80's but he stole every scene he was involved it and he deserved it to say the least. Every actor did their job well and I can tell they had fun making this.

I read somewhere that the entire movie was written around the final scene with the truck and the "limey" sement.. How they turned a simple idea like this into a heist-comedy is beyond me but they made it work somehow, and it worked well.

This is an absolute classic!