A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
89%RT Audience Score: 84%
Awards & Nominations: Won 1 Oscar
9 wins & 18 nominations total
Smartly written, smoothly directed, and solidly cast, A Fish Called Wanda offers a classic example of a brainy comedy with widespread appeal
A Fish Called Wanda is a hilarious masterpiece that will have you laughing from start to finish. The film’s ensemble cast is simply brilliant, with each character trying to outdo the other in terms of despicability. John Cleese may not be the funniest performer in the movie, but he still manages to put his heart and heat into the film. The movie’s basic joke is that the Americans are overbearing and unselfconscious, while the British are nearly too polite to breathe. It’s a smart farce about ingrained cultural differences that will leave you in stitches. If you’re looking for a movie that’s both original and daring, then A Fish Called Wanda is definitely worth checking out.
Production Company(ies)
Rita Productions, Blue Spirit Animation Gébéka Films,
Distributor
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Distributing Corp.
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Bermondsey, London, Greater London, England, UK
MPAA / Certificate
R
Year of Release
1988
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Mono
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:1h 47m
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Language(s):English, Italian, Russian, French
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Jul 15, 1988 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 1, 2006
Genre(s)
Comedy
Keyword(s)
starring John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline, Michael Palin, Maria Aitken, Tom Georgeson, Patricia Hayes, directed by Charles Crichton, John Cleese, written by John Cleese, produced by Michael Shamberg, comedy, R rating, $60.0M box office, reviewed by Peter Travers, Sheila Benson, Dave Kehr, Molly Haskell, Brian D Johnson, A Fish Called Wanda, British gangster, diamond heist, seduction, witness, American grifters, weapons expert, lawyer, cultural differences, ensemble cast
Worldwide gross: $62,493,712
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $160,011,482
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 815
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 17,449,453
US/Canada gross: $62,493,712
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $160,011,482
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 486
US/Canada opening weekend: $115,418
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $295,521
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,547
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $7,500,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $19,203,310
Production budget ranking: 1,385
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $10,340,982
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $130,467,189
ROI to date (est.): 442%
ROI ranking: 297
Jamie Lee Curtis – Wanda Gershwitz
Kevin Kline – Otto West
Michael Palin – Ken Pile
Maria Aitken – Wendy
Tom Georgeson – Georges Thomason
Director – Charles Crichton, John Cleese
Producer – Michael Shamberg
Director(s)
Charles Crichton, John Cleese
Writer(s)
NA
Producer(s)
Michael Shamberg
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Won 1 Oscar
9 wins & 18 nominations total
Academy Awards
Oscar Nominees, Oscar Winners
All Critics (68) | Top Critics (17) | Fresh (65) | Rotten (3)
To those who appreciate Ealing comedy (which is to say all right-thinking people), watching the film is like chancing on a Hogarth sketch in grandmother’s attic, clearly and unmistakably signed by the Master.
January 16, 2020
John Pym
Sight & Sound
TOP CRITIC
Putting heart and heat into a film that could have easily slid by on silliness, Cleese proves himself a master actor.
July 30, 2013
Peter Travers
People Magazine
TOP CRITIC
Perhaps the most unusual aspect of what is surely the year’s most original and daring comedy is that John Cleese is not the funniest performer in it. Believe it or not, that honor goes to none other than the usually somber Kevin Kline.
July 30, 2013 | Rating: 3/4
Desmond Ryan
Philadelphia Inquirer
TOP CRITIC
Somehow, the movie manages to do the impossible: It makes John Cleese less than hilarious.
July 30, 2013
Jay Boyar
Orlando Sentinel
TOP CRITIC
Low comedy at high speed, it pretends to be a caper movie about a smooth London jewel heist and its infinitely complex aftermath. Actually, it’s a smart farce about ingrained cultural differences.
July 30, 2013 | Rating: 5/5
Sheila Benson
Los Angeles Times
TOP CRITIC
The movie’s basic joke holds that the overbearing, unselfconscious Americans will do anything and say anything (and usually as loudly as possible), while the timorous British are nearly too polite to breathe.
July 30, 2013 | Rating: 3/4
Dave Kehr
Chicago Tribune
TOP CRITIC
The bright characterizations, vivid performances, and unexpectedly uproarious set-pieces have lost little of their luster over the ensuing decades.
September 22, 2021 | Rating: 3.5/4
Matt Brunson
Film Frenzy
It’s almost as if each antihero is competing to be the most despicable of the lot.
September 6, 2020 | Rating: 6/10
Mike Massie
Gone With The Twins
If anything, what Cleese and director Charles Crichton celebrate with A Fish Called Wanda is the art of the ensemble. Getting the pieces together is difficult, but when it works, it’s a masterpiece.
August 26, 2020 | Rating: 4.5/5
Kelechi Ehenulo
Set the Tape
There are certainly plenty of elements within A Fish Called Wanda that work exceedingly well…
June 3, 2020 | Rating: 2.5/4
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews
A nutty caper film that is sometimes riotous, sometimes romantic, and sometimes merely confused.
February 27, 2020
Molly Haskell
Vogue
In the Monty Python tradition, the script is an assembly of skitlike situations cobbled into a flimsy story. The humor is cruel and at times wildly funny.
October 29, 2019
Brian D. Johnson
Maclean’s Magazine…
Plot
In London, Georges Thomason (Tom Georgeson), his seductive American girlfriend Wanda Gershwitz (Jamie Lee Curtis), and their associate Ken Pile (Sir Michael Palin) are planning their latest crime: a diamond heist that should net them 13 million pounds sterling. They plan to leave the country with the goods after the heist. On Wanda’s recommendation, they enlist the help of her weapons-expert brother Otto West (Kevin Kline) for this heist. Actually, Otto isn’t Wanda’s brother, but her latest lover, a dimwit who gets off on his own body odor and believes he’s an intellectual because he reads Nietzsche and does not tolerate being called stupid by anyone. Wanda has one weakness in men which is how Otto was able to get her to be his lover: speaking Italian in seduction. Wanda and Otto plan to double-cross Georges by having him arrested for the heist while they abscond with the jewels. Wanda further plans to triple-cross Otto by eliminating him from the picture after she has the jewels. They are able to get Georges arrested with him not knowing who tipped the off the police, and implicated by elderly eyewitness Eileen Coady (Patricia Hayes). With Georges in jail, Wanda and Otto discover that he has protected his investment by moving the jewels from their agreed location to a hidden one, telling nobody where they are but offering Ken a slight hint. Georges gives Ken, an animal lover with an extreme stutter, the task of killing Mrs. Coady before she is able to testify against him, as she is the Crown’s primary witness. Meanwhile, Wanda has her own plan to reach her end goal: seduce George’s defense lawyer Archie Leach (John Cleese) and find out Georges’ secrets about the heist, including the location of the jewels. Archie may be easy prey for Wanda’s seduction, as his wife Wendy (Maria Aitken) is a self-absorbed woman who pays him little attention. Otto might throw a wrench into Wanda’s plans if he finds out what she’s doing.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Kevin Kline won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in A Fish Called Wanda.
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