A FISH CALLED WANDA. Directed by Charles Crichton; written by John Cleese; produced by Michael Shamberg. Starring John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline and Micheal Palin. Rated R.
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Yes, there is a fish named Wanda in this movie. The title isn't just an exercise in surrealism, although that would certainly be appropriate, considering how bizarre Wanda is.
You'll find this fishy bit of business quite funny, actually, if your taste in comedy has a nasty streak in it. The movie is a peach of a satire on big-caper crime movies.
But, though its humor is clever and original, it is often also unsavory and offensive. Now and then it does reveal a trace of unpredictable sensitivity. Not much, but just enough to keep the audience off-balance and wondering what will happen next.
The movie's odd mix of sadism and sympathy works surprisingly well, thanks to the talented cast. Kline is in rare form here. Viewers who know him only from The Big Chill or Cry Freedom might not even recognize him, though. He's in his manic mode in Wanda, much as he was in The Pirates of Penzance.
Curtis' hip, sexy manner is perfectly suited to Wanda. She's convincing and entertaining both as a con woman and when playing it straight.
Fans of Monty Python may wish for more of Cleese's insane yet urbane comic bits, but Wanda offers enough of these to satisfy all but the most rabid. And he shows a little more depth, both in performing and writing, than had heretofore been suspected.
Palin is likewise more subdued here than as one of Monty Python's most versatile players. But the sequence of scenes in which he tries to murder an old lady dog-fancier is very much in the Python spirit. As is most of Wanda, not suprisingly.
October 5, 1988