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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: MGM (Video & DVD)
Salesrank: 3627
Released: March 23, 1999 |
| Our Price: $5.99 |
| Used Price: $2.99 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Tour-de-force performances from an unparalleled comic cast highlight this much-loved hit that Roger Ebert calls "the funniest movie I have seen in a long time!" Monty Pythoners John Cleese and Michael Palin (Search For The Holy Grail, The Meaning Of Life) join OscarÂ(r) winner* Kevin Kline (In & Out) and Jamie Lee Curtis (True Lies) in an entertainment so impeccably timed and executed that Time Magazine hailed it as: "Geniu[a film that] Redefines a great comic tradition!" Four conniving jewel thieves...three Yorkshire terriers...two heaving bosoms and one proper British barrister. It all adds up to "a non-stop barrage of...outrageous plot twists and over-the top performances" (L.A. Weekly) when a girl called Wanda (Curtis) tries to deceive her Nietzche-quoting boyfriend (Kline), an animal-loving hitman (Palin) and an embarrassment-prone counselor (Cleese) out of a fortune in jewels in this hilariously funny farce! *1988: Best Supporting Actor, A Fish Called Wanda
Description of A Fish Called Wanda:
Kevin Kline took home an Oscar for his performance as a self-absorbed lothario who prepares for lovemaking by drinking in his own "manly" musk, but it would be hard to single him out as the best thing about the film. The fact is, the entire cast of this hilarious comedy is perfect: John Cleese as the conservative barrister defending a member of sexy Jamie Lee Curtis's gang, Ms. Curtis as the conniving crook out to grab the haul for herself, and Michael Palin as the stuttering, animal-loving hit man whose attempts to murder a little old lady only decrease the size of her poodle pack. Cleese cowrote the zingy script with British comedy veteran Charles Crichton (The Lavender Hill Mob), whose smooth direction balances Monty Python farce, hysterically tasteless gags, and an unexpectedly romantic subplot with style and confidence. --Sean Axmaker
A Fish Called Wanda Reviews:
A Fish Called Wanda 
2009-09-12 - The best Monty Pyhton film that the group did not make. You should watch this film just for Kevin Kline's Oscar-winning performance. This a comedy classic!
A smashing comedy
2009-07-14 - This film has a great team of actors that will turn up again in the film "Fierce Creatures."
Three professional criminals including Georges (Tom Georgeson) set out to steel some diamonds. They need a fourth person with martial or weapons skills. This person Otto (Kevin Kline) is Wanda's (Jamie Lee Curtis) supposed brother.
Each criminal then covets the pilfered plunder individually. Wanda has the upper hand until the diamonds are not where they are supposed to be.
The only way to obtain their location is for Wanda to rub up against Georges' barrister. This close encounter irks Otto.
Will the diamonds be found and by whom?
The character interaction and one-liners make the movie.
Fierce Creatures
Superb Movie, great edition
2009-06-29 - One of the funniest movies ever made, and a must-have for any fan of Cleese, Palin, Curtis, or Kline. How many comedies do you know that win the best-actor Oscar?
A FISK CALLED WANDA
2009-04-25 - The DVD arrived well within the expected shipping time, it was in perfect shape and it plays well. I'm grtaeful and will use Amazon for DVDs many times again.
THANKS!
Kirk Foley
Not Quite Like I Remembered It! Ages Very, Very Poorly! Bad DVD Too! 
2009-03-30 - Comedies don't normally age well because there are only so many times you can hear a joke without getting sick of it and so films of that ilk normally represent sort of a time capsule of what the key events and issues of the time were that concerned people and hence what was funny to them at that time. For those of us that are not of that time dated jokes leave us asking "huh?".
Unfortunately, this film falls into that category and while there are a few scenes especially between Palin and Cleese that drew a smile from me in remembrance of the great Python days the rest of the film was desperately dated and had me looking at the clock wishing it would end. 1988 must also have been a very bad year for films as that would explain how Kline could win his Oscar. Cleese is a funny actor but he is certainly not a scriptwriter. From the opening credits that were in an off-putting deep blue to the horrible score and background music this film doesn't even begin well. Highly overrated and a film that ages very, very poorly it isn't helped by this very poor dvd version with horrible mono sound quality and even worse picture quality that is full of white spots and other imperfections. There are no special features to speak about like interviews or making-of documentaries as well.
It's actually embarassing that Cleese and Palin could actually put their names to this film given the vastly superior output that they were involved in from their Python days.
Avoid at all cost!
